[cajungenes]

I want to install Ubuntu on my computer so that I can boot from either it or WindowsXP. I have two hard drives, which currently have WindowsXP on both.

Should I reformat first? Do I need to put Linux on a separate drive from Windows? Does it need to be on the master drive? Should I partition the drives? If so, how?

Please make the instructions REALLY simple....I'm struggling to learn Linux. I'm fairly proficient with XP, but I'm less than zero with Linux.

Thanks,

CG

[gfxrelay]

Hola I think Ubuntu gives you the option to resize the windows patition but this can be tricky if the partition is not resized completely and windows gets hurt. I think the easiest way is to reinstall windows on a smaller partition and then install ubuntu on the remainder disk space. In this case
1.Backup all your old data.
2.Insert the XP cd during the installation when asked to delete the partition and manually create a new partion about a third of your entire hdd size.
3.Continue further with the installation.
4.Insert the Ubuntu cd and when asked when to install and where choose the remainder of the disk space.

You can also try to google for the linux manual. If you are having further problems pm me

[saikee]

Linux can be installed anywhere in any disk, any partition type and to co-exist with any PC system including its own kind in any number. Linux also has boot loaders capable of booting all the systems you care to install in the PC.

Therefore you can put Linux in the same disk as XP if there is unallocated hard disk space available or put it in a different disk. The iinstaller will format the partitions for you so no need to format the disk before.

My advice to any first Linux beginer is to get hold of a Live CD and use it to create two partitions; a 10Gb for Linux and 1Gb for swap. This serves 3 purposes;
(1) The partition types will be 82 by default suitable for any Linux and swap partition type 83 can be selected as well
(2) You know where Linux will be residing and will have some idea how the partitions are called in Linux.
(3) You bypass the complication of installing a Linux in multi partitions.

Perhaps the easier route for a new comer is to install it on a separate disk.

The risk of multi boot, which is a new experience for first timer in Linux, is to let Linux's boot loader take over the Master Boot Record of the first boot disk, which is now occupied by XP's own version. If something goes wrong a user may have no access to both systems and can get into a panic situation. So have the following tools availabe

(1) Dos 6 or above bootable floppy or XP installation CD for restoring Xp's boot loader

(2) A Linux live CD for rescue Linux boot loader

The 2nd and last links of my signature have plenty of information to put Linux and XP in two different drives and solve any booting problem.

[lotuseclat79]

Hi saikee,

I have a grub.conf for my dual-boot Linux and WinXP system with each OS on separate disks as follows:

default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.10-1.770_FC3smp)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.10-1.770_FC3smp ro root=/dev/sdb2 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.10-1.770_FC3smp.img
title WindowsXP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

This boots up into Linux by default, and to boot up into WinXP, changing default = 1 will accomplish that which of course requires first booting up into Linux to access the /boot/grub/grub.conf file to make that change.

No need for the map command here or need to get into BIOS and Windows MBR remains isolated as in 2nd signature link.

-- Tom

[saikee]

lotuseclat79,

Your XP is in (hd0,0) and this confirms that you have installed the Linux boot loader in Windows disk which boots first as Grub has identified it as (hd0).

The map command is for preserving the Windows MBR if it is used as the slave disk or (hd1) while nominating the Fedora disk as the first bootable disk (hd0) or master. In such a case XP dosen't boot because it was originally installed as the first bootable disk (or master) but is now running behind Fedora as a slave disk. The map command does the swapping of disk order on-the-fly.

Preserving the XP's MBR is just an option for new Linux users afraid of losing XP. If one trusts the Linux boot loader then there is no need to install the Linux and the Windows in separate disks.

[gotrootdude]

Why not just run ubuntu colinux without repartitioning.


Here's some links to get started:
http://www.willmer.com/kb/2005/07/in...p-with-ubuntu/

http://www.willmer.com/kb/2005/07/colinux-for-ubuntu/

May not be a perfect solution, but it would be a learning experience, and kinda neat experiment.

[cajungenes]

Thanks for all the replies and information. I am going to try the live CD first...and see how that goes. I will also do some reading homework. I am determined to learn Linux and move away from MS products....I just need to take the leap.

CG

[lotuseclat79]

Hi saikee,

Thanks for the great explanation of my grub.conf vs your link webpage and use of the map commands in the grub.conf.

I dislike the notion of more than one OS per disk even though the WinXP disk has the grub loader which makes it less than "pure" from an aesthetic pov. If you lose the disk, then you lose more than one OS which is a double hit in reliability terms, and although two disks is more costly, from my pov the separation is worth it unless one cannot afford it.

-- Tom

[saikee]

lotuseclat79,

A Live CD and a Dos bootable floppy, as I mentioned in Post #3, are the tools one needs to solve any booting problem in putting 3 different MS systems (DOS and Windows) and over 50 Linux in one hard disk.

A hard disk can have only a maximum of 4 primaries which a MS system requires to survive in. Giving one up can produce about 50 logical partitions for installing Linux distros.

Thus dual booting is very much a matter of knowing how to use the above simple tools.

Grub, as used by Fedora and Ubuntu, can boot as many systems as one can pile into the PC.