Another Ubuntu 7.1 on xps m1330 question

Whew! So I've been reading up on running Ubuntu 7.1 on my xps m1330 both here and on the Ubuntu forums. Lots of info, a lot of which is way more technical than i want to get into (full reformat of the hard drive, partitioning, etc). Also, everyone seems to have different set-ups than what I'm after. So...I'm hoping someone can help my peanut brain understand how to make this work. Here's my goal:

I'm firmly entrenched in the Windows world, so Vista HP will be my primary OS. I also like the functionality of Dell Media Direct, so I'd like to leave that alone. I would simply like to put Ubuntu in the Dell Recovery partition, since that's a function I don't really need. So basically, I want to keep my 1330 as is, except for that one partition. How easy/hard would that be?

I've already test-driven the 7.1 Live cd, and everything works like a charm off of that.

 

Assuming you don't mind the order of the partitions the way they are, you should just be able to install over the restore partition.

 

Well, that's one of the things I saw some people making a big deal about. Should I mind? What difference would it make?

 

I thought the restore partition is like what, 30 MB?

 

No, it's 10GB.

 

when you boot to the Ubuntu LiveCD, it will bypass your HD and load the environment from the CD. you will be able to mess around within Ubuntu's default settings. there is an icon on the desktop labeled "Install" which will start the install process. you don't have to install right away. during install, it will give you a partition manager. do your stuff there. it's not like windows which must install before you can use it. you can 'try before you buy'.

 

Yes, I've used the live cd. I've actually installed 7.04 on an old Dell desktop, but I completely wiped the hard drive during that installation, so that was easy. I just don'twant to screw up my 1330's basic set-up.

Sarphram seems to suggest that I'll be able to install Ubuntu right into the D: (Recovery) partition currently on my notebook and keep everything else as is, which again seems easy enough. But he brings up the issue of partition order. Is that an issue? If so, why?

 

Hi why don't you resize your biggest partition (Vista partition) than install Ubuntu in there also don't forget the swap partition If you have 2 gb the swap partition will be like 1gb and it will work.. I had already do it and it works perfect with Media Direct, Windows Vista and I didn't screw any other partition..


Also you can download the Ubuntu version for your laptop
from here..

http://linux.dell.com/files/ubuntu/iso-images/

Regard..

 

Pookie, did you ever get Ubuntu installed on the recovery partition? I would like to do the exact same thing.

Also, what all does the XPS m1330 Ubuntu iso include? At 4GB I am thinking it includes a lot of stuff I don't want installed.

 

No. I'd read on the Ubuntu forums about folks having trouble with guided partitions during installation, and the manual partitioning isn't very clear about what you're about to do (nor would it let me set up a partition as small as I wanted for Ubuntu), so I decided it wasn't worth the risk and time. Throw in there all the talk of swap partitions and MBRs, and it just got a little more complicated than I thought Ubuntu was worth (I only wanted it on a small partition to play with it). I asked for help on a couple of forums, but didn't get the answers I needed. You can tell that from this thread alone; questions left unanswered....

It seems that everybody's doing something different with their set-ups. People want to help, but unless they've done what you want to do, you'll get THEIR "solution." So here's what I did :-D I just installed Ubuntu on a USB stick.