So I want to start using Linux...

Have you managed to resize your partition, or is Windows still playing up? If you're still having problems doing it from within Windows, then you can do it using the Ubuntu installation CD.

Briefly, using the LiveCD part of Ubuntu (the part you were playing around with earlier) you install qtparted - a Linux disk partitioning tool - and use that to resize the partition that Windows is installed on. Then you can run the installer and install Ubuntu to the newly created spare space.

Here are detailed instructions on how to do it.... it's for the 7.04 version of Ubuntu, but it'll be the same steps for 7.10

http://www.howtoadvice.com/ResizePartition/
 
Excellent cheers. I will do that tomorrow. Been defragging all day but Vista defrag is total ****. So then I downloaded Auslogics disc defrag.

But will print this off and do it in ubuntu :)
 
Can anyone tell me how I can boot up the Kubuntu disc without VGA? I want to use my Dell 2007 at 1620 x 1050 on DVI from my X800 but I have no clue and the disc wont boot up unless I have my VGA monitor (Samsung 32" LCD TV) plugged in.
 
Tobes said:
Can anyone tell me how I can boot up the Kubuntu disc without VGA? I want to use my Dell 2007 at 1620 x 1050 on DVI from my X800 but I have no clue and the disc wont boot up unless I have my VGA monitor (Samsung 32" LCD TV) plugged in.
Click to expand...

Just use the disk you got working first time, install, then change the gui so its like kubuntu or xubuntu later.
 
Ross1234 said:
Just use the disk you got working first time, install, then change the gui so its like kubuntu or xubuntu later.
Click to expand...

It's the same disc. Just last time I got no display and realised it was outputting to my TV. I would rather boot up using my monitor though as I'm watching something on TV lol.
 
lol. It really doesn't want me doing this. So I'm running on the disc at the moment. Trying to go through the instructions to resize the partition. Got a little bit stuck because it's for Ubuntu and some things are different. Plus I can't do "su" because there is no password.

But that's not really a problem, the problem is my drive is NTFS. So Kubuntu can't access it which means qtparted can't. So I can't resize the partition :(

EDIT: For anyone that cares it turns out my graphics card isn't supported any more in Ubuntu. To get it working is out of my know how. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=302540&page=2

I'm done I guess.
 
Last edited:
Using sudo rather than su should work in the LiveCD. The password you're prompted for with sudo is your password, as opposed to the password for root.

Not sure why your Kubuntu doesn't like your NTFS drives... mine (Xubuntu but the only difference is the desktop environment) works fine with my NTFS drives. Might have to just set your mount points and then define it in fstab.

As for the video card.... not really sure about this. If ATI's closed drivers don't work, you should be able to still use the non-ATI open source one. Alternatively, have you tried using Envy to install the grpahics driver?
 
Tobes said:
While I know its the heart of linux. With Dell shipping their machines with it I would have thought people would have to do without using command line for the basics. Just like I don't have to use command prompt in XP or Vista. It's there should I need it, but it's not a necessity.
Click to expand...

The difference is that the Linux command line is actually powerful and lets you do more things than a GUI would ever be able to do. Linux is absolutely nothing like DOS.
 
GarethDW said:
As for the video card.... not really sure about this. If ATI's closed drivers don't work, you should be able to still use the non-ATI open source one. Alternatively, have you tried using Envy to install the grpahics driver?
Click to expand...

*Woosh*

lol. I was reading that thread and people suggested alternate drivers but because it's not a case of double clicking a exe I have no idea how to do this. At college at the moment but will look more into it when I get back home.
 
Kubuntu i386 disc gives me this error

hdb: error code: 0X70 Sense_key 0X03 asc 0X11 ascq 0X06
buffer I/O error on device hdb logical block
SQUASHFS error... something something

*Cries*

I just want Linux :(

I'm going to try the x64 alternative disc. See if that does anything magical.
 
Kubuntu i386 desktop gave me that error.

Kubuntu AMD 64 desktop gives me the graphics driver problems and also have to remove "splash".

Going to restart now and try Kubuntu AMD 64 alternative see how that goes yet I'm going to guess the same as the desktop because its still the same graphics drivers.

Then I will try the alternate of i386 like you say :)
 
The x64 and x86 alternatives should work equally well, they were designed for situations when the LiveCD won't boot. LiveCDs just annoy me in a way now, I'd rather just get it installed :)

Just re-read you've got an ATi X800, that era of cards are notorious for LiveCD problems. The alternate is the way forward.
 
OK well the X64 alt disc boots fine. But because its not a live CD I obviously have to install... so I'm a little bit worried. Basically I'm going to have to drop Vista completely I think. Very scary not relying on Windows. So I will backup my data tonight and install it tomorrow.

I have 2 other hdds in my pc. These have data on them like music, media etc. They are in NTFS format.

Will Ubuntu read these fine once it's installed?
Will I have to tell Kubuntu to read them?
Will I have to format them to a different file system?

Also last question. Just in case something should happen and I need a windows OS (not virtual), can I install XP AFTER linux?
 
Why do you need to drop Vista?

It will be able to read NTFS drives fine, should be clever enough to discover them and mount them, easy enough to do if not. You'll need to format them if you're wanting to write to them, if you're keeping Kubuntu as your main OS.

You can install Windows after Kubuntu, it'll rewrite your boot record and leave your Kubuntu install orphaned. Also easy enough to fix again though, using an install CD to get a prompt back to restore the grub menu.
 
gumbald said:
Why do you need to drop Vista?
Click to expand...
I want to use my 74gb raptor drive for the OS which has vista on it. Taking up 35gb of space. I can't seem to resize the current partition and I'm not touching partition magic as it wiped my OS last time.

Kubuntu doesn't pick up my drives from the Live CD so I couldn't use qtparted to resize the partition.
EDIT: Thats a lie. It picks them up but doesn't let me read them.

So the only option I have is to format the drive. I guess?

EDIT: Also you said it can't write to NTFS drives. Which I guess means any files I download onto linux I cant transfer over to these drives?
 
Last edited:
You can write to NTFS partitions using FUSE. It's installed and working by default in Ubuntu. The Ubuntu installer should see any NTFS partitions and automagically mount them at boot as read/write.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
You can write to NTFS partitions using FUSE. It's installed and working by default in Ubuntu. The Ubuntu installer should see any NTFS partitions and automagically mount them at boot as read/write.
Click to expand...

Sorry Billy - close, but no cigar... you can use NTFS-3g (which uses Filesystem in User SpacE - but it isn't FUSE ;))

You can also write to NTFS natively (well kind of... no new files and overwriting files have to be EXACTLY the same size... which is kind of pointless!)

Other than that, you've always been spot on (sorry... drunk and pedantic on a tuesday night!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom