Vista Linuxified

visser · Post by **visser** » 16 Apr 2008, 10:58

hey all. ive got a pretty nice laptop and ive got vista on it. i do like vista and i enjoy all the cool features. however. when it comes to working on the internet and getting stuff done i find that im getting random disconects.

ive heard from countless people linux is the way to go when your trying to program and/or secure a network.

so heres my idea. i got a vista copy that uses grub to start up windows. i am almost certain it is grub that its using. would there be any way that i can install a linux distro and not have to reinstall grub? the reason i ask this is because last time i tried to put linux on my lappy it fragged my vista. it tried to tell it to check the disk and vista didnt like that. so it just stopped booting. i just want something to install. i would also like to learn how to set it up myself. lol

any ideas suggestions coments would be great. im looking for somewhere to start lol

thanks all!

G-Brain · Post by **G-Brain** » 16 Apr 2008, 11:34

Install Linux on a different hard drive or partition

Add a GRUB entry pointing to that location.

visser · Post by **visser** » 16 Apr 2008, 14:11

lol
ya ill install it on a diff hdd. not to make a joke of ya dude. but ive got a lappy. lol jp jp thanks for the idea. i would but i dont have a external hdd or a usb big enough. ill look into that when i get an external tho.

but in the mean time, what to do?

G-Brain · Post by **G-Brain** » 16 Apr 2008, 14:28

visser wrote:lol
ya ill install it on a diff hdd. not to make a joke of ya dude. but ive got a lappy. lol

Yeah, I read that. External HDD, like you said yourself.

In the mean time, you could try shrinking your Vista partition and create a Linux partition of the space you create.

visser · Post by **visser** » 16 Apr 2008, 15:00

yeah. i think shrinking it would be easily doable. ive got 250 gigs. lol. but when i go to install linux is it going to change grub? will it try and set windows to do a disk check again? and where do i get drivers for linux?

thanks so far tho gbrain!

Post by **bad_brain** » 16 Apr 2008, 16:34

simply backup the menu.lst file of GRUB, so in case of problems you can replace it again.
and yes, of course it'll change GRUB, the entry for Linux needs to be added to menu.lst, else it don't show up in the boot menu....except you write an extra bootloader just for Linux to floppy and boot from that.

and before worrying about drivers you should first do the main install...what distro btw?

visser · Post by **visser** » 16 Apr 2008, 16:53

lol. still looking into that. some people are tellin me pclinuxos others are saying ubuntu.
um feeling ubuntu. its all about what will work with my lappy tho. (hp pavillion dv6500t by the way

) ill def give an install a try. lets hope it dont get messed up!

Post by **bad_brain** » 16 Apr 2008, 17:00

go for Ubuntu...

nightkid · Post by **nightkid** » 17 Apr 2008, 12:13

pick up a cheap usb drive and go with DSL linux

50 MB
best buy was having a sale, 4GB flash drive for 8 bucks :O

visser · Post by **visser** » 17 Apr 2008, 17:54

yea, i wish would have seen that sale. lol. never saw it tho. i was looking for more of an actual desktop. not a temporary thing to use.

installing ubuntu with a dual boot going on would allow me to really use linux and really learn the hard stuff. lol so many people say how good linux is and i would like to give it a shot as it may just improve my computer skills, not to mention the amount of security stuff you can do with ubuntu compared to vista. lol

EDIT: Well folks, vista crapped out on me. I know your shocked that such a thing would happen! i was too! NOT! ok. well it was randomly giving out on me. video driver would just fail. then recover and vista would have no reason why it would fail. so i said screw it, ive got laptop of the year according to pc magazine. i can downgrade it. so i did. i downgraded to xp installed everything and got it all set up. according to vista i only had 128m of onboard video memory. cording to xp i have 512. whats causing that? is that accurate? doesnt matter much cuz xp wont kill my system. FYI the system runs faster and uses up less battery and uses up less cpu and therefore doesnt get as hot. everything is just better. its all set up. and Gutsy Gibbon works on my lappy so i installed it and got it running smoothly! I love it. linux is very fun. its new to me and i am enjoying the whole 4 hours ive worked on it. so dont use vista, dont try and keep vista intact and put on linux. kill vista and use linux, if not xp, if not both for that matter. but thanks for all of your help but i am set now!