Karmic on a vista lap top

[Leonard Chatagnier]

--- On Tue, 11/3/09, Willis Taylor <th1bill at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> From: Willis Taylor <th1bill at sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: Karmic on a vista lap top
> To: "U list" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 10:19 PM
> I need to dual boot an elderly
> gentleman and I believe, from all the
> horror stories that there must be some special
> considerations t be
> considered.  Any thoughts o this install will be
> appreciated.  This
> gentleman has purchased a Compaq lap top loaded with
> Vista.
> 
Assuming you want to keep vista, then defrag the HDD and be sure to remove any recovery image at the end of the HDD. I think this is done in windoze but don't remember how. Removing the image file should be done first before defraging.  Once defragged use gparted or you favorite partition tool and shrink the vista partition to a reasonable usable size. Use the free space to make partitions for the Linux OSes you may want to install. I believe it's been said on the list that 30GB is plenty of room for Ubuntu. Create an ext3 or ext4 file system on the partition depending on which Ubuntu version you will install or one for whatever fs you are familiar with and want to use.  Then use the live CD or alt CD to install on the partition you set up.  I prefer the alt CD but the live CD will allow you to check if all the peripheral devices will work out of the box. I would still make and iso image of the alt CD because I find it easier to use and allows more
 selections, YMMV. You may want to run "sudo update-grub" from the CLI before rebooting just in case.
That's the procedure I generall use on a windoze PC to install linux on.  If there is something you don't understand then post back you question and someone will help.  Good luck. You could also post or google on all the included peripherals on the laptop for more info.
Leonard Chatagnier
lenc5570 at sbcglobal.net