Laptop installation

[Nils Kassube]

Avraham Hanadari wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-04-20 at 10:49 +0200, Nils Kassube wrote:
> > Vista comes with a tool to resize partitions. I suggest to use that
> > tool because Microsoft should know best how to resize NTFS
> > partitions without data loss. Then it should be no problem to
> > install Ubuntu to the now free space on the disk.
>
> When I last tried to make a partition in a Vista HD a couple of years
> ago, I discovered that I could only "resize" partitions, but not make
> them. I have a singel, unpartitioned HD on the laptop right now. I
> shall try again. Perhaps upgrades have changed the conditions. On the
> other hand, I have read that the Ubuntu partition manager is very
> good, and is preferable to the MS one.

Well, resizing is what people usually want as Vista occupies the entire 
disk and there should be some space freed for new partitions for 
Ubuntu. I don't know about what the partition manager does to Vista 
partitions but I had total failures with 2 XP machines where the NTFS 
partitions were no longer accessible after resizing them with the 
(K)Ubuntu installer. Now that was about 2 years ago and the partition 
manager may have changed to become better. As for an unpartitioned HD, 
if Vista can't make partitions on that disk, Ubuntu certainly can.

> The last I read about installing Ubuntu in a dual boot on a Vista
> machine explained that the installation was inaccessible afterwards
> because of some booting properties peculiar in Vista. It was
> explained that special software needed to be installed in Vista
> "before" the Ubuntu installation. That software somehow enabled
> access to the GRUB boot loader, or maybe it was LILO.

OK, I didn't know about that special extra software.

> Have you had personal experience installing 9.04 in a dual boot on an
> HP Vista laptop?

No, I don't have Vista. However a friend of mine has some sort of Vista 
on a laptop (not HP) and we will probably try to install Jaunty on that 
machine next month.


Nils