Resoloution?

[Guest]

Hi , Ive recently installed a copy of Ubuntu with KDE 4.0.
Im having a problem with the screen resoloution, and the icon's and start bar icons
staying HUGE. It lets me change the screen resoloutin in setings but wont save.

Also, does anyone have any tips on how to install the usual stuff like Wireless modems and general Hardware?

Ugh also, how does one install from the live CD , to be able to dual boot with xp, so it doesnt format that os.

Any idea's much appreciated. Thanks in advance
Cheers

[Teunis]

Re: Resoloution?

I have no experience with KDE 4.0 so I'll leave that one for others.

About installing Kubuntu from the Live CD to get a dual boot with WinXP, I'm fairly sure that's what most people have done

So when you start the Linux installation you will get questions to this effect.
Even when you want to install Linux on a separate HD, the most important thing you'll need to do is make a plan on how you want to split your disk.
Part of the install routine will help you with this split but I very much prefer to do it manually.

Start with a good defrag, possible a few times repeated of your Windows disk (and from Windows).
Although this is a non-destructive process you'd be wise to first back up irreplaceable stuff!!!

The Linux file system is based on root, the forward slash is the symbol: /
And more than one disk or bipartition can be included, in Linux everything will show up as a file :P

Let's say you have a 100GB disk and you want to keep 50GB for Windows then the other 50GB has to be made ready for Kubuntu.

On the Live CD there is a program called GParted that can do the repartitioning of your HD.

Start the Live CD and GParted.
Find the disk on which to install Kubuntu, what shows up as C:/ in Windows will probably be /dev/hda or possibly sda, partitions will show up as hda1 (sda1), hda2 (sda2) etc.

(You can only edit an unmounted disk!)
Right click on the bar representing the disk space and select Resize/Move.
Now make the first part (the C:/ drive) the size you want, 50GB in our example.
The result will be partion hda1 and hda2 (or sda etc).

the hda2 partition is where Linux will be installed but first we need to partition a little more.

An operating system has a Kernel and in case of Linux it likes to have it's own partition (not necessary but just good practice), this partition is known as the Boot partition.
So continue to split hda2 as we earlier did with hda1.
All you need for for a Boot partition is some 50-100MB, hda2 will be the new Boot partition.

Next you'll have to make a Swap partition, Windows uses a swap file, this is also possible in Linux but a Swap partition is more common.

So now you split hda3, the Swab should be about 1 to 2 times the size of your RAM memory, when you have over 2 GB RAM the same size Swap is for most use fine.
Now you'll have some 48GB left on hda4, this partition will be called root or /

I'd now be ready to install Kubuntu but many people prefer to have a separate /Home partition, this can be handy when you want to do a new install, as it does not get overwritten in this process. (You can compare the /Home partition with My Documents in Windows).

So if you want to go the way of of the separate /Home partition you need to split hda4 and keep some 15GB for the system, meaning the new hda5 will have about 33GB left for your /Home.

About formatting, select in this example (obviously) NTFS for hda1, ext3 for /Boot, /Home and /, the exeption is Swap, the file type is swap.

An other OBVIOUS, you should not (re)format your C:/ or hda1



Once all the formatting/Partitioning is done you can start the install.

During the install choose manual formatting and at the relevant questions you point to the partitions mentioned above.