What OS do you use?

What operating system does your computer use?I now dual boot (or will be dual booting) Ubuntu 10.04 and Windows 7. I just finished dling the ISO file to my USB stick, and I will be installing it later this afternoon.

Windows 7 and I LOVE it!

It's also a dual-boot with Windows XP

XP is better than 7 IMO, which Is why I might triple boot ubuntu, 7, and XP in the future

I use Windows 7. I intend to duel-boot again at some point.

Cheeseguy: When duel-booting Ubuntu, remember that you'll need to shrink the C:\ partition before you begin the installation. Make sure to leave at least 4GB for Ubuntu, but if you want any room for programs, I would recommend shrinking it by at least 15 GB.

Ubuntu's live CD contains a tool called Gparted somewhere in the menus that allows you to partition the hard drives. You don't need to create a new partition in Gparted (the Ubuntu installer will do that for you), but just be sure to shrink the C:\ partition unless you want to manually create all of the partitions in the Ubuntu installer, which might be challenging if you haven't used Linux before.

Why would I need to shrink my partitions, and can I just use my E: partition instead?

The E:\ parition is reserved for certain purposes, usually for Windows.

It's important to understand that, in order to get a working duel-boot, each operating system must go on its own partition. Normally, computer manufactures don't put empty partitions on the hard drive, so you'll have to create empty space yourself.

Like I said, Ubuntu's installer makes duel-booting incredibly easy. You just need to have some unpartitioned space on the hard drive first.

Ok...My C: Drive is completely partitioned, and 9 MB of my E: is unpartitioned. I can go ahead and shrink the C: partition when I get home, defrag it, partition and format the unallocated space left behind, and go on from there.FYI, E has no windows files (except for a pagefile on it). Nothing else is there, except for my documents. Would it be better perhaps to use it there? I am kinda nervous about installing it to C:, since that is the drive with windows, not to mention it is almost 75% full anyway.

Because of the differences between Linux and Windows filesystems, you'll need separate partitions altogether.

The partitioner might show multiple partitions on a device, but remember that one hard drive can have multiple partitions. The partitioner will probably use your hard drive's model name instead of saying "the C:\ drive".

Just shrink the C:\ partition so that there is at least 15 GB of unallocated space. Remember that multiple partitions can be on the same drive. You can take the space out of whatever partition you want, but I would highly recommend shrinking the C:\ one to make things simpler. (15 GB preferably, although you could go as low as 4GB if you wish)

Make sure that the unallocated space is really unallocated. Don't partition it at all. Wait until you get to the Ubuntu installer for that. The Ubuntu installer needs some unpartitioned space on the hard drive in order to set up a duel boot.

Ok, right now I have 30 GB to spare on C: partition, so I can shrink the C: volume. I think it is possible to run the installer off a USB stick and it install it to a disk. Which I'll be doing after I trial ubuntu, that is if I like it enough.

Installing it to a USB disc is possible, but it would be complicated. (I've done it before and it is extremely complicated. )

You should be able to boot off of the USB drive and try it that way, however. You wouldn't have to install it.

Yea, I will trial it before I actually install it, so I don't have to go through the trouble of booting it up on an HDD just to find I don't like it.

Thanks for the help though :-)

Windows 7 Starter on a netbook.

Bruce wrote:Windows 7 Starter on a netbook.

wtf?!?!?!?!?
why buy starter?!

It was pre-loaded on this netbook.

Bruce wrote:It was pre-loaded on this netbook.

Srsly, GET PROFESSIONAL
Srsly, GET PROFESSIONAL
Srsly, GET PROFESSIONAL

I'm getting a new desktop with Windows 7 Home Premium pre-lodaded, but my dad has a copy of Professional.

Also, I didn't put Professional on the netbook because of worrying about RAM.

I now use Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.10 side by side. (A duel booted system. )

I actually hear 10.10 sucks. I guess I use 10.04 (LTD)

10.10 is pretty much the same as 10.4, except with a few minor updates. I've tried both and except for the missing programs (GIMP isn't included in 10.10) there isn't much that's noticeably different.

I've only tried Linux once, and that was a few years ago, so I can't remember much about it .

I'm really happy with Windows 7, and I don't see a change coming until Windows 8.

Windows 7 is a good OS, but I find XP to be more stable. Sometimes I find anything past XP to be a bit dicey at times.

I just like the square feeling of Windows 7.. it just feels a lot more modern. The semi-transparent toolbar and the many features it carries make it seem like an extremely usable OS.

I don't really care about transparent taskbars and the like (however I do enjoy dressing it up)

Needless to say though, I couldn't care less about vista. That was more of a spinoff of the Windows franchise

I'm no longer running Ubuntu
I came to a near catastrophic incident with my computer (and GRUB). It barely even loads the Linux (or Windows ) install disk now
I uninstalled Ubuntu once to reinstall it, and it corrupted Grub, I was going to reset the Windows MBR to fix it, but it wouldn't boot the Win 7 disk

It wouldn't boot the Windows disk?

Have you checked the boot priority in the BIOS to make sure that the hard drive is after the CD drive?

Yes, to no avail

It told me to press any key boot from CD/DVD, (which it does that on the Windows CD, with me at least), so when I pressed it, it keep giving me an error (unfortunately not in english) and showed some grub rescue

As I said before, the only OS I use is Win7, however I have win 2k, 98SE, DOS, and 3.1 on Virtualmachines. I'm gonna dual boot again at some point, but probably with XP or win 2k, if not a Linux distro of sort. I've tried a lot of distros of Linux and I like Arch Linux the most, however I am going to install X Window System at some point, since the terminal is hard to use.

I've considered that Ubuntu would be indeed easier to install and configure, however "Ubuntu" is overrated imo.

I rebooted into Windows XP and I forgot many features of it, even though I used it for at least 5 years

I don't know which OS I use, actually I am a student of law and do not deals with this kind of stuff.