[ahad917]

Hello there

I have an inspiron 6000

I currently have xp installed on it and i was thinking of installing ubuntu on it as well.

my questions are
-would installing ubuntu have an effect on the process of my machine?
-Where can i find ubuntu because i read it was free or something?


thanks in advance everyone

[Elvandil]

Ubuntu can be downloaded at http://www.ubuntu.com/

If you have a recovery partition on your drive, you should make a backup image of the drive so you can recover later (unless you also have recovery CD's).

When you create a partition for Ubuntu and install it, it will create the boot menu for both. They run independently and do not affect one another.

It may be easier to just run Ubuntu inside a virtual machine and have both OS's available at the same time (or use one of the installers that lets you install Ubuntu into Windows without any partition changes, like WUBI). WUBI allows you to install Ubuntu just like any other Windows program, it creates a boot menu so that you can choose at boot, and it doesn't mess up your partition structure so that you can later uninstall it just like any other program.

[DotHQ]

Installing Ubuntu would not hurt anything on your machine. Assuming you are talking of dual booting where you can boot to windows or linux / ubuntu.

You can download Ubuntu or any linux distro from:
http://distrowatch.com/

They have them all there.
You always have to install Windows first (which I know you said you've already done) and then the version of Linux you want.

Note that Ubuntu and many other Linux distros will allow you to boot from the CD and give them a try out before installing it on your hard drive. A really cool option.

[ahad917]

Originally Posted by Elvandil

Ubuntu can be downloaded at http://www.ubuntu.com/

If you have a recovery partition on your drive, you should make a backup image of the drive so you can recover later (unless you also have recovery CD's).

When you create a partition for Ubuntu and install it, it will create the boot menu for both. They run independently and do not affect one another.

It may be easier to just run Ubuntu inside a virtual machine and have both OS's available at the same time (or use one of the installers that lets you install Ubuntu into Windows without any partition changes, like WUBI). WUBI allows you to install Ubuntu just like any other Windows program, it creates a boot menu so that you can choose at boot, and it doesn't mess up your partition structure so that you can later uninstall it just like any other program.
thanks in advance everyone

Ok so currently i have xp pro. installed and i have a harddrive of 40gs
only one partition for the C drive?

Can i install it? and how?

[ahad917]

Originally Posted by DotHQ

Installing Ubuntu would not hurt anything on your machine. Assuming you are talking of dual booting where you can boot to windows or linux / ubuntu.

You can download Ubuntu or any linux distro from:
http://distrowatch.com/

They have them all there.
You always have to install Windows first (which I know you said you've already done) and then the version of Linux you want.

Note that Ubuntu and many other Linux distros will allow you to boot from the CD and give them a try out before installing it on your hard drive. A really cool option.

So bro, how can i install it?
Download it to a CD then install it from windows or how?

[xAndehx]

Have you got an empty partition to install ubuntu onto?

you need a partition for xp and one for linux

[ahad917]

Originally Posted by xAndehx

Have you got an empty partition to install ubuntu onto?

you need a partition for xp and one for linux

i only have one partition for windows.

Is there any way i could make another partition?

[xAndehx]

that makes life far more difficult. resizing a partition to create two can be done but i wouldn't recommend it. the best options would probably be to get a old hard drive and add it to your computer before continuing or install it on system you weren't bothered about erasing the windows operating system.

[ahad917]

so, there is no way to install it unless i format and make to partitions right?

[xAndehx]

you will get programs that will try and resize your drive without formatting it, but from my experience it seems to corrupt the partition your resizing more often than not. Its not really a risk worth taking if your xp is working ok.

but i would encourage you to give linux a go, for the sake of learning you could install linux on virtual pc which emulates a computer from within xp. you can download that free from the microsoft website if you wanted to give linux a go.

[Elvandil]

Once you format or repartition, you will have made changes to your drive that may be irreversible if you have a recovery partition on the drive.

Use WUBI. It will install Ubuntu without making any changes to your partition structure and will set up a dual-boot menu so you can decide which you want to use at boot time.

If you decide later to remove Ubuntu, all you will need to do is uninstall it from Add/Remove in Windows and you will be back where you started.

To try out Linux, get Knoppix (or Ubuntu) or some other "Live CD". You can boot from them without installing and run them from the CD. If you like them, you can then install with WUBI.

[ahad917]

Originally Posted by Elvandil

Once you format or repartition, you will have made changes to your drive that may be irreversible if you have a recovery partition on the drive.

Use WUBI. It will install Ubuntu without making any changes to your partition structure and will set up a dual-boot menu so you can decide which you want to use at boot time.

If you decide later to remove Ubuntu, all you will need to do is uninstall it from Add/Remove in Windows and you will be back where you started.

To try out Linux, get Knoppix (or Ubuntu) or some other "Live CD". You can boot from them without installing and run them from the CD. If you like them, you can then install with WUBI.

It worked, i am using ubuntu but i gotta get used to it


Thank you