New install on a laptop. Best recommended practice?

[Minty]

Howdy folks.

I'm planning to install Kubuntu on my d620. I'd like to start fresh and do a clean install. I want to also do a new install of xp.

Does it automatically install a hypervisor? Because I'd like to just have linux as my primary os.

I would like some feedback on what you all think is the best way to implement this.

thank you in advance.

[jankushka]

Re: New install on a laptop. Best recommended practice?

install xp first.
then install kubuntu.
kubuntu installs grub (the boot loader) in the mbr and sets up an entry for windoze automagically.
if you wanted to share stuff between windoze and linux (music, pictures, movies, ...)
you could set up a separate partition with an ext3 file system (supported on both linux and windoze).
if you have an nvidia card, try and stick to the open source "nv" driver.
the proprietary "nvidia" driver gives me troubles when hibernating (it not be the same for you).
upgrading xp to vista apparently screws up the boot loader very badly.
hth

[martin42]

Re: New install on a laptop. Best recommended practice?

If Edgy was any guide, then it should be pretty easy, though you might want to change the Broadcom wireless card to an Atheros or something, just for an easy life.

I've written some rough notes for the D620 with Edgy at http://www.net42.co.uk/os/linux/d620_edgy.html (Warning: I am not an expert.)

I'm upgrading to Feisty as we speak.

I would be interested to hear...

1.) whether Feisty works with the D620's default (Intel?) video card as well as with the NVidia one that I have.

2.) whether Feisty is as easy to install from scratch on the D620 as Edgy was.

Have fun!

- Martin.

[Minty]

Re: New install on a laptop. Best recommended practice?

1. Yes Feisty works fine with the intel video card in the d620.

2. Yes, it was very easy to install.

I'm still trying to read up more on how to use Xen thanks for the info folks.

[jck]

Re: New install on a laptop. Best recommended practice?

1) Install XP
2) Install Kubuntu 7.04 desktop, making sure to create a FAT32 partition for swapping files between OSes (never tried EXT3 with Windows OSes)

Good luck

[Fintan]

Re: New install on a laptop. Best recommended practice?

I concur. XP does not read ext3 without a tool. Set up a fat32 partition for files etc. to share.
A seperate /home partition (formated as ext3) is advisable as well.

Enjoy
cheers
F

[javierrivera]

Re: New install on a laptop. Best recommended practice?

Xen is nice, but it's server oriented. It's designed to run multiple operating systems with kernel modifications (it usually means linux and BSDs). It can run windows with hardware virtualization, but don't expect any kind of great performance. And to be able to use windows for gaming, it should be the main OS (the one that gets the video card .

For personal use, it's probably easier to use a "normal" virtual machine like VirtualBox (Free) or VMWare (closed source, but with free versions).

If you want to play games, then the best option is make windows the main OS. The fastest way to run Linux under Windows is coLinux. It's incredible fast, but somewhat difficult to configure.

Finally, if you are going to use virtual machines, the best way to share data is samba not a separate partition, as both system will be unable to access it at the same time (well, they can, but with quite high corruption chances)..

Javier.