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Re: [LUG] Showing some distros

 

james kilty wrote:
> Dear All
>
> I am having 3 friends in tonight to look at my Ubuntu (6.06)  and 
> Kubuntu set up. It would be nice to install something else before 
> their very eyes. I could add a distro to my laptop, which shows:
>
> 01 /dev/sda1 fat16    78.41MB 0.03MB 78.44MB (used 7.58GB)
> 02 /dev/sda2 ntfs        9.77GB 78.44MB 9.84GB
> 03 /dev/sda3 extended 60.13GB 9.84GB 69.97GB (used 9.04GB)
> 04 /dev/sda5 ext3        57.66GB 9.84GB 67.50GB
> 05 /dev/sda6 linux-swap 2.47GB 67.50GB 69.97GB
> 06 /dev/sda4 fat32     3.15GB 69.97GB 73.12GB DellRestore (used 2.50GB)
> 07 /dev/sda7-1 free 7.84MB 73.12GB 73.13GB
>
> If I add, say Mandriva 2007 or openSuse10.2, how should I respond to 
> the partition dialogue, if I have a choice? Is repartitioning sda5 
> likely to cause problems for the existing swap file partition? It 
> might also be a useful task to upgrade 6.06 to 6.10 to show how easy 
> it is. However, I need guidance on how to do this, preferably in the 
> GUI (both for me and for my friends!).
>
> I also have an old Win2000 Professional machine with 38GB. Though I 
> have defragmented the few files left on it, it seems to have a 
> significant wadge of system files slightly more than half way in the 
> disc (and it did not reorganise the data files to occupy contiguous 
> space next to the main block of system files at the beginning of the 
> disc). Will I need to ONLY use the empty space or can I safely 
> reformat a larger block of disc space for a Linux distro? Incidentally 
> the defragmenter left some system files with fragments, in one case 19 
> and another 22, the rest 2. I could use DOS to copy, save with a new 
> name, delete and rename if this is a good idea. Similarly the data 
> files. I could only do this with one of these files in the GUI.
>
Is the hard disk formatted for NTFS?

If you use DOS you may find that the partitions aren't picked up (if 
they are NTFS) or you'll loose long filename support (if it's 
FAT32/FAT16).  You should be able to resize the partition regardless to 
make a bit more space for Linux.  If you say DOS and mean the command 
prompt window you may find that the system files could be in use and it 
won't let you do anything with them unless you attach the hard drive to 
another machine and then copy and rename them.
> I also have an old laptop with Me on it and would like to set my 12 
> year old very sceptical daughter up with a useful distro that was 
> quick in action and could get her on to bebo and preferably access to 
> educational software! Would DSL be a good choice? This one would be 
> