Mmm yeah it's a good idea!
But for now I need Win7 =(. I have another computer where I could do that (Debian-Slackware) so I'm considering it .
So, for my laptop, I have right now Win7 alongside with Ubuntu, which I want to erase and install instead Ubuntu, Debian.

My next question, does Debian have an "easy" option to delete just Ubuntu and keep Win7 intact?
What I mean with easy is that if there is an option to do this (but ONLY THIS) like the Ubuntu installer, which is too easy as click "Install Ubuntu alongside with Windows 7"... Do you know?... I'm asking this because I don't want to take the risk of delete by error my Win7 partition (important files).

Thanks!

PS: And one more thing!, I don't understand when you say "Debian testing, sid, etc", when I've finished my download, I'll be asked by the installer to choose which version of Debian I want? ... Anyway, I'm downloading this file: Debian-6.0.4-*

Diego V.H.

Just install Debian where Ubuntu is. Debian will overwrite Ubuntu, and if you have a separate /home you can even keep that as it is without overwriting it. You will be able to tell what is Ubuntu and what is Windows by the file system type. Windows 7 will be NTFS while Ubunti will probably be ext4 or if it is an older one ext3.

Debian has 3 (4) current versions. Oldstable which is curently Lenny, Stable which is currently Debian 6 Squeeze (your 6.0.4 is Squeeze), Testing which is currently Wheezy, and Unstable which is always Sid. When you install your 6.0.4 you will just be installing Squeeze.

EDIT: Always try to have a back up of anything that is important. I cannot stress that enough, things can and do go wrong sometimes so your best defence is to make sure you have a copy of anything you cannot afford to lose.

Ok man, thanks a lot for everything!

To complement what k3lt01 said, when you get to the partitioning part, just select the "Manual partitioning" option, and choose the Ubuntu partition(s) to install Debian on them. If you just have a swap and a root (/) partition, you can reformat them and select them as swap and / again. If you also have a /home partition, select it as your new /home without reformatting it (this way you will keep your settings, bookmarks, and any data you may have there).

I agree about backing up any important data you have in this computer, just in case something goes wrong.

The Debian installer will give you the option of what to do with each partition on the box. You will need to know which ones are which. Choose the one (or two preferably) that are the Ubuntu partition(s). If there is only one you want to choose / (root) for the mount point.

If you have Ubuntu installed on 2 partitions, / and /home you could choose the /home as your home partition and instruct the installer not to format it. This would save any data that is on it. The install that I am on was at one time an Ubuntu install. I have the same /home partition and all the old files still here.

If you have 2 partitions you can also install another OS and share that same /home partition. To do this you need to use a different user name in the 2 install. This is because the user config files are in your /home/<user name> directory. this means that the config files may conflict if you just have one user name.

You can set up the file permissions so that both users have equal acess to all files.

I mention this because then all you need, if you want to install another Linux, such as Slackware, all you would need is another small / partition (4 to 8 gigs) for that second installation.

Mmmm, and if I delete all the devices which W7 is not using?, I mean to keep C.
I've just made a backup of all files which I had in Ubuntu so I don't care to delete /home or another devices because the important files are in my W7 partition.

If you recommend me not doing this:

I installed a normal installation with Ubuntu but staying alongside with W7. I don't created any other partition to use in Ubuntu... (if this is what you mean)
thanks!

If you have the Ubuntu Live CD you could go in and create an "extended" partition on what ever unused space you feel compfortable creating.

You can only have 4 "primary" partitions. An Extended partition is a type of primary partition. The difference is that you can create any number of "logical" partitions within the extended partition.

You could easily do this and create the logicals you need to install using the graphical partitioning tool gparted that is included on all Ubuntu Live CDs.

It would really be a good idea to install on a / , /home and of coarse a /swap partition. They could all be in your extended partition.

A separate /home has a lot of advantages that really make it worth while.

