I have the Unbutu install disk (which has live cd on it ) but i do not know how to make a partion without deleting everything on my HD. If someone could make a tut for me or an explanation on how to do it that would be greatly aprichiated.
Righty.. Firstly you haven't read much in these forums or you would know we take a pretty poor view of Ubuntu because of all it's faults and security holes.. That out of the way here's a quick guide to making a few partitions, and a practical hands on guide to my way of partitioning and installing a debian based linux.
The first advice I will give you is that it's probably far better to use a totally seperate drive than to partition an existing windows drive.. Many reasons, not the least being that windoze will attempt to boot itself all the time and things will always be pretty unstable.
Ubuntu likes 3 partitions.. / (root) /home and /swap as do all debian based distros.
How to achieve this on a windows drive.. First backup anything you really don't want to lose and then defrag the drive. If that leaves less than 10GB don't bother going any further..it's pointless.
Then get hold of a full copy of partition magic, you will need to be brave as re-partitioning a drive with existing data on it is always risky, and shrink the windows partition down to leave about 20GB free (unpartitioned) Then split the unpartitioned space into 2 primary partitions..one about 8GB (for /(root)) and the rest as the second.. within the second partition make a logical partition of twice the amount of ram you have fitted.. this will become the swap space.
Don't bother formatting with partition magic, because it really isn't good at it.. make notes of the sizes and positions of the partitions, you will need to refer to this data while you are installing.
Boot your ubuntu disk and follow the installer.. you don't need to partition as it's already done, but you will need to format (they say to use ext3, but I prefer ext2) and make the 8 gig partition bootable..and set mount points..
Like this is good
(if that happens to be how your partitions have worked out)
also remember to enable swap. Note the names that the partitions have (hda2/hda3/hda4 or whatever and continue installing) Don't touch the partition with windoze on it.,.
That should do it.. When prompted install grub to the MBR/co-exist mode.. Reboot when it says and from the menu (blue screen with options for windows and 2 linux..one recovery mode..) select linux normal.
The first thing you MUST do when you boot into linux is change your root password. You can do this from a root terminal, the command is passwd. You can also add other users and manage user accounts in the same way. I'll let you find out about that.. It's an important skill.
Remember these links.. They are a great online command reference
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/commands.htm http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/linux/cmd/
BTW.. Most linux distros have their own mascot anime girl..
This is a rare link, so if you want the ubuntu one go ahead and grab her while you can.. http://ostan-collections.net/imeeji/
Well I am using Kubuntu right now and I am liking it alot. I am using it on the live CD feature. So I think I am going to install it. But my only problem is that I do not know the commands for installing things and things like security (firewalls and virus scanners) I guess you can call me a noob if that tickles your fancy.
thanks for any help
Linux has it's own way of firewalling.. not like windows at all. don't bother too much with them.. I use a little thing called picofirewall because iptables can be awkward with torrent applications..
Antivirus, also not that important.. In 12 months running debian I have never had any malware at all. The only thing I run every so often is rkhunter, about once a week.
Find a spare drive, 10 GB will do for testing an install and keeps everything on your windows drive safe.
Here's a good guide. http://mrbass.org/linux/ubuntu/install/
the only problem with that is that i need some commands i looked at the sites you provided 2 posts ago but i couldnt find anything on installing things. Like say i got DVD Decrypter or something like that
or itunes things like that that i would have on my windows
Boot the installer disk and follow the menus. The links in my first post are to the complete *nix command lists, with a usage for them too.
The link in the above post is the kubuntu install guide. How much easier do you need it to be? I told you in my first post how to resize an existing windows partition, which carries some risk of data loss.
I don't believe in spoonfeeding people..every *nix system is as individual as it's owner. We know how our machines work, and how our software works, and though we are glad to share what we have learned I'm not going to come round your house and install it all for you.. You need to get out of the windoze mentality.. forget all the one click and install stuff, read sites..make notes..keep links..and above all assimilate information. Then you will be a *nix user, with the mindset of a free individual in control of what you do with your computer..not a spoonfed "bill's baby"
Get brave..wipe that drive and install suse or debian and be free!! I'm proud to say I have no windows compatable software on my computer..none at all.. It's all *nix or java.
