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**67GTA** · Feb 19, 2011, 09:25 AM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

That all sounds confusing. If you can boot the Kubuntu live CD and post the output of

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

from a terminal, we can see better what your current partition setup is before advising.

**buckeyered80** · Feb 19, 2011, 10:11 AM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

Linux won't install on NTFS partitions, that's correct. Go ahead and do

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

like what was posted above me here. It will help us know your partitions. Linux sets up on 2 or 3 partitions. A swap, root and home(optional).
The swap is usually about as big as the amount of system memory you have. The root partitiion is like the C:\ in Windows. And the Home is optional....that would be the bigger partition for storage of Documents, Music, Movies...etc.

**Roostaamir** · Feb 19, 2011, 12:02 PM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

OK there you go:

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x03440343

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 5367 43110396 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 5368 11094 45998076+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 13709 30400 134077280 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 13709 17966 34199550 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 17967 24183 49938021 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 24184 30400 49938021 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0a9f888c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 60801 488384001 7 HPFS/NTFS

well,for me these don't make any sense

but from your answers I am understanding something
correct me if I am wrong:
I have 2gig of RAM.so I sohuld create a 2 gig partition for the swap(and mount it as swap ofcourse)
and the remaining 18 gig should be held for the root and home

but there are two questions I want to ask:
how much space does the root part need?
In the installer,there is a bootloader part.And it is saying that i should select a device for the bootloader.So how about that?

thanks a lot for your answers

**dibl** · Feb 19, 2011, 12:16 PM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

Partitioning hard disk drives is sufficiently complicated, that I recommend, especially for new users, that you make a Parted Magic Live CD (or bootable USB stick)

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

and do the disk partitioning separately from the Kubuntu installation, which is another slightly complicated operation for someone who has no experience with it.

So, you boot your Parted Magic Live CD, and you click "partitioner", and then in the upper right corner of the GUI you use the drop-down window to choose which hard drive you want to look at -- sda, or sdb. Once you are looking at the one you mean to change, then you will see the existing partitions in graphical form. Using some combination of changing the filesystem, and/or shrinking/adding partitions, you need to come up with at least one ext4 partition of at least 6GB in size, and one swap partition. The swap partition can be small -- make it 2GB if you want to be safe, or 1GB if you are pinched for space.

Note that any existing data on a partition that you change is likely to be lost -- BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST!

More guidance is here: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gparted.html

Once you have an ext4 and a swap partition, then you can boot your Kubuntu Live CD or Alternate Install CD, and proceed to install it on the ext4 partition.

**67GTA** · Feb 19, 2011, 12:32 PM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

Assuming Kubuntu is going on the /sdb drive: For suspend/hibernate to work, you need to make swap at least as much as your ram. 2.5GB should be plenty. Linux uses swap space like Windows uses the pagefile. To install, it is recommended to have at least 8GB for root (/), but you can get away with 4GB if you don't use a lot of space. Your /home partition will likely need more space if you store music/movies there. You can make it simple by just creating a root partition and installing everything there (done automatically), which is similar to the way Windows puts all of the user files on the C: drive. If you store your data on the other NTFS partitions, then just a root partition will be plenty. You can add the NTFS data partitions to be mounted at boot with the Kubuntu installer.My recommended partition setup would be:

Swap 2.5GB
/home whatever you can spare
/root same as above

With this setup, all of your config and app settings will be in /home which is the equivalent of the Windows documents and settings folder. If you decide to try another distro later, you can choose not to format /home and reuse it. If your setup will be closer to what I described earlier, then the separate /home won't be necessary. The bootloader (grub) needs to be installed to your master boot record of your main HD /sda. It will add Windows 7 as a boot option along with Kubuntu. This will overwrite your Windows 7 boot files in the master boot record. They can be restored later if you get rid of Kubuntu. Another option would be to install it to /sdb, and manually selecting this drive at boot if your PC supports this. If tis sounds too heavy, you could try running Kubuntu inside vmare-player. Just be sure not to delete any partitions, and anything inside that extended partition will be gone if you delete the extended partition.

