Hi, when I installed Ubuntu, I opted to install on the entire drive from the Netbootin USB stick. So if I want to try another completely different linux distro, (Mint, Debian etc) will it automatically overwrite the installed Ubuntu?

Thanks!
carl7

Yes, it will.
If you want to install another one distro then create different partition for this distro.
Shrink your partition and create new one at freed space.
You can use GParted to do it.

or install a VM then install what you want to try on that instead, saves having to keep redoing everything until you find one you like. the other option as stated above is good too. you can install lots of them each only needing about 5 to 10GB each just to get the feel of them.

Thanks, I have a old Dell that I replaced Win XP with Ubuntu. Only reason I chose Ubuntu was there are so many distros, I had to start somewhere. I'm finding tho Ubuntu is not too user friendly as in a total Newbie like me and right from the start, the wordprocessor (Abiword) had a glitch. So, I continue to look around.

carl7

I'd suggest that you spend a little more time with Ubuntu before switching to something else. (For instance: "AbiWord is a piece of garbage. How about OpenOffice or any of its counterparts?)

If you overlay one distro on top of itself, you run the risk of conflicts between the two installations which aren't aware of each other and which make incorrect assumptions about what's actually there. Not what you want to be dealing with right now.

Also: a columnist from the 1980's used to write a column called, "A Sip From The Firehose." You need to know, going into this new thing, that you are going to be having this experience ... not one time but many times. (Decades later, I still do!) You feel a little thirsty, so you try something and suddenly *glub!* you've been knocked into the next room, and you don't know what t'hell to begin to do.

Yes, this is what this "learning curve" is actually like, sometimes.

I'd suggest taking a look at AntiX, it is designed to work on older hardware, whilst still being able to run on the modern stuff as well. http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

In the long run I think you'll find Ubuntu is one of the most "user friendly" distros that there is.

Hi.

Debian will let you shrink buntu while installing... https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/u...weekly-builds/

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ml#post5708518
...have fun!

Got a link to those Old Dell specs?

1 members found this post helpful.

Are you saying that you installed from a usb to a hard drive? "I opted to install on the entire drive from the Netbootin USB stick."

If so, you will normally have an option to install in addition to or over the current hard drive install. Some installers actually make it hard to write over an install.