What's the best way to test mainline Ubuntu without destroying my Kubuntu install?

[Colin Law]

On Wed, 17 Apr 2019 at 17:30, Christopher Patti <feoh at feoh.org> wrote:
>
> Thanks for your response.
>
> Pardon the stupid question but will that overwrite my current GRUB configuration or simply add a new entry to boot Ubuntu/Gnome?

Not stupid at all.  It will add a new one to the boot list.  The
default will be the new one and the original will be an option.  To
put the default back to the original (with the new one an option) boot
into the original and run
sudo grub-install /dev/sda   # assuming that sda is the boot drive
sudo update-grub


Colin


>
> Or do I tell it to not write GRUB at all and somehow use the BIOS to boot that partition 'manually'?
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 17, 2019, at 3:45 AM, Colin Law wrote:
> > On Tue, 16 Apr 2019 at 23:11, Christopher Patti <feoh at feoh.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > So as I've whinged about extensively here and elsewhere, I had a terrible, terrible time trying and ultimately failing to get Ubuntu 18.04 and then 18.10 running on my Alienware 17 R5.
> > >
> > > I eventually settled on Kubuntu which works great.
> > >
> > > However, if I could I'd love to be able to be running mainline Ubuntu Gnome, especially with 19.04 coming.
> > >
> > > What's the best way for me to test whether that will actually work these days? Is a LiveCD with no installation enough? Clearly a VM isn't the way to go because then you're getting genericized virtual drivers and not the actual stuff you'd get were you to try to run the OS.
> > >
> > > So, livecd? Maybe something with containers? What's the best non  destructive way if it's possible at all?
> >
> > Usually a live cd is enough, but to be absolutely certain then make a
> > new partition on the disk (it only needs to be 10GB if space is an
> > issue, probably even 5G would be enough to check it works) and install
> > to that partition.  Then you can dual boot into one or the other.
> >
> > Colin
> >
> > --
> > ubuntu-users mailing list
> > ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
> >