Help me choose a Linux Distro?

[arun.carvalho]

i have decided to install Ubuntu, and i am using WUBI to do that for me. The question i have is that, how do i clear up the space hogged by Vista at the moment. So in short, i want to install Ubuntu, make sure it is working fine, and then remove vista completely. The concern that i have is that i want to be sure that i lose none of my files. There are not many at the moment, but still just to know that there is backup if something goes wrong.ThanksAC

 

[Sushubh]

alright. here is what i would say.... wubi is not designed for a standalone linux installation as it installs linux from inside windows. if you remove windows after installing ubuntu... you would have no way to remove or re-install ubuntu. what you need to do is... install ubuntu through wubi and play with it for a couple of days. once you are sure that ubuntu is working fine on your machine... then take a backup of all your data and then remove vista and install ubuntu the regular way. WUBI is designed for users who do not want to get into the hassles of partitioning their hard drives for ubuntu and run it as a secondary OS along with Windows.

 

[arun.carvalho]

is there an easy way to format my machine, assuming that Ubuntu will work fine. I am not savy with the installing OS as a clean install... i am used to updgrading windpws...will i have to create an ubuntu disk....for now though i will start the wubi install.... and check it out....

 

[Sushubh]

well...

once you are ready to install ubuntu properly, you just need to make sure you have good space available on your machine...

ubuntu installer has an option that automatically makes the partitions based on disk space availability.



just set aside some space and tell it to install ubuntu on that partition.

but first try ubuntu through WUBI. make sure you keep your personal data on one of your Windows partitions so that you do not lose it in case you format WUBI from Windows at a later stage.

 

[alig]

The way I do it when I need to make a clean partition for Ubuntu install . I download this program called Best FREE Partition Manager Software for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7 : EASEUS free Partition Manager - Home Edition. which is for windows and is free, and I make free space using the software as much as I need for Ubuntu.(Note- Dont format the free space). Then I boot up into Ubuntu CD and while installing it asks for the options in the above post, I just select - The largest available free space. That pretty much takes care of everything related to partitioning, (It creates the Root and the SWAP) . Its quiet easy really. But yes I am using WUBI install since 9.04 on my Dell laptop with 4GB ram - I upgraded to 9.10 from inside WUBI Using Update Manager. I dont feel that Being on Wubi, Ubuntu runs slows, since there is enough Ram there is pretty much no need for a Swap file.

 

[Sushubh]

the thing with automatic partitioning is that the system does not create a home partition which is HIGHLY recommended. because you can then reinstall ubuntu without formatting this particular partition and you retain all your data and even system preferences! so making the partitions yourself is recommended as you can have a HOME partition for your data.

 

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[alig]

the thing with automatic partitioning is that the system does not create a home partition which is HIGHLY recommended. because you can then reinstall ubuntu without formatting this particular partition and you retain all your data and even system preferences!
)
You mean to say I can do a fresh Install and still retain all the Documents, Music etc. Are all the installed programs present in the HOME folder as well. If so does that mean I dont have to reinstall any programs after a fresh Install, and I can retain all the previous versions? I have never used this method before, I guess I'll I'll try it on my old PC.

 

[Sushubh]

mmm. not really.

home partition is used for your personal files and all the settings. from what i know... all the apps store their preferences in the user name folder. you can check out by doing a CONTROL-H in that folder. this shortcut unhides the files. you would see tons of folders with a dot in the name. these folders are used to store the preferences of your settings.

so in simple terms...

if you do a fresh install without formatting the HOME partition... you retain your personal documents stored in the user profile folders. along with the settings. this should work fine in normal scenarios. all the applications that are installed after the OS install would pick up the settings from the home folder saving you quite some time and hassle.

applications are installed on the root partition so they are not restored on a fresh install.

---------- Post added at 06:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:36 PM ----------

read more about it here: Move /home to it’s own partition

 

[alig]

Hmm this is interesting, I'll go through the article, (It will expand my Geekness ) Thanks! Appreciate it

 

[Sushubh]

of course. there are issues sometimes if the application does not like pre-existing preference files. but overall, the benefits are more. for example... your emails and bookmarks and passwords and settings are all restored! and you can always delete the .folder to remove any of the old preferences in case any application is misbehaving.