brand-bashing was Re: Acer aspire v5-571p-6815 Kubuntu install

[O. Sinclair]

On 05/11/2012 16:53, FarSight Data Systems wrote:
> On Monday, November 05, 2012 09:46:03 AM L V Gandhi wrote:
>
>  > On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 12:45 AM, Alvin <info at alvin.be> wrote:
>
>  > > On Sun, 04 Nov 2012 15:14:18 +0100, L V Gandhi <lvglist at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>  > > I purchased the above laptop with win8 and touchscreen today. When I
>
>  > >
>
>  > >> checked disk management I found that it already have 4 primary
>
>  > >> partitions; 1)500 mb recovery,
>
>  > >> 2) 500 mb for EFI
>
>  > >> 3) 687gb for running win8 and
>
>  > >> 4) 11.5gb for recovery partition.
>
>  > >> Though I can install Kubuntu in virtual machine, is there any
> possiblity
>
>  > >> of
>
>  > >> dual booting keeping recovery partitions as I do not want to forego
>
>  > >> warrenty. Any one has installed dual booting in such a system?
>
>  > >
>
>  > > I suppose these are GPT partitions? In that case, you should be able to
>
>  > > split the win8 partition. I've never heard of a voided warranty because
>
>  > > one removed the 'recovery partition'.
>
>  > >
>
>  > > - Recovery for what? Certainly not disk crashes.
>
>  > > - It's 12 GB. Might be not that much nowadays, but still. It's 12GB.
>
>  > > - In a month, your recovery partition will be outdated.
>
>  > > - Isn't that partition full of crapware?
>
>  > >
>
>  > > The chance that your Acer will break within the warranty period is very
>
>  > > high. Believe me, I sold Acer years ago. There are a few Acer notebooks
>
>  > > that I never saw again, but most broke fairly soon. It's in your best
>
>  > > interest to keep an external backup. If you want some sort of
> recovery, I
>
>  > > can recommend Clonezilla. It's even a boot option of
>
>  > > http://partedmagic.com/.
>
>  > >
>
>  > > If you want to play it very safe:
>
>  > > - Take an image of the whole *disk* now.
>
>  > > - Format and install as you like. When you make a mistake, restore the
>
>  > > image.
>
>  > > - If everything is ok, make another image. Either the whole disk,
> or the
>
>  > > separate Windows and Linux partitions. That'll be a more useful
> recovery
>
>  > > image.
>
>  >
>
>  > My experience with acer is good. I have netbook from acer bought on 2008
>
>  > still working nicely.
>
>  > Present products have good review from custoimers from all sites like
>
>  > amazon, bestbuy etc.
>
>  >
>
>  > coming to my problem my laptop is having GPT partitions as you rightly
>
>  > suggested. It has EFI system partition for boot. My kubuntu 1204 cd could
>
>  > not boot when my BIOS was in UEFI boot mode. When I changed it to legacy,
>
>  > it could boot. After booting cfdisk could not see partitions because of
>
>  > GPT. When I tried taking image using mercurium reflect in DVD, I get
>
>  > message that DVD formating could not be done. But I could play music and
>
>  > boot KUBUNTU in legacy BIOS mode.
>
>  > As You suggested, I will try clonezilla.
>
>
> Just as a note, I have three Acer systems, a desktop, a notebook (the
> oldest, about 4 years old), and a netbook. All have some version of
> Linux and all work great (the notebook needs a new battery).
>
>
> I recommend Acer systems to all my clients as I've never had to call
> tech support for any of them. Can't say that about Dell or HP.
>
I would just say that brandbashing does not help. He bought an Acer and 
that is how it is. I have bad experience, others have good. I like Dell, 
others cry. We used a lot of HP over the years, normally good. Lately so 
full of crap/bloatware that even "Joe User" complain how slow they are 
right after prime install (in Windoze of course). I am unhappy myself 
with my HP with a seriously crippled BIOS.

So in short, try assist with problem at hand. I have no experience 
myself of the new EFI stuff or I would