Installing Ubuntu

Matthew-1985 · 19 Aug 2006 at 09:38

I have Windows XP on my primary SATA hard drive and was thinking of trying out Ubuntu and installing it on a different hard drive.

Can I dual boot between XP on a SATA drive and Ubuntu on a slave IDE hard drive? :confused:

Thanks.

Hamish · 19 Aug 2006 at 12:02

Pulseammo · 19 Aug 2006 at 12:52

At the end of the install it will notice that you have two operating systems and set up the boot loader correctly. When your machine boots you'll be given a selection of which OS you want to use. Just make sure it notices the windows install during the install.

Echo toxin · 19 Aug 2006 at 13:15

Do you reckon Ubuntu is good for a semi-n00b? My sister currently uses Windows XP but somehow or other she always mucks it up within a few months of my installing it for her.

I was thinking of sticking Ubuntu on her P4 1.7GHz PC as she really only uses the web browser and email. Do USB drives work OK?

Hamish · 19 Aug 2006 at 13:37

Echo toxin said:
Do you reckon Ubuntu is good for a semi-n00b? My sister currently uses Windows XP but somehow or other she always mucks it up within a few months of my installing it for her.

I was thinking of sticking Ubuntu on her P4 1.7GHz PC as she really only uses the web browser and email. Do USB drives work OK?

Should be OK as long as she doesn't need to install anything and just uses word / internet etc. USB drives work fine.

Scythe · 20 Aug 2006 at 12:34

Echo toxin said:
Do you reckon Ubuntu is good for a semi-n00b? My sister currently uses Windows XP but somehow or other she always mucks it up within a few months of my installing it for her.

I was thinking of sticking Ubuntu on her P4 1.7GHz PC as she really only uses the web browser and email. Do USB drives work OK?

USB Drives work absolutely fine, when installed on the pc, type this into the terminal:

Code:

sudo apt-get install usbmount

and this will mount/unmount usb storage devices.

Web browser and email cilent comes already installed. Does she use a ethernet modem? I have a usb modem and it took a bit to get working, if you need any help on usb modems on ubuntu, msn or email me (in profile)

Mr Potatohead · 20 Aug 2006 at 12:59

Scythe said:
USB Drives work absolutely fine, when installed on the pc, type this into the terminal:

Code:

sudo apt-get install usbmount

and this will mount/unmount usb storage devices.

It should automatically mount USB storage devices without you needing to do this. It did for me earlier.

Scythe · 20 Aug 2006 at 13:29

Mr Potatohead said:
It should automatically mount USB storage devices without you needing to do this. It did for me earlier.

I had to install usbmount :confused:

FirebarUK · 20 Aug 2006 at 14:33

Yes it should automatically mount them. Most distro's do nowadays as they have this utils installed.

Echo toxin · 20 Aug 2006 at 18:34

Scythe said:
Does she use a ethernet modem? I have a usb modem and it took a bit to get working, if you need any help on usb modems on ubuntu, msn or email me (in profile)

No, she has a Speedtouch router so as long as her Ethernet port works, she will be happy.

Scythe · 20 Aug 2006 at 21:17

Echo toxin said:
No, she has a Speedtouch router so as long as her Ethernet port works, she will be happy.

thats good news. I have a speedtouch usb modem and its pretty easy to setup if you follow instructions exact.

Pulseammo · 21 Aug 2006 at 00:01

Echo toxin said:
Do you reckon Ubuntu is good for a semi-n00b? My sister currently uses Windows XP but somehow or other she always mucks it up within a few months of my installing it for her.

I was thinking of sticking Ubuntu on her P4 1.7GHz PC as she really only uses the web browser and email. Do USB drives work OK?

Have you used linux your self? I'm not sure exactly what you hope to gain by letting your sister use linux rather than windows, I'd say that someone would be perfectly capable of messing up an install of any OS, the only problem is now you have to be reasonable at linux if she does something properly wrong.

Why not partition her hard drive, install windows into the main partition, set up the basics, patches etc. Once the install is in a basic state ghost the partition into the other partition. That way the next time you have to format for her its just a simple case of moving the ghosted partition into the main partition. Furthermore make a small partition of a few gigs of "backup" space. That means when you nuke the windows partition you save her documents etc into the backup partition which will remain un-affected then move the files back across.

(Sorry if giving this advice is hijacking the thread off its original topic)