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New Laptop

colintivy
Rising Star
Posts: 1,375
Thanks: 33
Registered: ‎07-03-2008

New Laptop

Hi folks!
I hope that this is an approriate forum to advise me, if not please redirect.
My poor old laptop circa 1998, P111 866Megs 512 Meg RAM with Ubuntu 10.04 has had a sulk. I had a new HP Pavillion dv6-3122  delivered, having taken advantage their cheap offer. Put it on the desk only to find that the old one no longer booted up!!  Who said that PCs are not capable of feeling agrieved? The BIOS page shows that its software is corrupted with a raft of error messages starting with a checksum error. It does not "see" any of the drives or drivers. Probably fatal I guess.
The new machinee has Win7 Home Premiun already installed on its 500GB HD and I really do not like the OS one bit. I had  intended to get a machine which had Linux on it but they were rare and too expensive. So  where do I go with what I have got? I know many of you use Win7 and a Linux distro in some form of double booting , what route did you employ to do this efficiently?
1. I could go rash and remove Win7 entirely and do a clean instal of Ubununtu (or whatever) which is a bit irrevicable which is a bit extreme. But it goes against the grain haveing paid for it! 
2, I could use Wubi and run the linux OS within Winddows (even with my present dislike of Win7).
3.  I could split the HD into two parts (say 250 Gigs each) leaving Win7 as it is with plenty of elbow room, construct the Linux part into normal partitions also with enough elbow room.
or whatever you recommend.
Huh
.
86 REPLIES 86
Oldjim
Resting Legend
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Re: New Laptop

Moved to where the experts will be delighted to help - not me as I rather like W7  Grin Grin
MisterW
Superuser
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: New Laptop

Option 3 is probably the best although I'm not sure on the equal split , it depends how much you are likely to use each OS. First thing though is to use the Ubuntu Live Cd to check that all your hardware is properly supported , wireless , audio , display etc. Assuming that's ok then the Ubuntu installer will give you the option to resize the the Windows partition and provide the free space to install Ubuntu which will then automatically set up the dual boot.
There's a useful guide here http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p23.html
Post back with any questions

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colintivy
Rising Star
Posts: 1,375
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Registered: ‎07-03-2008

Re: New Laptop

Thanks Oldjim, I did think of Mac/Linux but was not sure of the best route. Sorry for the recent bothrs!
@MisterW
Thanks also.
That sounds reasonable to me, it seems that Win7 itself is quite small but, perhaps its attendant AV As etc., 250Gigs ought to be plenty, similarly the same applies to 10.04.2. I have the LiveCd for that. I will look at your ref anyway to see if there is anything else I ought to take in account.
Smiley  Wink
MisterW
Superuser
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Re: New Laptop

Quote
similarly the same applies to 10.04.2.

My 10.04 desktop currently uses ~19Gb and its got quite a few packages installed.
Consider using a separate partition for 'home' when you repartition the disc as it gives more option when upgrading to later versions of Ubuntu.

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Ellis
Grafter
Posts: 213
Registered: ‎04-02-2011

Re: New Laptop

I recently bought an Acer Aspire 5742 laptop and first thing I did was to remove the SATA HDD (250GB Windows 7) and replace with the SATA HDD from my previous laptop (80GB Ubuntu/Linux). I eventually bought another 250GB SATA HDD and transferred my files and settings to it. I still have the original Windows 7 HDD which can be re-installed if I sell the laptop later on.
VileReynard
Hero
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: New Laptop

Is it possible to buy a laptop with no OS installed?