**Roostaamir** · Feb 19, 2011, 12:46 PM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

thanks everyone

I am getting somethings
but still I have a few more questions

where will my applications be installed(in the /home or /root)
according to what you said the bootloader should be installed in /sda (not for example in /sda1 or sda2 etc) or should it be installed on the partition which I have my windows in(which is /sda1 here)

and the last one:
which OS will be the default one with this kind of installation.And if kubuntu turned to be the default one,is there a way to make windows boot as the default os?

sorry for asking too much questions.

and thank u all for your replies.

**dibl** · Feb 19, 2011, 12:54 PM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

Originally posted by Roostaamir

where will my applications be installed(in the /home or /root)

That is a very windows-centric question. Linux is not Windows, and that question makes very little sense in the Linux context. The executables will go where they need to go, mostly to /usr/bin. The library files will go where they need to go, mostly /lib, /lib32/ and/or /lib64. The configuration files will go where they need to go, mostly to /usr/share and your home directory. It's not a question you need to think about with Linux.

according to what you said the bootloader should be installed in /sda (not for example in /sda1 or sda2 etc) or should it be installed on the partition which I have my windows in(which is /sda1 here)

YES, it needs to go to /dev/sda, if you want a boot menu and to dual boot the computer.

and the last one:
which OS will be the default one with this kind of installation.And if kubuntu turned to be the default one,is there a way to make windows boot as the default os?

Kubuntu will be the first (top) bootable OS on your new boot menu, and if you don't cursor down to Windows, then the computer when left untouched will boot Kubuntu. If you get through your installation successfully and that is the last problem or question you have, then there is guidance on this forum and elsewhere on how to change it to boot Windows first. For example, post #2 here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1400750

**bai.ganga** · Feb 20, 2011, 12:27 AM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

I will explain as to how I installed Kubuntu 9.04 when I already had Win-XP. Mine is an old desktop with 2 GHz; 1 GB RAM; 40 GB HDD and only a CD drive (no DVD) and had to be repaired about a month back after which I personally executed the entire re-installation of Win-XP, Kubuntu as well as other programs within windows. Subsequently, I have upgraded to Kubuntu 10.04 LTS online and now both are running smoothly on my desktop and I login into any one of the OS as I wish. When I login using windows, I am unable to see the partitions on which linux data is written but when I login using Kubuntu, I can read, write and edit data on windows partitions too.

In the first step, I put in windows CD, selected to partition it into three 18, 10 and 12 (approximate sizes in GB) and installed win-XP in the first 18 GB. Then, installed drivers needed for win-xp and thereafter other programs like MS office, adobe, VLC player etc.,

For installing linux, the first step is to remove all the important data from one of the partitions where linux is to be installed. Well, emptying the data is not a necessity but since you will need to reformat one of the partitions during the installation of Kubuntu, you must be prepared to lose all data on that partition. You will have the choice of using this entire partition (or only a portion of it) for Kubuntu. Remember that Kubuntu will need about 5 GB total disk space and after it is installed, it is capable of reading and editing all the data in the partitions held under windows too including MS office, movies, pdf files etc.,. That is, all data except those windows-specific programs and games.

And, an important thing to remember is that you may find it difficult to identify which is the partition that you have identified to install Kubuntu because during the process of installation, it will only show the partitions (as existing on the computer along with its type --- FAT, NTFS etc.,) with its sizes in GB and you should be able to correctly identify the required partition from that size alone.

When you boot through the Kubuntu CD/DVD, in the first screen it asks your language, secondly it asks your location (for time), thirdly it identifies your keyboard, fourthly it asks how you would like to partition your hard disk, where it will suggest something. Here, you have a choice to "manually specify partitions" and when you select this, another screen opens showing the existing partitions. In the list that it shows, in all probability, the first one of insignificant size is where it has copied some temporary files for installation, second one should normally be "C" drive of Windows, followed by D, E, F etc., as available, clearly specifying the type of file system, which all should be only NTFS or FAT if you have only windows and have not used linux partitions so far.

