[GLLUG] got my laptop today!

[Al Puzzuoli]

Hi Julie and all,

I guess jumping into the middle of a thread is a bit of an odd way to 
introduce myself to the group, but I'm new to the area, new to this list, 
and finally got a question that I actually know something about (grin).

I second the motion of going with Ubuntu, and for a new laptop, I would make 
sure that you're using the latest version, Feisty Fawn-- I'll never know how 
they come up with their names.

Do you prefer KDE over the Gnome desktop?  If you install Ubuntu rather than 
Kubuntu, you'll be getting Gnome by default, and no KDE.

Does your laptop come with Windows preinstalled?  If so, do you have a 
recovery disk or any other means to restore it to factory defaults just in 
case?  if the answer is no, then you may want to consider burning yourself a 
copy of the SystemRescueCD available here:
http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

This CD contains among other things, a utility called partimage which is 
similar in function to Ghost under Windows.  NTFS support in Partimage is 
still in beta; However, you can try using it to back up your windows 
partition.  the procedure will either finish successfully, or report that 
the utility is unable to complete the process.  in either case, none of your 
data will be compromised; So worst case scenario is that you lose a few 
minutes of your time. Best case scenario, you have a valid image to restore 
if things go wrong.

As for the installation itself, try the Ubuntu desktop CD first.  The part 
of a dual boot installation  that always makes me the most nervous is 
actually creating free space for your new partitions.  I'm not sure if 
Feisty's installer does this yet for NTFS partitions.  In the past, I've 
always been hesitant to trust in beta NTFS support for this operation, and 
have created the free space with Partition Magic under windows.

Once you have your free space, the rest of the install is a piece of cake. 
just answer a few simple questions about your region, your user name and 
your keyboard, and then when the partitioner comes up, tell it to use the 
largest continuous free space.

That should do it.

Good luck!

--Al


PS.  Just curious, what kind of laptop is it?










----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Julie Code" <jewels9321 at hotmail.com>
To: <linux-user at egr.msu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 1:14 PM
Subject: [GLLUG] got my laptop today!


> Hi Guys,
>       I ended up getting my laptop from DHL today!!! I expected it to be 
> here on thursday and acutally was here more than a week earlier than they 
> originally said. I was wondering if someone could help me install a linux 
> distro on there this thursday?  I am planning on dual booting XP and some 
> linux distro.  Could anyone tell me a good distro, I like Kubuntu but it 
> seems to crash a little more than the others, so I think I would like 
> something like Kubuntu with the apt get install.  I know there is some 
> things you have to do to dual boot like partitioning and so forth, so if 
> anyone has the tools or maybe when I get home tonight Caleb could help me.
>
> Julie
>
>
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