hello
i am not an experienced linux user, the only experience being the live cd stated in the subject line and im prett sure the previous version. i am somewhat impressed with the software and would use it for my primary system if it could run my games and my microsoft office program....
anyway my question is how can i dualboot linux with my win 2000 laptop. that particular computer is quite slow and i have been recommended i put linux on it. problem is that i still want to keep windows on it and i have tried backing up my hard disk drive on that computer, but it ended up being too frustrating. could some1 pleace give me specific and detailed instructions on how to install this linux distro without killing win 2000 or any of the data on the drive?
any help will be very appreciated.

ubuntu is pretty user friendly and im sure would make this process a breeze during installation.

youll need to create a partition on your hard drive with a filesystem capable of housing your linux install.

in windows you can check disk management to see if you have any free space. i dont know how much space ubuntu requires but im sure the website and it's official documentation say. check that out and make sure you have that much availble space on your disk to create a partition of that size... dont actually create the partition in windows though. just maybe write down your partition layout and info for further use.

after getting this information down (double check so you dont accidently install over your windows partition), then start your computer with the ubuntu install cd. before the installation, youll be prompted for partitioning setup.. create a partition of sufficient size, and of a certain type (reiserfs and ext3 seem to be the most popular). i would think thats all the basic info youd need to setup a basic install on one seperate partition.

hope this is of help to you, if not let us know.. and good luck!

hello
thanks a lot for your post!

my hdd is 18.6 gig and im curently using about 4.10 gig. if i would give windows about 7 gig and the rest for linux would i at all hurt my windows files?
another question (sorry if im being a pain in the you know what) once ive got my partitions in place is there a zero chance of destroying windows. i don't have a win 2000 cd, money isn't really a problem i just dont want to buy a cd ill never use again....

so you have one 18.6gb harddrive, ok..
how many partitions are on it? you have your windows partition (that is using ~4gb), what is the size of this partition though?
if you have other partitions on this drive please let us know the details of that too..

also, since this is a laptop, im assuming you just have one IDE harddrive, correct?

do you mean resize the partition so that it is 7gb? you can resize it but youll need commercial software for it, so thats probably not the option we'll use. the size of your partition wont hurt your 'windows files'.. all that matters is that your partition has sufficient free space and no files will be abused.

hi
the hard drive is 18.6 gig with one partition on it. it is the only hard drive in the system.

is the partition the full 18.6gb?

yes it is.

well i guess this is the option we have to use. your job now is to find software that can resize your partition, and one that will _keep_ and _not damage_ the files and filesystem on it. the only one that i know of is PartitionMagic. its not free and the demo doesnt allow you do save changes. so youll either need to do alot of searching or go out and buy this, or another similar program.

if you decide to go with one, make sure you trust it.. i can give you first hand advise that partitionmagic worked flawlessly for me, when i needed to resize my NTFS partition.

you cant dual boot if you dont have hard drive space to install it to.

do you mean by dual booting that we keep windows and linux on the same hdd without mucking around with partitons?
i do have a program called bootit on a cd (the site where this is located is terabyteunlimited.com) i hope the spelling of that link is correct, otherwise a google search should get it pretty quick.

is one of the features of 'BootIt NG'. ive never heard of this program so i dont know anything about it. if its trustworthy and free then i think you should be set. if you go with that then go ahead and resize your windows NTFS partition (or fat32 if its fat32, of course). i would _strongly_ suggest spending a little bit of time and researching this program, and other users' experience with it.. you dont want some free program to ruin your drive.

check the official documentation for the version of the linux distribution you want to install and see its recommended hard drive requirements. then resize your windows partition by this much, plus afew more GB (or however much you want) for other programs and files you will download that will need this space.

when i did a resize it took quite a while, so be prepared if thats the case. when your done resizing (whatever route you choose), let us know and we can help you with the install.

hi
i am going to find the cd, i have got it laying around somewhere. its a great little program. i used it last year, i needed to clean out some old computers for my school i went to last year.
when im ready i will message you for help again.
thanks a lot for your help so far, much appreciated.

dual booting is just that.. having the ability to boot to more than one operating system. and in this case, when all is said and done, youll be dual booting windows and ubuntu from the same hard disk, yes. but from very different partitions, and no, linux wont 'muck around' with your windows partition unless you tell it to. also, is your windows partition NTFS or fat32?

ok i hope it works out fine.

i have NTFS
FAT3 isnt tolerated in my house.....lol

heh.. very strict i see.

ok that will help you out a little more, security wise. after you have your ubuntu system up and running and, after a little configuration, youll be able to read your NTFS drive. but thankfully (or maybe not, but in this case yes), the linux NTFS driver support is great for reading but not writing.. meaning your reassured you wont be writting to the drive and not screwing with it.

hi
can't find the disk, will have to fugre out how to make a new one.