Creeping into the world of Linux

SteveJW

I would take note of Hammyman, I was not aware it could be installed through windows

I tried a dual boot of Ubuntu, installed from the disc, things worked ok. But when I came to uninstall I had problems. Looking at various websites uninstalling various versions can be a problem

Prior to installing I did run from a live CD, worked after a fasion but could n ot find a way to install correct drivers for my monitor. Everthing else worked fine, internet connection etc

spud17

Removing a dual boot can be tricky, trying to get everything booting correctly, having to run fixmbr/fixboot etc.

My current lightweight favourite is SliTaz, this can be installed onto a flash drive.

There is even a Windows installer called tazusb.exe to help you install to a flash drive, if you can do a normal software install, you can run this.

More info:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/install-slitaz-to-usb-from-windows/

Jakeandme

Someone gave me an old machine with no hard drive so i downloaded the linux puppy iso and burnt it on my windows 7 machine.

As i understand it everything is dealt with in RAM.

I found it very easy to get to grips with after years of Windows.

gonzo127

my suggested path for 'creeping' would be

LiveCD in the first instance to see if everything works

Wubi or Mint4Win (depending if you want to run a *buntu or a Mint) in the second, to start getting used to it, its not perfect however the increased speed over LiveCD (although not as fast as a proper duel boot) and the ease of uninstalling it makes it very worthwhile

Full duel boot in the third once your happy that you will use it a lot and you want to make sure it is fully stable, this is because the Wubi/Mint4Win install can suffer from windows rot/balls ups, since it is installed inside windows

candtalan

Hammyman wrote: »

Try using Ubuntu. Install it through Windows with Wubi. When you start up your computer it'll bring up a menu asking if you want to boot Windows or Ubuntu. When you want to uninstall it, just boot into Windows, go to Programs, select it and click Remove.

I would only suggest wubi for rather short term use. There were recently some issues with (ubuntu) updates affecting wubi stuff and if problems arise it is harder to sort out if wubi has been used. It is also a bit vulnerable to sudden power loss. When you are sure you will go for Ubuntu, then Uninstall wubi ubuntu and do a normal dual boot install.

candtalan

Do use the live CD first to run live sessions. If there are problems you can also get the live CD to do a self check (if it is ubuntu based) which can verify both the download, the CD and the target CD drive.
If you want to install for a dual boot, then
1) defrag windows
2) backup Windows and your data. Consider if a big problem occurs you can reinstall your Windows.
3) get your Windows 7 to resize itself. Some systems have unmovable files at the end of the partition. (Do you think MS would make it easy?). Leave the new space as unpartitioned.
4) Use Ubuntu LTS 10.04.3 live CD which has an installer option to install 'into the largest continuous (unpartitioned) space on the drive'. Other versions can be used, but this convenient option is not in their live CDs. It avoids the offering in Ubuntu installer to automatically resize and partition, which usually works fine, however some Vista and Win7 systems can be troublesome.