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Originally posted by 01222E01222E430 link=1234880982/14#14 date=1235295440
Oh sure Mal,
But if he wants to keep it totally separate to play around and trail the system, then it is possible to set it up easily without grub.
Basically thats why I did it that way. I set it up for demonstration purposes to show what is possible at my work and I didnt want grub installed. I personally wouldnt run a desktop over usb anyway. Its just to slow no matter what the OS.
J
Thanks for your input bambam
So if it is to slow to run the Linux OS from a USB drive what is my next option
I have limited Hard Drive space on my lap top @ 80 gig and its almost full thus the reason I wanted to have the OS on an external drive
I can fit a larger internal hard drive on the lap top
Q? - Can I transfer the current XP prof and all stored info from the old hard drive to a new bigger hard drive without problems
I can then have dual boot
P.S. I love that cube desktop
KK
Its not that its too slow. Its just that I wouldnt like to do it personally if i was going to use it long term. Just to have a play etc it is much better than the live cd as you can install apps etc.
Getting a larger hard drive if you are seriously thinking of using Linux would be my preference. Depending on your budget you can get a high density 500GB 2.5 Sata drive for around $180. If thats out of your price range you can get a 250GB for around $100.
You can mirror your current dive but it might be difficult if you laptop only has one drive bay. You should be able to do it with an external hard drive enclosure though if you have one laying around for a 2.5" hard drive. The software you would need to mirror the drive would be Acronis true image or Norton Ghost. (i think Acronis is better).
However if you have a spare external hard drive laying around I highly recommend giving it a whirl for yourself. You have nothing to loose except an hour or two of your time.
Are you running version 4 of KDE? I read somewhere that Linus Torvalds switched to gnome because he didnt like the changes from the previous version. Seems to be a lot of backlash around.
I havent used Mandriva before. I have done a lot of work with RHEL4, Fedora and Cent OS from a server perspective and they ware quite good. I would say that I enjoy Debian based packages much more these days as they are very easy to work with and there is so much online support available for them.
All I can say is if you are keen to give this one a try then go for it. Personally I think that maybe Mint or Ubuntu would be best for someone in your position, from a desktop perspective they seem to just work very well with the minimum of hassles.
I would be happy to do the job for you if you are ever down the coast. Just give me some notice so I can grab the hardware and software I would need from work.
Originally posted by 73505C73505C310 link=1234880982/18#18 date=1235302112
BTW Mal,
Are you running version 4 of KDE? I read somewhere that Linus Torvalds switched to gnome because he didnt like the changes from the previous version. Seems to be a lot of backlash around.
BB
Gday again BB...
I tried KDE4 for a month or so and was experiencing a range of weird behaviour with some of the apps I like to use, system settings that wouldnt stick, random hardware incompatibilities that would mysteriously appear and then just as mysteriously disappear.
At the time, I didnt put it all down to KDE4 but after doing some research and discovering that others were having problems of one sort or another with it, I reverted back to KDE3.5xx and all of my woes disappeared. In the end, Im not really sure what was going on and why I was experiencing these problems (Im not an IT guy), but the change back to KDE3.5xx certainly fixed things for me.
@ KK....
By the way KK, I support everything that "BB" says above about Debian. There are just mountains of support to be found if you need help with anything and though BB alludes to some issues with (K)Ubuntus implementation of the Debian core, it just seems to be so widely supported that 99% of any problems you may experience can be resolved usually within a day or so. As I mentioned above though, Ive decided to stick with the LTS version of Kubuntu as it suits me and I have no desire to keep updating to the bleeding edge every few months. I cant remember when I last had a problem with the LTS versions, and those that I did have were mainly down to my newbie status as a Linux convert, not specifically down to Ubuntu/Debian.
I think you will be very pleasantly surprised with just how good Linux can be; it does so many things that are streets ahead of the way Windows goes about similar tasks and I havent had a crash or hang for more than 18 months. Its just super reliable....
I am glad too hear you didnt suffer to badly from KDE 4 and that it was all resolved relatively easily. I think a lot of it has now been fixed. I am a gnome user myself.
Ill be sticking with what Ive got for now, it does everything I want and, I dont want to fiddle around with something that is working so well .
Used Gnome when I first started out but after trying KDE it just seemed to do things a little bit more along windoze lines and so was easier for me to make the overall transition. I go back to Gnome now and again for when I need to play around with system or hardware settings, it seems much better suited than KDE for this sort of work.
Q? - Can I transfer the current XP prof and all stored info from the old hard drive to a new bigger hard drive without problems
I can then have dual boot
Very out-of-date comments.
It might be worthwhile to let a computer shop install a larger HD and transfer the Windows XP to it. Computer shops usually have setups that can do that easily.
Just make sure that the new HD is given two partitions as part of the install. And the "Windows partition" is not given more space than is needed to run Windws XP.
Originally posted by 45666F6A7B030 link=1234880982/25#25 date=1235509690
Q? - Can I transfer the current XP prof and all stored info from the old hard drive to a new bigger hard drive without problems
I can then have dual boot
Very out-of-date comments.
It might be worthwhile to let a computer shop install a larger HD and transfer the Windows XP to it. Computer shops usually have setups that can do that easily.
Just make sure that the new HD is given two partitions as part of the install. And the "Windows partition" is not given more space than is needed to run Windws XP.
My 2 cents worth.
Felix
Well,
If youre recommending to head in that direction, I think you might as well go the whole hog, meaning you would need a minimum of 4(5) partitions to be created...
One for your existing system,
(Optional one for your Windows Apps data),
One for the Linux Core Files (Root)... 15-20GB would be plenty
One for your Linux Home Directory... As big as you want, after all, it will contain a lot of your App files and all of your Data, and
One for the Linux Swap File... A couple of GB is plenty for this.
Its very highly recommended to create a separate "Home" partition in Linux as whenever you update the Linux System files all of your data and most of your Apps will remain untouched and unaffected. It also makes for a much easier Data Backup Protocol since you only need to backup the Home partition in order to preserve all of your data. Its a good idea to "image" the entire HDD of course as this will make things a lot easier to recover from should you inadvertently screw your Linux system in some way and then be unable to recover it. Its a good safety insurance when you first kick off with an unfamiliar system.
Excellent suggestions Mal,
when I do server installs I do something similar except there is a /tmp partition and a /var partition. This is mainly for security as the web root is stored under /var/www and the /tmp mount point is shared by users and has the noexec flag in the fstab so no files can be executed from that partition.
Felix,
He can easily just mirror what he has to the new hard drive. Then when he installs ubuntu it will re-size the windows partition and sort everything out automatically.
With regards to partitions, my lap top when purchased new came with 2 partitions (drive C & drive D)
Just an update I sometimes come across a fellow that works in a used computer shop
Last night was one of those days and I asked him to find me a late model ex government used lap top for under $200
Will know if he can do it by Thursday
Fingers crossed as that will become a dedicated Linux Computer
If that fails I will take all your great advice on board and have the computer shop fit the largest hard drive my lap top computer can support and have dual boot Win XP / Ubuntu
I do have a hard drive caddy so I will use the old hard drive as an external storage device and recovery file storage
Unless system recovery is better to be burned on a CD/DVD disc
Ubuntu 8.10 is definatley good place to get started with Linux, and 9.04 will be out next month. If you do end up with an older lower powered laptop you will probably want to use a Window Manager that uses less resources such as Fluxbox.
With backup and recovery data its always best keeping it in as many places as you can.
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