Hello everyone, I'm looking to install Ubuntu's Gutsy Gibbon to my laptop but I'm having a few issues. Let me asses my situation for you. Currently I have a 160GB HDD, 120BG is dedicated to Windows XP, the rest is for Gutsy Gibbon. I have the Linux image burned to a CD but when I place it in my computer the live install doesn't come up (with Feisty Fawn it did) I can explore the disc in XP but it doesn't run. I tried installing it upon initial boot which works but when it comes to the partitioning step it doesn't recognize the 40GB RAW partition I set aside for it. It just recognizes the whole HDD. Anyone have insight as to what I should do? Please no haters on Ubuntu either, I know everyone has their favorite distro and most of you are more experienced, but I'm a Linux newb and I've heard Ubuntu is a good first step into the open source OS. Thanks, -J
You may need to investigate the "alternative" install disc. Never had to myself, but it is text based, so while it may be a bit harder to install, I think it is a lot more compatible hardware wise as it doesn't have to guess or make assumptions about as much (sort of why I find Arch, my current favourite, easier to install, all up to the installer). Create a thread on the Ubuntu forums, and don't forget to drop the make/model of your laptop. That sort of info would help infinitely in diagnosing the problem you have...
Thanks for the advice. The current disc I have is the text based installer (not what I wanted, but I was given no other download option for my type of processor, Turion64 X2).
That sounds like purely a partitioner problem rather than the main installer. An old linux trick in these situations is to run a partitioner from a live distro, but that takes a little skill with command line tools.. unless you use puppylinux with gparted. Once the space is partitioned the installer should pick it up. 2 linux headaches here eh Mick? Laptop and 64bit all thrown in one box.. I would try sabayon, but it doesn't play that nice with windows.. revenge
I'm starting to feel like I'm in over my head, but I don't want to give up. Varnull, I have no idea what you are talking about lol. I guess I should start with asking, is it possible to have windows and Linux installed on the same HDD on separate partitions? I assume yes, but the installers want to reformat the whole hard drive. What file system does Linux use? Could I format the raw sector that I want Linux on as NTFS and then maybe Gutsy Gibbon will recognize it? I probably need to lurk the Ubuntu forums for a while.
If you haven't already, BACK EVERYTHING UP. The best way to learn about partitioning is to fire up fdisk or gparted and get in there and format the drive a few times. I know I spent days back when I started with Gentoo trying to find a partition scheme I liked, it is such a personal thing that it is likely going to annoy you if you let a distro do it automatically. And if you are playing with partitions and don't know what you're doing, please, please back everything up. But please don't let it put you off using Linux! You'll be much more the wiser if you can stick it out and learn partitioning well. If you've backed everything up, don't worry about losing Windows for a week - just use a live CD, and browse the net off of it and do any word processing etc off of it. If anything, you'll realise that the only thing you can't really do is play Windows games very easily, and you might even reconsider dual booting Windows. Just don't lose patience. It it gets to you, walk away from the computer, take a break to really think about what might be causing it, ask questions (to the right people -> Ubuntu forums), and approach it as a hobby to fill in some spare time at night. You're not going to master installation on the first night, but it is rewarding in the long run.
Yeah I planned to back everything up but I've been trying to figure out what would be the best software to do it with. I made this thread yesterday to try and figure that out. http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/627433 I won't give up, I'm just frustrated that this Gutsy Gibbon disc isn't as easy as Feisty Fawn. In the end thats probably a good thing since it will give me experience.
Ghost is good. I've read that 2003 is pretty much still the best version, and it is all I have. That said, I haven't even used it for a couple years, personally I've always seen a HDD format as an opportunity to reinstall from scratch and flush out all the crud, so I just tend to backup all my critical files and config settings to a CD/HDD and not bother with the Ghost imaging thing.
Just got my Laptop up and running on a fresh XP install from the stock Vista so currently its crud free. The work I went through to get it the way it is with XP is not something I want to repeat though lol. I actually have Ghost 2003 and I've heard others say is good as well so I guess I'll give it a shot. This is so important to me though I'll probably use other programs too. Better to be safe with 3 or 4 various restore DVDs than be sorry.
Now then.. I just installed this ubuntu stuff on an old machine (how old.. it had windows 98 on it, and a load of free space where the bios wasn't happy about a drive over 8.4 gigs) When you get to the partitioner choose the manual option, simple. It showed me a drive like this dev/hda 18.6gb hda1 8.4gb fat32 B hda2 free 10.2gb So I split this as follows.. hda2 4gb ext3 / B hda3 1gb swap hda4 4.2gb ext3 /home What may be happening (this is a lappy after all and they are pigs sometimes) There could well be a couple of hidden system and restore partitions.. Hidden from partitioners not the OS.. (Mandriva anyone? read only partitions if the installer messes up) This is especially common if it has had vista previously installed. Your experiences with xp can work as a benchmark for this machine.. If it was a real hard time to put xp on it, maybe it isn't the best idea trying to dual boot it after all. The curse of the "winmodem" is still with us.. software emulation of a hardware device.. laptops are arriving with this trick for networking and sound hardware.. nasty. You should really use an old junker for your first forays into linux, something that doesn't matter too much.