In this window, right click on the drive that you have selected to format, and select "delete partition". In about 5-10 seconds, it will once again show the partitions existing - this time, the partition you have deleted will be shown as empty space.

Next, again right click on this empty space and click on "create partition". If the original space available in this partition was quite a lot, you can also re-create a sizable portion of it as NTFS for windows. For example, if you have about 50 GB here, first create 40-45 GB as NTFS. This portion can be either earmarked for formatting in NTFS or FAT or can also be selected not to be formatted (because it is already formatted in NTFS) and make sure no "mount point" is selected against this partition.

Once again go to the left over empty space (5-10 GB) which is for linux and right click and select create partition. Leaving at least about 500 MB (preferably 1GB) for SWAP, select the remaining size of the partition for linux and mount point (/), format that partition in ext-3 or ext-4 as per the choice that appears during the selection.

Again go over to the left over empty space of about 1 GB right click and select the thing as swap area.

After the selections as above, when you press continue, another window will pop up after 10 seconds confirming the selections that you have made. It will show that one or two (or more) partitions as existing will not be formatted - specifically naming them, It will show that two (or three) partitions are going to be formatted ---- one as swap area, one in ext-3 or 4 format and (if you have selected to do so), a third partition as FAT or NTFS. At this point also, you have an option to go back and change selections again. Once you select to continue, it will go ahead with format as specified and install Kubuntu.

During start up of the computer, a screen will appear asking you whether you want to select linux or windows and you have to press the "down arrow" key within 10 seconds. Otherwise, it will go into default selection of Kubuntu.

**Roostaamir** · Feb 20, 2011, 07:17 AM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

OK
Thanks u all
it was very helpful and I am ready to go....
except:

where will my applications be installed(in the /home or /root)

That is a very windows-centric question. Linux is not Windows, and that question makes very little sense in the Linux context. The executables will go where they need to go, mostly to /usr/bin. The library files will go where they need to go, mostly /lib, /lib32/ and/or /lib64. The configuration files will go where they need to go, mostly to /usr/share and your home directory. It's not a question you need to think about with Linux.

you see,my question is where is this " /usr/bin" for example.(in the home or root).
you know,I want to reserve more space for my apps than my media.
Do you get what i'm trying to say?

thanks again

**dibl** · Feb 20, 2011, 08:58 AM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

Your Linux software packages will not use a lot of space, compared to Windows packages. The basic OS will use around 4.5GB (last time I checked a new installation). If you install lots of packages, and never clean the caches and logs, it may grow to 6GB.

But, if you leave /home in the same partition, like I do, and you occasionally download a CD or DVD ISO, then you need to think about that -- that will use a lot more space than software packages. So, if you can install the complete OS including /home in a single 15GB partition, you should not ever have to think about running out of space, even if you are downloading movies.

If you have a large amount of data, (music, videos, images, documents, etc.) then you might want to consider leaving it in a separate partition(s) and linking it in to your /home/user directory after installation. That way nothing that goes on with the OS will touch the partition where your data is saved.

**Roostaamir** · Feb 20, 2011, 09:28 AM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

thanks a world

And for the last double check(!!!):

2 gig for swap
5 or 6 gig for root
13 or 12 gig for home

Do you think it's good for me?

thanks and sorry again for asking too much questions.

**Roostaamir** · Feb 20, 2011, 11:29 AM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

hey I've got a problem again
how can I mount a swap partition in the partition manager in the installer?

**Roostaamir** · Feb 20, 2011, 11:36 AM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

I've got it

sorry

**dibl** · Feb 20, 2011, 12:01 PM

Re: a little bit confused installing kubuntu

Originally posted by Roostaamir

2 gig for swap
5 or 6 gig for root
13 or 12 gig for home

Go with 6 for root, and that will work just fine.

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