Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

[elder73]

Presently I am running another Linux distribution and I have a "Home" partition. If I install Kubuntu and override the current system, will it overwrite everything I have in the "Home" partition.

Thank you.

[monte48lowes]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

It will not overwrite your home partition if done correctly. During the install process you must select 'Manual' partitioning. Then select the proper mount point for each partition. I would print out or write down your current /etc/fstab just to be sure you get the partitions correctly mounted.

Mike

[elder73]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

It will not overwrite your home partition if done correctly. During the install process you must select 'Manual' partitioning. Then select the proper mount point for each partition. I would print out or write down your current /etc/fstab just to be sure you get the partitions correctly mounted.

Thank you for the prompt reply Mike. I was hoping the above was the situation.

[pansz]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

Presently I am running another Linux distribution and I have a "Home" partition. If I install Kubuntu and override the current system, will it overwrite everything I have in the "Home" partition.
Thank you.

kubuntu will never overwrite anything in your /home directory even if your home is not a separate partition.

that is to say:
1. if you mount any partition to / , then the /home directory of this partition will not be removed.
2. if you mount any partition to /home, then the content of this partition will be leave as is.

Note: simply do not choose to format any partition you want to keep data on, you know why...

[Fintan]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

Just a suggestion.
During install give your new OS a different user.
Otherwise you may have conflicts with the desktop.

You can always copy / paste your data, address books, calendars, etc from one user to anther.

[elder73]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

Just a suggestion.
During install give your new OS a different user.
Otherwise you may have conflicts with the desktop.

You can always copy / paste your data, address books, calendars, etc from one user to anther.

Thank you, I will do that.

[rb0171610]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

I keep a root partition of 10 GB. I keep a swap partition 1.5 times the amount of RAM, and the rest as my home partition. I have never had any issues keeping the same user name. If do have problems, you can rename your .gnome (shudder) folder or .kde folder in your home directory and it will respawn itself with a new copy with default settings upon login.

[elder73]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

I keep a root partition of 10 GB. I keep a swap partition 1.5 times the amount of RAM, and the rest as my home partition. I have never had any issues keeping the same user name. If do have problems, you can rename your .gnome (shudder) folder or .kde folder in your home directory and it will respawn itself with a new copy with default settings upon login.

Thank you, that simplifies things. The partition thing is something that leaves me a bit wary.

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

Partitioning—how to, Rog131:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3090704.0

[rb0171610]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution


[/quote]

Thank you, that simplifies things. The partition thing is something that leaves me a bit wary.
[/quote]
You are allowed four primary partitions per hard drive. Windows on the first primary partition, your / root directory on the second primary partition. The /home directory can be on an extended (logical) partition or a third primary partition. It makes no difference really.

I would like to note that I have found 10GB to be ample for the root partition so far. I have used many distributions and most, but not all, fit nicely into this. If you build a lot of programs from source and want to keep the source files in your /usr/src directory, you may need to double the root partition to 20 GB or even more. I would not personally use a distribution that needs more than 10GB.
To date, Kubuntu has proved to be a compact and tidy distribution. My root partition using the df -h command is as follows:

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2 8.8G 3.7G 5.2G 42% /

So as you can see, it has 5.2GB available, which I am quite sure I will never use.
Compare that to my Windows Vista partition:

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 47G 30G 18G 64% /mnt/vista

I have to use 30GB to get the same functionality and security that I get with just 3.7GB in Kubuntu.

[elder73]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

Your information on partitioning was really helpful. I too am running Windows XP and the less I have to use it the better. It got so slow it was driving me crazy. Unfortunately I still have to use it for one project I am on. Presently I am using Mandriva but would like to give Kubuntu a try as I have heard a lot about it.

Thank you for your help, I appreciate it.

[monte48lowes]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

If the hard drive size is large enough ( >80GB ) I recommend using at least 15GB for /. One thing I forgot when I originally setup my partitions was that /var will be on the root partition. Many programs use the /var/cache directory for storage (i.e. apt, mysql, etc.). I did not have enough room on there and my root partition ran out of space.

Mike

[dibl]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

Also it's nice to download a DVD ISO or two if you want to, and not have to think about which partition has enough room for it. That's why I have been using 15GB or 20GB for /, and just leave my /home/dibl folder on it there.

It is true, if you want to be real minimalist about it, that Kubuntu will install in about 4GB and run OK in 5GB. But you can't download much to the root filesystem if you do it that way.

[rb0171610]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

Also it's nice to download a DVD ISO or two if you want to, and not have to think about which partition has enough room for it. That's why I have been using 15GB or 20GB for /, and just leave my /home/dibl folder on it there.

It is true, if you want to be real minimalist about it, that Kubuntu will install in about 4GB and run OK in 5GB. But you can't download much to the root filesystem if you do it that way.

I think 15GB or 20GB is great. I do not put my /home partition on my / root partition. If it is kept separately, you can reinstall your OS without losing any of your personal documents or your desktop settings. This also makes it easier to do a clean install.
My /home Partition is as follows:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3 90G 1.1G 89G 2% /home
Also, I would hope you are not saving any personal documents or DVD ISO's to your / root directory. The / root directory should be reserved for the Operating System, not for personal use.

[Fintan]

Re: Installing Kubuntu Over Another Linux Distribution

.....have never had any issues keeping the same user name.

You will have a big problem if your other linux is a kde distro and uses kde3.5 or has d different configuration for kde4.x.x or even an earlier version of kde4 than the one you are installing.

So creating a new user is simple and hassle free.