Tom's Hardware: Topic How Can I Get Linux?
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Yes definitely!
Linux is indeed an operating system and a pretty good one.
It has it's flaws and can be a little intimidating at first but it's getting better and easier by the day.
You can shrink your windows partition on your 500GB drive and install Linux on the space you free up.
Before you shrink anything it's a good idea to backup your important files.
Better safe than sorry.
Head over to http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/7.10/ and download
http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-r [...] -amd64.iso
or
http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-r [...] e-i386.iso
depending on your hardware
check the md5sums using an md5 tool http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/using_md5sums.html
if they match the corresponding checksum in this file http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/7.10/MD5SUMS you're good to go!
Use an ISO capable CD recording program to burn the ISO CD image to a CD-R as an ISO image, be careful some CD recording programs may just burn the ISO to CD as a file which is not going to work
reboot your computer, go into the BIOS change the boot order to boot from CD first
when the splash screen comes up use the arrow keys to scroll down to the media check
after the CD passes the media check
boot from the Ubuntu CD
when Ubuntu starts up it will drop you into GNOME, a Linux GUI / desktop
if you're ready to install click on the install link on the graphical desktop and follow the prompts
the installer has 7 steps, 6 are pretty much self explanatory, the only one where you gotta be really careful is the partitioning step
here's some documentation https://help.ubuntu.com/
GL 
Message edited by linux_0 on 11-06-2007 at 06:16:23 PM
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Reply to linux_0
Hehe
1) I meant amd64 which is 64bit vs. i386 which is 32bit more on this later
2) yup, you're just checking the md5 checksums to make sure your download is not corrupt and is secure
3) ISO means a standard CDROM image file so that you can burn your Ubuntu bootable installation CD
you need CD recording software which knows how to burn an ISO image
basically you can do it with a nice free program from here http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/Vista.htm
that should work just fine
4) as far as the partitions go that depends on what you want to do with your system
you have a lot of options, one option is to backup important files and install both operating systems from scratch which is a good learning experience although it can be painful
another option is to backup important files and then shrink your windows partition either on your 1st drive or your 2nd drive or both to make room for Ubuntu
Ubuntu does not need a lot of space unless you plan to install a lot of applications a minimal install needs under 10GB
if you want to have a basic install you only need about 20GB
if you plan to try out almost every linux application there is you may need more space, 60GB or more
since you have a 500GB drive you could give about 250GB to Vista and about 250GB to linux which would pretty much guarantee you wouldn't run out of space for a while under normal usage
you can always resize them or delete them later if you need to or add another drive
here's an install video http://youtube.com/watch?v=njv1A-bjnzw for your viewing pleasure
this is not a dual boot install but you can see how easy it is to install
on a dual boot install you would use the other options in the partitioner instead of telling it to use the entire disk
I know I haven't explained things too well so let me know what other questions you have
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Reply to linux_0
hehe
you were editing as I was typing
5) what all do you have on your D:\ drive? using the ubuntu partitioner you can shrink D:\ and free up 40-60GB for Ubuntu or maybe more but ubuntu doesn't get a drive letter
6) if your VGA card supports them well you should be ok you should probably install the restricted ATI driver
the driver is a work in progress AMD is re-writing their drivers
I think they are planning to release a new driver monthly so if something is broken this month there is a pretty good chance they will fix it by next month
Message edited by linux_0 on 11-07-2007 at 12:23:54 PM
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Reply to linux_0
You can use the command line version of md5sum which runs in a DOS windows instead
the openoffice page has the instructions just scroll down to "The Less Easy Way (md5sum on the command line)"
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/using_md5sums.html
If your 500GB drive ( D:\ ) has nothing on it and you want to use the entire 500GB drive for Ubuntu that would definitely make the process easier since you can just select the 500GB drive and click on use the entire drive option in the Ubuntu partitioner. After you do that the partitioner will automatically partition the drive for you, so you won't have to do anything manually.
If you already have stuff you want to keep on D:\ you can copy it to C:\ if it'll fit. If you don't care about the data on D:\ you can let Ubuntu wipe the drive clean which is what will happen if you select use the entire drive.
Don't be afraid to play around with the OS, you'll learn by messing with it and potentially breaking it
Since an Ubuntu install only takes about 10min it won't take very long to reinstall if you need to.
Keep the questions coming
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Reply to linux_0
Ubuntu will fit in 5GB, but give it 20-30 to be sure
If I remember right, the partitioner slider does show you files and not touch them.
Don't worry about not giving it enough room, it can access fat32 just fine. So create a fat32 partition of ~30GB too, for moving files around Vista and Ubuntu..