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

shutter
Community Veteran
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Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: New Laptop

I am sure that if you went to the Dell official site, and put in your order specifically for NO OS... they would supply...
w23
Pro
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Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: New Laptop

Yes, you can buy a laptop without an OS but when I bought mine from Dell it was a 'special offer package' and they advised me that without Windows (Vista at the time) it would cost me more as a 'special'.
There was a case when someone bought a laptop (again a Dell) but encountered the Windows EULA, disagreed with it and proceeded no further, contacted Dell and said they dod not agree with the EULA and would not agree with it so would not, in fact, be able to use their purchase with Windows, Dell eventually refunded a sum of money on the understanding that Windows would be wiped from the machine and not activated of the particular key.
Nowadays, you might need to go to a smaller, speciallist builder to get one easily without an OS - on the other hand, if you can fine one with Linux then at least you're not paying a lump to Microsoft.
[Edit - sorry about the typos, keyboard is full of debris as it's sat next to the chinchilla cage!)
Call me 'w23'
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VileReynard
Hero
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: New Laptop

I think M$ had words with Dell about that, but with the recent announcement that HP are to stop making PC's, I presume Microsoft are losing their powers.  Grin

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

HairyMcbiker
All Star
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Re: New Laptop

Other option is to "back up" the drive AS IS. Then wipe it and put on a decent OS  Wink (One that doesn’t spy on you, or "phone" back home every day)
That way if you want to you can re-install the original and "sell" it on if needed or return it.
ejs
Aspiring Hero
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Re: New Laptop

Can't you create a recovery DVD? Then you can do whatever you like with the hard disk, and if necessary, use the recovery DVD to wipe everything and restore it to the "out of the box" state.
colintivy
Rising Star
Posts: 1,375
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Registered: ‎07-03-2008

Re: New Laptop

Thanks lads for all that!  
I did not know that HP were ceasing making PCs. That explains their "generosity" in offering the discounts. Mine was made in China if that makes any difference. I did see that, on booting up, the laptop ground its way through no less than 74 updates which must indicate that the OS version was installed a long time ago! Win7 seems to major in Eye-Candy" with the result finding out what you want to know is not always intuitive. No doubt I might get used to it. The supplied, minmal documentation certainly does not agree with the actual operation in places which is not helpful. I have failed to find my way to the BIOS Boot Order page to get it to use the DVD drive as the first despite finding the apparent  place which then seems to do nothing. Clever these Chinese.
I am getting a bit nervous about installing Ubuntu hearing the noises about the Unity desktop at the  next LTS. Does Mint11 allow much of the old style 'buntu but without that change? How does it compare well with adequate support for external hardware such as my Canon 905D printer and its associated 9005F Scanner? The former is OK using Turbprint2 Pro but Sane does not cope with the latter.
Any views?
Huh Huh
colintivy
Rising Star
Posts: 1,375
Thanks: 33
Registered: ‎07-03-2008

Re: New Laptop

@Ellis.
I did think of getting a new HD but at first examination I am not sure how to get inside the laptop. I know that HP can make difficulties with such actions, I have a nice little HP PhotoSmart 475 lying idle with a paper jam (A notorios problem), when I got 95% of it out using the approved method via the back door  leaving a corner betwee the rollers! This could probably be sorted once the cover was removed but there is no obvious way of finding the catches. HP Service would charge about £150 to do it, so it can be done, but a new printer was very much cheaper!!  Presumably HP build their laptops with the same philosophy. Such is progress!!
Roll_eyes Roll_eyes
Ellis
Grafter
Posts: 213
Registered: ‎04-02-2011

Re: New Laptop

Quote from: colintivy
@Ellis.
I did think of getting a new HD but at first examination I am not sure how to get inside the laptop. I know that HP can make difficulties with such actions, I have a nice little HP PhotoSmart 475 lying idle with a paper jam (A notorios problem), when I got 95% of it out using the approved method via the back door  leaving a corner betwee the rollers! This could probably be sorted once the cover was removed but there is no obvious way of finding the catches. HP Service would charge about £150 to do it, so it can be done, but a new printer was very much cheaper!!  Presumably HP build their laptops with the same philosophy. Such is progress!!
Roll_eyes Roll_eyes

There should be several removable panels underneath. Battery, RAM and HDD. The SATA HDD's can be easily unplugged and removed, it's usually a case of moving it away from where it's plugged in and lifting it out. Replacement is the opposite procedure.