Ubuntu Linux

ryansace

Hello,

My laptop is currently running XP, has been running for 2.5 years with no clean install, and basically its completely full of rubbish. Ive used all teh spyware removal/clean up/CCleaners, but i think the XP has just depreciated, i read somewhere that OS have a half life.

Im conisdering one of two things:

(a) Clean install of XP. However, i dont have the original disks (trying to download them now off torrent). Am i right in thinking this would completely wipe the laptop and Id be fast again- also would i need to reinstall the drivers etc or would all that be done automatically - i wouldnt have a clue how to install my graphics card/motherboard etc!

(b) I read about Linux Ubuntu. Ive read lots of good things, and that it is more stable. If i installed Ubuntu, would that wipe my C: and return my laptop to as new (instead with Ubuntu of course)

Which course of action would you recommend? I have tried removing all unused programs etc, but its so slow...

mostly

i'd do a clean install of xp to start with, windoze update should sort out the drivers.
You can however run ubunto now by downloading the live cd thingy bob, you might have more issues with drivers tho (just pop the cd in, boot from disk & ubunto will load up, so you can see if you like it, it will not damage the current install)
I run linux on my wifes lappy & find it grand.

unrich

Linux on laptops is a bit of a lottery. Either it works or you need a geek to tweek the installation (wifi support is tricky).

But using live CDs you can find out without an install. You will need a bit of disk space, CD writing software (roxio /nero) and blank CDs.

Download the current ISO image and burn it to the CD.

You can then boot from the CD and try the linux distribution without installation to your hard disk. Only "live" CDs will do this.

Anyway you can see if it will work before you commit. I have just found "nimbleX" which is 200MB and its pretty good for its size. The wifi works with my PCMCIA netgear card. See how you go for a day or two.

Backup your existing documents.

If you are going to re-install( and re-activate) you could buy a bigger hard disk, install XP to a big new partition and have Ubuntu too. Buy a small disk caddy and use the old disk as a back up device.

Distrowatch has a run down of the major Linux flavours and shows which ones do a live CD/DVD.

of your options I would go b).

ryansace

Thank you, Ill try that. If i do decide to install Ubuntu though, will it mean my C; will finally be completely clean? Will it install over windows or be like a clean install? THanks, Ryan

Donnie

If you re-installed XP, you would have the choice to format the partition. Once installed, XP would take care of most of the drivers.
Any missing may be taken care of via the Device Manager and the Internet. Don't worry.

D.K.

Would you recommend partitioning and Dual Boot or a Virtual Machine.
I've a VM on my desktop and Ubuntu is so slow and that's with 1Gig Ram but I probably did something wrong!

D

Conor_3

ryansace wrote: »

Im conisdering one of two things:

(a) Clean install of XP. However, i dont have the original disks (trying to download them now off torrent). Am i right in thinking this would completely wipe the laptop and Id be fast again- also would i need to reinstall the drivers etc or would all that be done automatically - i wouldnt have a clue how to install my graphics card/motherboard etc!

(b) I read about Linux Ubuntu. Ive read lots of good things, and that it is more stable. If i installed Ubuntu, would that wipe my C: and return my laptop to as new (instead with Ubuntu of course)

Which course of action would you recommend? I have tried removing all unused programs etc, but its so slow...

If you don't know how to do a), then b) isn't really suitable for you as Linux requires a bit of knowledge above beginner.

Conor_3

ryansace wrote: »

Thank you, Ill try that. If i do decide to install Ubuntu though, will it mean my C; will finally be completely clean? Will it install over windows or be like a clean install? THanks, Ryan

If you choose to do a clean install, it completely wipes out the partition Windows uses because it uses a completely different and incompatible filesystem.

What that does mean is that when (not if) you give up with Linux, you'll need to have backed your documents up because the Windows installer will need to wipe off the Linux partition.

wolfman

Conor wrote: »

If you choose to do a clean install, it completely wipes out the partition Windows uses because it uses a completely different and incompatible filesystem.

If you mean EXT3 (the file system Linux usually uses) it can work in XP just fine. Not so sure about Vista (I had problems last time I tried), but XP definitely is ok.

With regards to installing Ubuntu, the following steps are advised.

1) Backup all your data first. Just in case.

2) Find out how many partitions you have, what size etc...

Start > Run > type "compmgmt.msc" > Disk Management
It'll show a list of hard drives, it may be worth posting the list here, so people know what setup you have.

3) I'm guessing you may just have the one partition with Windows, your files etc... everything on the one partition.

In which case you'd be best off using a partition editor (like Partition Magic) to change the size of the partition. You'd basically shrink it, and create a 2nd partition (for Linux) with the extra space that is made.

stevanbt

Hi,
I've installed a number of Linux distributions over the years, Ubuntu is the easiest to install and use, so in my opinion Ubuntu is best.

All the PCs in our house dual boot xp and Ubuntu without any problems (our digital tv box runs Ubuntu and MythTv, and has four digital tuners - it's fab).

Have you tried to de-fragment the hard drive that contains xp?

Have a look here for a guide to dual booting.

Hope this helps, Steve.

D.K.

stevanbt wrote: »

Hi,
I've installed a number of Linux distributions over the years, Ubuntu is the easiest to install and use, so in my opinion Ubuntu is best.

All the PCs in our house dual boot xp and Ubuntu without any problems (our digital tv box runs Ubuntu and MythTv, and has four digital tuners - it's fab).

Have you tried to de-fragment the hard drive that contains xp?

Have a look here for a guide to dual booting.

Hope this helps, Steve.

Looks so easy, but can it be uninstalled and does it use resources when you use windows or does it just shut off.

Thanks for that!

D.