Trying to install Ubuntu on my laptop

Axidium

Hi, I have been trying to install Ubuntu alongside Windows 7 on my laptop for some time now. I would like to install Ubuntu on a separate partition to the one that Win is on.
There are a couple of problems I come across. I have a 550gb HDD which is empty. There is literally 550gb of free space on it.

Now, when I try partition my HDD it only allows me to partition it to a set size. So I cannot choose how much GB I want on that partition. Another problem is that when I try install Ubuntu, it does not recognize the partition and offers to overwrite Windows 7.

What I would like:

Windows 7 as main OS.
Ubuntu secondary OS installed on different partition to the one that Win7 is on.
Dual boot.

So that's it. Could anyone offer some help?

biko

I installed Ubuntu 12.04 alongside Win XP recently. Was a breeze from a bootable USB stick.

Here's a video about installing it with Win7, about 5 mins in he talks briefly about partitions.

yoyo

Make sure to shut down Windows 7 correctly before booting off the Ubuntu disc. Hibernating or forced power downs will cause issues like this generally. Also make sure to use the DVD/USB key install option for Ubuntu, and not the Windows tool. That way the partition won't be locked and Ubuntu can go ahead and partition the drive during install.
Another thing, Ubuntu will install the GRUB bootloader and Ubuntu will be de default boot OS. If no keyboard input after 10 seconds in the boot up process the default OS will boot. You can download a utility in Ubuntu called "Grub Customizer". This will let you pick the default OS, or even handier you can set it to boot the previously booted OS iirc.

Nick

Recoil12

I used the windows installer to do mine.It was very straightforward,took about 15 minutes and I now dual boot with Windows 7.

Link:http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/windows-installer

Axidium

Ok now I have installed openSUSE instead but when I try create a directory or save a file from gedit, it says that I do not have the permission to do that.

So how do I get permission to do anything in openSUSE/Linux? I cannot make files, remove them, I basically cannot do anything from the terminal.

mkdir returns "No permission" or something like that.

Cheers

yoyo

Axidium wrote: »

Ok now I have installed openSUSE instead but when I try create a directory or save a file from gedit, it says that I do not have the permission to do that.

So how do I get permission to do anything in openSUSE/Linux? I cannot make files, remove them, I basically cannot do anything from the terminal.

mkdir returns "No permission" or something like that.

Cheers

Make sure your saving it in your home folder. To write files outside of the home folder you'll need to execute GEdit via Terminal "su gedit" to get superuser privileges

Nick

one man clappin

If you use the command "Sudo mkdir" to make directory.
Sudo is giving you admin rights to perform tasks in linux.

Axidium

Thanks for the reply guys, seems to be working.

Now all I have to do is install the JDK, which is much more difficult than I first thought.
How do you act as root?

Cheers

yoyo

Axidium wrote: »

Thanks for the reply guys, seems to be working.

Now all I have to do is install the JDK, which is much more difficult than I first thought.
How do you act as root?

Cheers

Try this in terminal:

sudo apt-get install jdk

Hit tab after jdk and it should show you the versions available from your source(es). By typing su or sudo you elevate permissions (hence re-enter password) for that command.

Nick

Axidium

Tried that yoyo and it says "command not found". Thanks anyway, I'm sure i'll figure it out somehow.

yoyo

Axidium wrote: »

Tried that yoyo and it says "command not found". Thanks anyway, I'm sure i'll figure it out somehow.

Looks like OpenSuse doesn't support the apt-get command. There appears to be a way on here with steps which look handy enough?

nick

Axidium

yoyo wrote: »

Looks like OpenSuse doesn't support the apt-get command. There appears to be a way on here with steps which look handy enough?

nick

I'll give it a go now. Thanks for your effort.