I'd like to try Linux

Discussion in 'Linux' started by Big Col, Feb 10, 2010.

  1. Big Col

    Big Col

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    Hi

    I am a relatively new owner of an Aspire One Netbook 120GB Windows XP version. I've recently carried out the RAM upgrade on it and purchased the extra long life battery for it which gives me a whopping 9 hours worth. Anyway, I'ld like try Linux on it, has anyone removed XP off their netbook and installed Linux? If so, what version did they install? Could you provide any links? Thanks in advance.
     
    Big Col, Feb 10, 2010
    #1
  2. Big Col

    Darryl

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    Hi,
    With a hard drive that size you could dual boot. I've got away with allocating 20gb to a linux parition and most of these flavours take you through a partitioning process when you install. You could prepare a bootable usb by using unetbootin..
    http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
    here's a few examples..
    http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php (Works best IMHO)
    http://www.pendrivelinux.com/create-a-ubuntu-9-10-live-usb-in-windows/
    You can also install a "persistent" version of linux to a usb which will allow you to create a completely mobile o.s that you can boot into wherever.
    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent
    All the versions I've tried allow you to try it before a full install although one or two versions will sometimes not find your wireless till you install it fully.
    Happy huntin'
     
    Darryl, Feb 10, 2010
    #2
  3. Big Col

    Big Col

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    What's the driver support like on the version you mention? Will it detect the USB ports, web cam etc?
     
    Big Col, Feb 10, 2010
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  4. Big Col

    Darryl

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    Darryl, Feb 11, 2010
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  5. Big Col

    RockDoctor

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    Multibooting is definitely the way to go. Since you have the AOA150, there's an extra tweak needed to make the card slots (or at least the slot on the right side) work properly under Ubuntu (or Mint): add "pciehp_force=1" (without the quotes) to the kernel line in the file /boot/grub/menu.lst. That tweak is not needed if you run Fedora - not sure about Mandriva.
     
    RockDoctor, Feb 11, 2010
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  6. Big Col

    Big Col

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    Could I try an installation on the machine as it is? Would it create a boot menu for me? What is the best order to install the OS's?
     
    Big Col, Feb 16, 2010
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  7. Big Col

    RockDoctor

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    I strongly advise you to keep XP if its already on the hard drive. There are times when it comes in handy. If the drive has been wiped and you've got a copy of Windows to install, install it first and give it a reasonable amount of space (say, 30-40GB). Most of the popular versions of Linux will create a boot menu during the installation process - I assume you're not planning to install Slackware. I give each Linux distro an 8GB partition, and keep a larger, ~15GB partition to hold media files.

    Good Luck!
     
    RockDoctor, Feb 16, 2010
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  8. Big Col

    Big Col

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    The netbook itself has a 120GB hard disk. I don't keep that much data on it other than some charity work. I plan to split the disk 50/50 between XP and Linux.
     
    Big Col, Feb 16, 2010
    #8
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