How do i install Ubuntu???

F

Frederickson

New Member
My first attempt to installing ubuntu messed up my Windows XP, i had to save my files and wipe out my entire hard drive, installed a fresh new windows xp and now i'm here.

I have a 100GB hard drive, i used 40GB to install Windows XP, so now i have 60GB left. What should i do? Can someone give me instructions?
 
nothing difficult, just boot off ubuntu and start the setup, now when you reach the partition thingy, guve ubuntu the remaining space of the hard drive. it will install Grub (bootloader) which will manage your boot at startup

there's nothing difficult really
 
Sure:) First, do you have the Live CD or Alternate CD of Ubuntu? GUI = Live CD, Text Install = Alt-CD.

Partitioning can be tricky if you've never done it before. Let's assume you're using the Live CD... When you click Install on the desktop, choose your local settings until the Partition Manager pops up. With Ubuntu, you can get by safely with 2 partitions, but it's just as easy (and easier if you ever have to reinstall) to set up 3, so we'll do that now.

First up is setting up a Swap Partition. In simplest terms, Swap is to Linux what Virtual Memory is to Windows. Swap acts like RAM (although slower) to boost your system performance. So, if you have 1 Gig of physical RAM, and a 2 Gig Swap, your system basically has 3 Gigs of usable memory to work with. The old rule of thumb was Swap = 2x RAM amount; so 1 Gig RAM = 2 Gig Swap. With more systems having more RAM these days, it's kind of a moot point, but a 2 Gig Swap regardless of physical RAM amount will ensure zero issues. Choose the size of your Swap Partition and be sure to designate it as 'Swap' when choosing the partition type.

Next we'll make the /Root Partition. /Root is where all the OS files will be stored, think of it as the 'Windows' folder on your C-drive. You shouldn't ever need more than 6-7 Gigs, and most likely only 3-4. This partition should be labeled as ' / ' as the partition type.

Lastly comes the /Home partition. /Home is where your user settings and personal files can be stored. You can make this as large or as small as you want to. My /Home is only 7 Gigs, but I keep all of my files on a direct backup partition, so I really have no need for a /Home, other than 300-ish MB for my Desktop and random stuff. When selecting the partition type, label it as '/home'.

Here's a look at how the partitions on my HDDs are laid out:

HDD0: Windows OS (15 Gigs), XP Software (10 Gigs), my personal partition (all the rest)
HDD1: Swap (2 Gigs), Ubuntu 7.10 /Root (7 Gigs), Ubuntu 7.10 /Home (7 Gigs), Kubuntu 7.10 /Root (7 Gigs), Kubuntu 7.10 /Home (7 Gigs), backup of my personal partition (all the rest)
 
Thanks for filling some holes in my path! But how do i cut my hard drive like you did? 7gb, 7gb, 7gb, 10gb etc... I would like to split my hard drive. How do i create partitions? I don't have 2 hard drives. I would like the option to boot windows xp or linux, i think also known as "dual booting"
 
on the extended partition only you create logical drives with fdisk in dos.
the C: drive is the primary (leave it alone).

primary is c: for the operating system.

D: would be the extended partition.

e:, f:, g: would be the logical drives within the extended partition.

then you format each logical drive.

fdisk to create the partitions.
format for each drive.

on the other hand to remove the extended partition the remove the d: drive.
you remove the logical drive within the D: partition and then remove the the extended.

unless your fluent with dos you may not like it.
Excellent software like partition magic will do this easily by itself and not much thinking.

cheers.........
 
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I think i did it, i'm not sure what i did though, but it's too late...i think.

After booting Ubuntu, on my new desktop i see my 40GB Windows XP drive, is this suppose to happen?

So then i went to Places-->Computer--> and i see my Windows XP drive C:, and i see a Filesystem drive that is 51GB

And the other 2GB is my swap.

So, i have:
40GB Windows XP drive, Filesystem type: nfts
51GB Filesystem drive, Filesystem type: ext3

Does everything seem right?
 
i would say not. Others will comment since im rusty. i just use 2 drives.
goto explorer and check if you see the drive the drive letters.c, d, e or what ever.

if you see the drives, right click the drive and format each drive if ya didnt.

Be aware imy info is based off using xp pro.
 
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Not going to bother with multiple Quotes, so just bear with me on this Post, I'll try to answer them all in the order they were posted and clear up any holes:)

You are correct with the term 'Dual Booting'. Others may comment otherwise, but since this is your first experience with Linux, trust GRUB (it's bootloader that searches for other installed OS's) with sorting everything out; in this case, it will know what's best. More on GRUB below.

Tremmor hit it with the partition types. There are three you need to know about: Primary, Extended, and Logical. One single HDD can have no more than 3 (4?) Primary or Extended Partitions. Logical Partitions are those created under Extended types. On the HDD1 I mentioned in the previous Post, Swap is the Primary. There are three Extended Partitions, and one Logical after that. Since you're running a single Drive, I would set it up like this:

Partition 1 (Primary): Windows (NTFS)
Partition 2 (Extended): Swap (Swap)
Partition 3 (Extended): /Root (ext3)
Partition 4 (Extended): /Home (etx3)
(Where NTFS, Swap, and ext3 are the types of file systems to be used.)

I would also suggest running Gparted from the Live CD rather than using Fdisk, as it offers a GUI as opposed to text-based Partition screen. Since you'd be running the Live CD and RAM, you can do pretty much anything you want to the HDD with it, as well as see a visual representation of the new partitions. Gparted will also be MUCH faster than Fdisk. Though, Fdisk is an awesome tool, so if you feel comfortable, go for it; just be careful.

The reason you are seeing the Windows partition on the Ubuntu desktop is because during Ubuntu setup, it will automatically mount all recognized (formatted) partitions regardless of whether or not they contain data. This can be tweaked during the Partitioning phase of Gparted, and it's called a 'Mount Point'. A Mount Point tells the software where a particular partition is located and what it's called. Anything with a '/media' in the mount point will show up on your Ubuntu desktop. On my Linux desktop, I have a direct link to both my personal XP drive (designated as Mount Point '/dev/sda/media/JasonXP'), as well as my personal Linux drive (designated as '/dev/sdb/media/JasonLinux). The reason you see the Windows drive on your desktop is because it's designated something like '<drive>/media/WindowsXP' (not exact, but general). If you don't want it to appear on the desktop, you can simply EDIT the partition during the install and delete the mount point. You are NOT deleting the partition, just the information that allows the Mount Point to be shown on your Desktop. Otherwise, it looks fine to me:) I'd be wary of having a direct link to your entire Windows drive via the desktop, as it's easy to potentially erase key files, but so long as you're careful and don't access the 'Windows' or 'Program Files' folders, you should be fine.

A word of advice, it is HIGHLY RECOMMEDED that you backup and personal files, pictures, documents, etc. to CD before playing with partitions, as it's very easy to mis-click something if you're uncertain and wipe one clean.

A quick word on GRUB... Assuming you have XP installed already and then install Ubuntu, the very last part of the install will look for other OS's. If found, it will install GRUB. GRUB acts in the same manner as Window's MBR, only does a much better job, in my opinion. After GRUB is installed and the Ubuntu install finishes, you'll need to reboot. Upon doing so, after your system POST's, you'll see the GRUB screen. From there, you can select what OS you wish to run. There's a default setup in the order it lists the options, but that can easily be changed by editing the file under Ubuntu.
 
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