Moving to Ubuntu

Hi Guys

I have a Dell Laptop XPS m1210 with Vista. It has a D recovery partition. I have never used it and I doubt I will ever use it. I had my system for over 2yrs and I doubt I would want to go back to factory default and then do all the updates. I am going to clone C drive (OS and all my files are on it) with Clonezilla and remove D partition. This should be a better alternative right?

I am going to erase the whole hard drive and install Ubuntu and restore the backed up Vista to an external hard drive, to have it ready just in case if I need it. What would be the best way to do this? I dont want to completely lose the vista system.

I am going to wipe the whole hard drive clean and install Ubuntu. I just want to know what is the safest way to get rid of MediaDirect (even any HPAs). I am using Gparted. I am a bit worried that if any HPAs exist they might cause problems if I inadvertently hit the media direct button after installing ubuntu.

By the way the vista DVD that came with the laptop only works on this laptop right.
I am moving completely away from windows and any help will be much appreciated.

Yudi

 

For a new user I would highly recommend a dual boot system. I have Arch on my first partition (logical) and a giant shared "Data" partition (ntfs) and a final 30Gb Windows 7 (NTFS) partition. Each OS partition only has their basic OS installation stuff and I install everything and put all my data into the Data partition. There are just some things you need Windows for. Games, or some Uni stuff

 

Hi zephyrus17,

I am not a big fan of dual boot. I have on on my desktop and have hardly needed windows. Once I install Ubuntu, I will run vista in a virtual machine. I only need it for study and I do not play games.

The only reason I want to preserve my vista system is that I do not want to throw away a proper working system that I have maintained for over 2 yrs. There will be a day when I will not need this but just to be comfortable I want to preserve my system as is (just the C drive) not the recovery or the mediadirect partitions.

I need help with cloning just the C drive onto an USB external hard drive. I have a 150gb partiton for it.

Lenovo Thinkpad T61p 15.4" 1680x1050 WSXGA+ | Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5Ghz | 4Gb RAM | 500Gb@5400rpm | 512MB nVIDIA Quadro FX 570M | ArchLinux 64bit + Windows 7 RC 64bit

I have a friend who wanted to get this Lappy a couple of years ago. He was studying animation. Instead went for a Desktop. He wanted something that was smaller. T61p also had a 14.1" but he wanted something even smaller. couldn't find any. Actually he is still waiting for one with similar config in a 12" or 13". Doesn't look like his wish is going to come true. They are actually getting bigger.

I am guessing you are in a similar industry, How good is it productivity wise?

 

I'm not too sure what programs are good for cloning, but I would rather recommend just copying out the files you want. Because when you clone a disk you clone it's errors too. Ask around in the Windows forum for cloning tools if you still want to clone.

To get rid of all partition, just boot into the Ubuntu LiveCD and use gparted and format the entire drive. I would recommend the 64bit if your processor supports it.

For a everyday user:

Code:

10Gb /
(size of ram) /swap
(rest of drive) /home

is good enough. I highly recommend ext4 for the / and /home partitions.

Another alternative, depending on the capacity of your disk, is to employ

Code:

10Gb /
(size of ram) /swap
~2Gb /home
(rest of drive) Data (or whatever you want to call it)

This to some people is more elegant, as you separate the Data files from all the config and .(dot) files for all the applications you use. Because the .(dot) files aren't very big, I think even 1Gb will be enough for /home. Do note to make changes to your virtual system to use the Data partiton instead of your /home.

As with Ubuntu, since it is not a rolling release, it's best you do a clean install of the next version by formatting your / partition.


To answer your question regarding my laptop, you should realise that productivity comes with screen size. Because a larger screen doesn't only been more screen real estate, it also means more space and more ability to put more powerful components like better graphics cards. If your friend wants a small screen like a 13" one, it's near impossible to have a powerful graphics card to fit into that tiny space. that's why most use integrated GPUs. This fits in with the 'ethos' of a smaller laptop, anyway. For battery life and mobility.
Your friend was wise to buy a desktop, as it is cheaper to begin with and can be easily upgraded.

I am in Automotive Engineering. I only bought the T61p because I used to have a T42, and loved the durability and ruggedness. My T61p is very good with Pro/E, though I use it more to play games. Linux runs fine on it, and both Ubuntu and Arch detected everything perfectly out of the box.

If you wish to further discuss the T61p, please move to the Lenovo forum.

 

You can keep the recovery partition and just install ubuntu over the current vista partition. Ubuntu will the list the recovery in it's boot loader.

 

By cloning I will get the system as it is now but by using Recovery I will get a system as it was 3 yrs ago. That is the reason why I want to clone. I am not sure why you suggest keeping recovery.

 

Thanks for your help mate.

 

No problem. Chime back if you have any other issues

 

Considering MOST laptops are made with Windows in mind, it's easy to realize why some people would suggest dual boot, especially for laptops. Many functions that laptops include are a pain to get working in Linux, let's face it. Yes, there's workarounds and 'fixes' but it's often quite a chore...even now.

Especially for Thinkpads, older ones at that and that inlcudes your Dells and HPs.

Dual boot isn't that bad but yes, if you hardly ever use Windows, it might be easier on the initial setup of a dual boot system (working with Grub etc.) but dual boot allows for more ease when the rare time comes when one has to use Windows.

Why would someone install Ubuntu anyway?!? Eck! There's many other distros out there and better ones at that!

 

I just popped over to the Ubuntu forums, noticed there were 3,695 online at the time. One of those folks could probably answer that for you.

 

I'm sorry but I believe you do not realise how well done the Linux kernel is now. My T42 automatically gets all the hardware working. In the past there were mainly problems with Broadcom wireless adapters, but they are fixed now.

Your attitude towards 'fixes' start off wrongly. If something was wrong with a Windows OS, would you not 'fix' it? Linux is not flawless, but if you're using distros like Ubuntu, you practically don't have to 'fix' anything. Even in my Arch Linux I didn't have the fix anything. I had trouble getting NTFS drives being writable (which is standard), and so I just changed a few settings and it's done.

 

Why would I want to read what a bunch of BooBuntu fanboys have to say about my opinion? 'Most likely the mods would censor or delete it anyway. They don't like negative publicity.

 

I have a Thinkpad T41 and I cannot get 3D effects to work in Ubuntu. I even reported on Launchpad. Others have had similar issues or related issues to the older ATI mobility cards, especially the ones in similar older hardware to mine. When it comes to the open source radeon driver, Ubuntu has dropped the ball. I've had more success or at least avoiding crashes that happen in Ubuntu with other distros. One other distro, the performance was quite acceptable. Yet Ubuntu has these sites for reporting bugs but they just ignore them. Ubuntu is an overhyped, overrated Linux OS that gets way too much credit which is undeserved. The fact that anyone who considers Linux either thinks of trying it first or has other Ubuntu swarm recommend it, just means it's based on marketing and nothing more.

 

I dont see your issue as a problem with Ubuntu, you can always install whatever driver you want. I myself don't use the drivers that Ubuntu recommends 185 and I install my drivers from the Nvidia web page currently 190. In my opinion Ati dropped the ball for not supporting their video cards in Linux. I once had a T61p and I could not stand the countless hours I spend trying to find the best drivers from open source to the close source so I sold the laptop. From that point I moved to nvidia based notebook and never have issues playing my games no more.

 

Yes, having Nvidia for your graphics hardware is a different experience. A bit of a pain to initially install but drivers issues are a min. and doesn't seem as frustrating as having ATI. Intel sounds like it's a mixed bag but it is not their main hardware.

 

Well, you've got your three main choices of OS: Billy's, Stevie's, and Markie's. LOL