You do not want to hear what I suggest you do with the partitions wasted by Windows. I am a little radical about that. No need for you to be.

Haha thanks man. I really want to depend only in a Linux distro, but it "hurts" me when I know that I've just paid for a license to be "legal" xD.

I can understand that very well.

We, my wife and I, ran W98 for 10 years on a custom made box. Only needed to replace the CDrom drive in that time. Then one day it just died on us.

Wife bought this box. Came with Vista. Not having used any of the releases between the comparison to 98 was not good. Sure, it would do some things that 98 would not. It also, on a box 100s of times faster, was slower at doing things that we do every day.

In three days I was headed for having a stroke. Son suggested Ubuntu. Got a new HDD to put it on. Installed it. Setting up the dial up connection with an internal modem (USR 5610c) was a bugger. Got it done.

After running Vista for 3 weeks my wife blew a gasket and said (minus the explitives) "put any thing on here you want".

Took the MS Hdd out.

This makes the learning curve a bit steeper in some ways but does make it a lot quicker.

If you decide to do such a thing I highly recommend doing a dual boot with exactly the same OS as you are using, say Debian Squeeze. Do not do anything to your main install without first trying it out on your second, small install of Squeeze.

This allows you to be brave in trying new things with no fear of failure as your "real" install is not effected in anyway. You can be as bold and, at least in my case, noob stupid as you want with that small second install.

People say you need a back up OS when using a new OS. I think this is good sense. Using something as unreliable (my bias coming out) as MS to back up a rock solid reliable system like Squeeze does not make sense to me.

Back it up with Squeeze.

That license is a thing that you have to consider though. In our case, it seemed like money we had wasted on an OS we didn't like. We just got rid of it. Your case can only be judged by you in your circumstances.

I would not say that MS does not have programs that may not have good replacements under Linux. Nothing that we used to use has not been replaced by something that works as well and in some instances better than the MS ones. This may not be the case with you.

One of the things that made the transition easier for us was that Linux is, at least for us, FUN to use. Something that MS only was back when I was using MSDos with DosShell.

I like having a gui desktop that is fun to use.

I also like using an OS that does not report into the MS once a month (Vista was every time you booted or once a day) like W7 does. You can disable this "feature" but it took me 2 days to hunt it all down.

Next year, or maybe in five years, you will be happy that you made that decision, like me.

JP.

P.S.: As you mentioned in your first post, this is a great forum with smart guys willing to help newbs like us!

JP.

Wow, great testimony, I'm really considering to install a FULL Debian .
I really appreciate your time for this!

Best regards,
Diego V.H.

Debian comes in the size you want it to be

Not much to add though, but I must emphasize that you really should back up all your important data! Even if only to a temporary place like an external harddrive or even the Cloud (shudder! Would one really entrust his data to some unknown power that then has full access to it? I won't, but then: I have my own 'cloud' in the form of a fileserver.... )

Anyway, take your time, don't rush things. Make sure you fully understand what's being said on the screen (given English isn't your native language) before committing anything Do note that Debian has the option of locales, including Spanish

I was at "Instituto Chileno Norteamericano" learning english, it's only that I need to reinforce what I've learned haha. Reading English text it's not a problem (only technical things at Linux that I have no problem to search) I perfectly understood all you guys ...

Thanks a lot!

Well if you understand every thing said on here you don't have a language problem.

I know my fluency in geek is not all it could be but I started late in life. I do know how to do a search too though. Stuff just looks like English.

I use debian period, I've tried different distro's linuxmint, lmde, ubuntu an unfinished slackware project.
Debian & LQ have taught me a great deal, although you will learn alot in debian if you're looking for the steeper curve try slackware, gentoo Lfs.
The only reason why I say this is that debian installer now is doing a great job in installing it's os & drivers(modules),so there isn't much to do afterwards.
Now that I'm running Debian sid the only thing that really presents a challenge is trying to get the gnome2 funtionality from gnome3.