Is it even worth installing Ubuntu for me?

[jono2006]

Hi, I've recently been thinking about creating a separate partition on my hard drive and installing Ubuntu on it.

I currently use XP SP3 32bit. I basically only use XP for Instant Messaging, Internet, torrents, music, movies/tv and school work (mainly word processing). Is there much point in installing Ubuntu on my hard drive if I'm only going to use it for these things?

I have no problem with XP, but many people have advised me that Ubuntu is faster and more "free" etc. I have no problem with installing it and learning the OS, as I think it would be interesting to learn.

Anyway, basically what I am asking is:
Is there that much of a point in me installing Ubuntu?

OR

Will I see that much of an improvement running Ubuntu instead of XP?

EDIT: btw, just out of curiosity: When I split my hard drive into a partition for XP and a partition for Ubuntu using the Ubuntu Live CD, will my XP remain exactly the same or will it wipe data?

 

[wmorri]

Hi,

You have listed all the reasons that you need to install linux.

First let me clear up a couple of things for you. When you partition your hdd you won't loose any data, or at least you shouldn't. The best way to think of partitioning is like adding a new hdd. If you added a new hdd then you wouldn't loose any data on the original one.

You said that you wanted to learn the OS. That is one of the best reasons to install Ubuntu. That is the reason that I installed it my first time and I still use linux just a different distro now.

Ubuntu and linux in general is going to be "faster". You might not notice it a lot, but you will on start up and a couple other places. The reason behind this is that it uses the CPU and Memory differently that windows. But I won't get to techincal right now. The Second reason would be that it is FREE. Free like speech, and free like beer.

As to whether you will see any improvement running Ubuntu instead of XP? That is up to you to decide. You might see some like how you can just download free programs and not have to buy them. It all depends on you you persive the word improvements.

If you need any help with installing Ubuntu or anything with linux just let me know and I will be more than willing to help.

Cheers!

 

[PvilleStang]

I'd go with Linux, too. OpenOffice.org mimics Micro$oft office, and lets you save documents in the same formats (*.doc, *.ppt, *.xls, etc) and is free. Most of the programs are updated a lot more often than anything M$ could ever keep up with, and more programs are available to download instantly. If you have a need for it, Linux most likely has it.

WMORRI: Free beer? You crazy yanks just giving it away now? Send some my way!

 

[wmorri]

Free beer? You crazy yanks just giving it away now? Send some my way!

If I had the money I would send you some right away.

 

[jono2006]

Thanks for the replies guys. Downloaded the Live CD (32 bit version) last night and I might install it today. I know what you're saying with just adding a new hard drive wmorri, but unfortunately that isn't possible for me as my PC is still under warranty and opening the case will void it...

Anyway, I'm running a fairly new copy of XP so I haven't got that many things I want to keep from it, so it shouldn't take too long to back up what I want.

Just to make sure I'm not doing something wrong, I've found two different guides on the net showing me how to install Ubuntu on a hard drive with XP already installed (without deleting XP). The first one says to partition the hard drive with the Linux System Rescue CD. The other one says just to partition the hard drive with the Linux Live CD and then use the GRUB boot menu for loading whatever OS I want to use.
Which of these would be the best way of doing this?

EDIT: Sorry about this but I just thought of another question: how much of my hard drive should I dedicate to running Ubuntu? My hard drive is 186GB. I've heard Ubuntu generally uses less space than Windows. Is this correct?

 

[wmorri]

Hi,

What I was saying about the second hdd, was just an analigy. If you want a second hdd we can do that later on.

I would recommend that you read through this guide. I think it is pretty good if I do say so myself

When you go to install ubuntu, I would choose the option to use all the space that is left on the hdd. The other option is the choose how much space you want to have. I think that this is pretty easy now with the installer. Don't choose the option to use the entire hdd. If we need to change the size of any partitions then we can do that later.

Cheers!

 

[jono2006]

Back again. I successfully partitioned my hdd and installed Ubuntu. Just want to say a big thanks, I'm liking this a lot
Everything seems to be working fine and very fast. I used the update manager to do a big update of everything. I'm liking how everything I need is already pre-installed on Ubuntu.

One question though: I went into the GRUB boot menu and tried to load up XP again and it kind of didn't work. It went to another black screen which just said it was loading and stayed like that for about 20mins without changing. Will I have to re-install XP? I'm not really fussed as it shouldn't be that much of a hassle, just want to know. Thanks again!

Gah, sorry for double post but I think I made a silly mistake.
I tried booting XP a few more times and it did the same thing. I left it on for over an hour and it didn't change screen. In the end I formatted the partition in which XP was installed on and re-installed XP. XP now works fine again but now the GRUB boot menu no longer shows up when I boot my computer. It boots straight into XP This of course means I can't boot Ubuntu any more.
Is there any way to get the boot menu back without reinstalling Ubuntu again? Haha, sorry about this.

Also just to avoid confusion: I now have two separate partitions on my HDD, one with XP Professional installed, the other with Ubuntu installed. It's just that I can only load XP now.

 

[wmorri]

Hi,

It isn't a big deal. I have this happen to people once and a while. It has to do with the fact that when you re-installed windows, their mbr took over and kicked GRUB.

So what you will need is a LiveCD, your Ubuntu one will work for this. Boot up the CD and then open a terminal, then run this command:

[COLOR=red]grub --on-floppy

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1[/COLOR]

The output should be a device (hd#,#). You'll need to use that device for the following command. If GRUB's unable to find stage1, just stop and post back as you'll need to go a slightly different route.

Using the output of the previous command, run the following, replacing (hd#,#) as necessary:

[COLOR=red]grub> root (hd#, #)[/COLOR]

The final step is installing GRUB to the MBR. For that, you'll simply need to specify which drive you want GRUB installed on. Typically, that'll be (hd0) or the first drive (boot priority). So run:

[COLOR=red]grub> setup (hd0)[/COLOR]
[I]and finally[/I]
[COLOR=red]grub> quit[/COLOR]

Cheers!

 

[jono2006]

Alright, I tried that but it didn't work. No problem though since I ended up deleting my partition with Ubuntu installed and just installed a fresh one (it wasn't a problem since it was basically a fresh install anyway). So now I have fresh versions of Ubuntu and XP installed on my HDD
Just wanted to say a huge thank you for your support it was very much appreciated! Now I gotta figure out how to work tarballs so I can get my Realtek audio drivers installed and figure out how to work this Twinview thing
Wish me luck.

 

[wmorri]

Hi,

Why do you need the Realtek drivers? Does ALSA not work for you? It should most linux will just use their default kernel drivers to run on your system. Do you have any sound at all coming from the computer?

Cheers!