Reply to curaga
you can find the md5sums in this file
http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/7.10/MD5SUMS
and it looks like they match so your download should be good
make sure you run the media check when you boot the Ubuntu CD just to be sure
on linux drives are usually identified by their device name
/dev/sda is the 1st SCSI / SATA / USB drive in the system
/dev/sdb is the 2nd drive
/dev/sdc is the 3rd drive
/dev/sdd is the 4th drive
/dev/sde is the 5th drive
/dev/sdf is the 6th drive and so on
the device name on SATA drives will usually change depending on the connector you used on the motherboard
SATA0 is normally /dev/sda
SATA1 /dev/sdb
SATA2 /dev/sdc
SATA3 /dev/sdd
and so on
partitions are identified by adding a number to the drive's device name
for example /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 /dev/sda3 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdb2 etc
it doesn't matter that it's the 2nd drive ( /dev/sdb ) you can install on it no prob but should install the boot loader ( GRUB ) on your 1st drive ( /dev/sda )
you could give it 100-150GB and that should be plenty
to resize the partition on your 500GB drive ( /dev/sdb drive D:\ in win )
in Step 4 of 7 "Prepare disk spare"
select
"Guided - resize SCSIx (x,x,x) partition #1 (sdb) and use freed space"
there will be a slider underneath which you use to set the size
resizing should work fine but if you have any data on your D:\ drive /dev/sdb1 that you do not want to lose both the Ubuntu team and I would urge you to backup your data to your C:\ drive /dev/sda1, to DVD or to an external HDD or whatever you have availabe
if you do not care about the data it is fairly trivial to recreate Drive D:\ /dev/sdb1 in vista or Ubuntu if it breaks
if your partition on drive D:\ /dev/sdb1 is encrypted then Ubuntu may have issues and you may have to delete the partition and recreate it as non-encrypted
Ubuntu can read / write and resize unencrypted win NTFS partitions
it can also resize encrypted NTFS partitions but I do not know if 7.10 has the required version of the ntfsresize program that is needed to do that and I have no way of testing it
GL
Message edited by linux_0 on 11-08-2007 at 06:23:24 PM
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Reply to linux_0
BTW your md5 is correct, go ahead and burn 
You could have checked it with the file MD5SUMS in that same directory
Reply to curaga
uh oh 
Do you have an old CD-Recorder you can use?
Maybe you can borrow one from a friend or something
There are other ways ( HDD or network installs ) to install Ubuntu and other linux distributions but using a CD is the best and easier way for Ubuntu and most other distros.
Other distributions do provide DVD ISOs which will work on a DVD but I do not believe Ubuntu does.
Fedora 8 was just released and it does come on DVD... a rather large 3.6GB DVD compared to a relatively small 700MB ubuntu CD
So I guess if you can't get Ubuntu on there you could try Fedora 8 but you may have to wait a while to download it, the mirrors are probably flooded right now.
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Reply to linux_0
Fedora 8 is a different Linux distibution ( distro ) it works pretty much the same way every other Linux distribution does.
There are a few differences in the look & feel, the available applications, some features and the way you manage the system and software packages.
You can grab the DVD here http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/r [...] 64-DVD.iso
or from one of the other mirrors http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora
It is 3.6GB so it may take a while to get and the mirrors are probably busy.
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm supports DVD burning in Vista.
So you ought to be able to burn the DVD boot up and go from there.
Here's the install guide http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f8/en_US/
GL
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Reply to linux_0
Alright, just saying
Zombie thread 
(i.e. someone woke the dead)
bmouring *bm;
bm=(bmouring*)malloc(sizeof(bmouring)*size);
typedef++ not shown
Yes Virginia it compiles!
Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by linux_0 on 08-13-2008 at 11:14:12 AM
Message edited by linux_0 on 08-13-2008 at 11:14:12 AM
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Reply to linux_0
@ audiovoodoo
Everyone knows bmouring is a struct.
Besides you have to malloc() before you can free()
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Reply to linux_0
As of 2.6.27-rc4 bmouring is compiled into the kernel and cannot be killed
Message edited by linux_0 on 08-16-2008 at 07:56:46 PM
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Reply to linux_0
See? That is why I like Gentoo. You get the option of compiling the kernel with or without built in bmouring modules
-Zorak
@[b]audiovoodoo[/b[ see what you started?
Anything that is a module ( .ko ) can be insmoded and rmmoded unless of course it is compiled in, in which case a kernel recompile would be required.
Go Gentoo!
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Reply to linux_0
Please mind
You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.
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