If I wanted to dual-boot...

[Harry Krause]

....from startup into either VISTA Ultimate or Ubuntu, what would I have
to do?

At the moment, I have only VISTA installed on my computer.

I have three hard drives:

C, for VISTA and programs.

D, for data storage.

E, for storage of large files.


I can easily move the data I have on D to E, leaving me
a D drive that's empty for all intents and purposes.

Assuming that is what I want to do, and that I have a Ubuntu
CD,

what precisely do I do to set up Ubuntu and NOT mess up my VISTA setup
and be able to boot at start up into either?

Thanks.

 

[James]

What I would do:

1.) Move your data as described to free up the drive.
2.) Insert Ubuntu CD.
3.) Go into BIOS, change boot order to boot off of CD first.
4.) Install Ubuntu on the formatted drive.
5.) Reboot.

It should provide you with an options list of which to boot into at this
point.

 

[Harry Krause]

What I would do:

1.) Move your data as described to free up the drive.
2.) Insert Ubuntu CD.
3.) Go into BIOS, change boot order to boot off of CD first.
4.) Install Ubuntu on the formatted drive.
5.) Reboot.

It should provide you with an options list of which to boot into at this
point.

If I move the data off the drive, is there some sort of repartitioning
or reformatting I have to do on the now empty drive?

 

[James]

The Ubuntu installer will handle that for you. Just make absolutely sure
you pick the correct drive. As always, it can never hurt to have a backup
of your data. At some point in the Ubuntu installation there's a choice of
how you want to partition the drive. If you have a complete bare drive, you
can just choose the "Guided" one that has "Full Disk" in it. I forget the
exact terminology. But you don't want to make a mistake on which drive you
select, obviously.

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi Harry--

It is possible to dual boot with Vista (on it's own partition or on a
separate drive) but the recomended sequence is to install Vista first, then
Ubuntu second. The Grub (or LILO) bootloader will get corrupted if you do it
the other way around. If you only have one hard drive, simply free up some
unpartitioned space, then let Ubuntu install itself on that space.

If Vista is upgraded, Vista will overwrite grub so that will need to be
re-installed. You should make a ubuntu boot disk, and then when you upgrade
vista, you can boot into ubuntu, and use grub-install (or some other method,
ie, grub shell) to install grub back to the MBR.

Ubuntu doesn't take up very much space. The minimum system requirement is
2GB, but you will want more of course depending on programs that you will
need to install. (10-15GB).

or check out these threads:

http://apcmag.com/5046/how_to_dual_boot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first

http://www.commonmancomputing.com/y/Learn/DualBootVistaandLinux/tabid/62/Default.aspx

http://wiki.gtwy.net/index.php/Dual_Boot_Vista_and_Linux

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT2094892904.html

CH

 

[ray]

...from startup into either VISTA Ultimate or Ubuntu, what would I have
to do?

At the moment, I have only VISTA installed on my computer.

I have three hard drives:

C, for VISTA and programs.

D, for data storage.

E, for storage of large files.


I can easily move the data I have on D to E, leaving me
a D drive that's empty for all intents and purposes.

Assuming that is what I want to do, and that I have a Ubuntu
CD,

what precisely do I do to set up Ubuntu and NOT mess up my VISTA setup
and be able to boot at start up into either?

Thanks.

First, defrag your MS partitions. Next boot the Ubuntu install disk and
use the included utility to make room - shrink and move partitions.
Continue with the install and let Ubuntu set up the dual boot for you.
Note - you should plan on two partitions for Ubuntu - one swap partition
about twice RAM and a root (/) partition - should probably be 10gb or more
to allow for expansion.

If you clear a drive then you can simply tell Ubunut to do it's thing on
that drive. Also note that Linux counts drives and partitions in a logical
manner, unlike MS - I mean where is C, where is D . . . For Linux, the
primary controller master drive is hda, primary slave is hdb, secondary
controller master is hdc, secondary slave is hdd. Partitions on each drive
are numbered 1 to whatever.

 

[Harry Krause]

Hi Harry--

It is possible to dual boot with Vista (on it's own partition or on a
separate drive) but the recomended sequence is to install Vista first,
then Ubuntu second. The Grub (or LILO) bootloader will get corrupted if
you do it the other way around. If you only have one hard drive, simply
free up some unpartitioned space, then let Ubuntu install itself on that
space.

If Vista is upgraded, Vista will overwrite grub so that will need to be
re-installed. You should make a ubuntu boot disk, and then when you
upgrade vista, you can boot into ubuntu, and use grub-install (or some
other method, ie, grub shell) to install grub back to the MBR.

Ubuntu doesn't take up very much space. The minimum system requirement
is 2GB, but you will want more of course depending on programs that you
will need to install. (10-15GB).

or check out these threads:

http://apcmag.com/5046/how_to_dual_boot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first


http://www.commonmancomputing.com/y/Learn/DualBootVistaandLinux/tabid/62/Default.aspx


http://wiki.gtwy.net/index.php/Dual_Boot_Vista_and_Linux

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT2094892904.html

CH

Thanks. I cleaned off my "D" drive, and ubuntu installed itself on that.
I played with it for about 10 minutes, and the only anomaly I noticed
was that my HP printer would print what I sent to it, but I had to hit
the "check" button on the printer for it to complete printing and move
the paper out. Weird