New Box, New OS

[WildWeazel]

So I finally built that new computer I've mentioned occasionally for the last couple of years.

Athlon64 X2 4600+ (2.4GHz)
GIGABYTE S3 mobo
2x 1Gb Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800
EVGA GeForce 7600GT 256Mb GDDR3
Samsung 500Gb 7200RPM SATAII HDD
Sony NEC Optiarc 18x DVD+RW
Rosewill case, 500W PSU
oh, and a PCI dialup modem I liberated from an old box

No new peripherals yet, I'm borrowing them from the old PC too. I'll probably get a 20" widescreen LCD and wireless keyboard/mouse combo.

Until I go back to school in about 6 weeks and can download XP Pro from the university server (turns out there are perks for attending expensive prestigious schools) I'm running Ubuntu 6.10. I just installed it yesterday with the help of a friend, so I haven't done much with it. I like what I've seen so far. I've never really used Linux before, only played around with it a little, so it's definitely a new experience for me. If I like it I'll probably start over with both XP Pro and Ubuntu (or another Linux distro) though I don't really know anything about partitioning or multiple OSes. Or Linux, for that matter.

 

[GVBN]

You will need three partitions in that case: Windows partition, Linux root partition and Linux swap. In most cases the best file system for Linux is ReiserFS. Your swap partition should be about 2gb

Most distros automatically detect Windows and create a dual-boot system. If it doesn't do that then manually edit your GRUB config file and add this:

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

(assuming Windows is installed on the first partition)

 

[Pentium]

There's a problem with installing Linux before Windows. Windows put its own bootloader into the MBR, overwriting grub. I don't know whether you can install grub for windows or not, but It's usually better to first install Windows and the Linux.

Also, why are you using Ubuntu 6.10? The latest stable release is 7.04 (Feisty). I know that Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE) had a good Distro upgrade tool which, but I'm nut sure about regular Ubuntu. If it does, use it. If it doesn't, either install KDE (which is nicer anyway - here is a quick guide) or download and install the latest version.

 

[WildWeazel]

I'll probably just reformat the HDD and install Windows first, then Linux. I'm still using my laptop as my primary machine, so I won't have much to lose by reformatting. And the reason I'm using 6.10 is simply because my friend already had a disk for it lying around. It's all just temporary while I figure out what i'm going to use.

 

[Padma]

If you find you like Linux, do some exploring. Ubuntu is a fine distro, but it's not for everyone. Also look at PCLinuxOS, Mepis, Fedora, and Mandriva, to name a few.

(And ResierFS is a personal preference, as well. Despite what some say, I find ext3 works more than adequately. Reiser tends to give my system trouble, for some reason....)

Rule of thumb on swap size: double your RAM. But if you have at least one Gig of RAM, probably one Gig is *more* than sufficient. Unless you do serious DVD-writing or such.

Just a few thoughts - my two cents worth.

 

[WildWeazel]

It seems I need some drivers. Ubuntu doesn't know how to play DVDs or any audio, or operate the dialup modem.

 

[Padma]

For DVDs / audio codecs, There is something called "automatix" for *buntu that you can download (I think). Google for "automatix". It is supposed to take care of all those pesky non-free drivers that distros can't legally ship with (in the US).

 

[WildWeazel]

Thanks, I'll check it out. But will I need to be online for it to work?

 

[Padma]

'Fraid so. At least, to download/install it.