Quickie:

If I wanna keep Windows as well, better to dual boot, run off a USB stick, or get the installable version?? Thanks guys.

I'd dual-boot myself. The LiveCD/Live USB thing is fine but is slower (for obvious reasons).

But to play around, it's easier to go with the latter options though, right. To see if I like it?

I found the current live version of Ubuntu to be as buggy as hell. It was near impossible to install anything, and it crashed all the time. That was running on a 16GB memory stick on one machine, and a CD on another.

I've had no real problems with the exact same version once it was installed on the hard disk.

Ok, so...

How much space do I need for an install?
Will it affect anything else on my machine at all?
Can it see all my media (and what file formats/extensions will it work with)?
Is there any risk to my data (bearing in mind I have no means of backup out here)?

Thanks guys.

You need 5GB of space for a basic install.

It won't affect anything else on your machine unless you tell it to.

You can install the "restricted extras" package to get flash and support for .avi, wma files etc. There is an option during install to install MP3 support.

Do you have any free/unpartitioned space on your HDD, or will you be requiring Ubuntu to resize your Windows partition for you? If it's the latter, you may wish to defrag the HDD before attempting an install.

There is always a risk. I wouldn't do it if you can't back up your important data. I really wouldn't do anything at all until that situation is changed. Seriously, you need some way of backing up regardless what you're doing because hard drives and flash will always fail - it's just a question of when.

In your situation, I'd probably be looking at flash for backing up photos and documents. Probably SD cards if your laptop has a slot, or USB sticks. If they're expensive over there, get someone to post you some.

Regarding file formats and extensions, a full install of Ubuntu will handle pretty much anything. The "live" version will handle pretty much nothing. Either will see your hard disks no problem, NTFS and FAT support is excellent now.

I'd suggest setting aside at least 50GB if you're serious. That should be just enough to fit the important apps on, and then keep your media where it is.

Just a thought - if you have plenty of memory and you just want to play, then you could run a virtual machine. Much better than the live CD and less drastic than dual booting.

50GB? For apps.?

I've never seen the filesystem for Ubuntu exceed 10GB, and I usually allocate 20GB for / just to be safe. You only really need more than that if you intend to save files on your /home partition rather than your Windows/NTFS one.

Ok, so the 700mb torrent I'm currently downloading over wifi (yamn) becomes 5gig exactly how?! Will I need an active net connection to install?

What I didn't mention is that I will shortly have a new netbook with a clean 7 starter install and I really want to try Linux on that, but I thought I would give it a go on my current (XP Pro) laptop first to see if I like it. However, whilst my most crucial data (music, movies, personal stuff, photos and paperwork) is covered with a 16gig stick and a 640gig external, I also have some stuff on the 80gig internal in this laptop which I have nowhere else to put.

So am I better off organizing a "ghost" style backup of the new machine when it arrives before I do anything with it, and then having a go at that? It has a 250gig HDD, but I didn't realise Linux would need it's own partition. Of course, now that I think about it, I suppose it's obvious. The installer can create a separate partition for me without affecting 7, I presume? Of course, that's where the inherent risk comes in....

In much the same way a 700MB Windows CD becomes a 5GB install.
You'll need a network connection if you're installing the optional extras such as mp3 support.
I'm gonna but out now; I think Linux has more experience with, err, Linux

K, thanks.

If anybody else could help me with my previous post, that would be much appreciated.

TBH I'd just wait for your netbook to arrive if that's what you intend to use it on. Ubuntu can resize your Windows partition for you during installation, if you intend to dual-boot.

You can run Ubuntu from within Windows using the WUBI installer, but I've never used it so couldn't tell you what it's like.

Take a look: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/windows-installer

I found that dual booting is not very reliable. Last two times I tried to upgrade Ubuntu it messed up and I couldn't boot my Windows anymore. It is very annoying as I couldn't fix it.

Re-installing GRUB is easy, as is replacing GRUB with the Windows bootloader.

If you don't want to use GRUB as your main bootloader, during the installation set it to install to the same partition as your "/" filesystem (e.g. SDA 2). You can then use easyBCD to put an entry for Ubuntu on your Windows MBR list.


https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Windo ... %20Manager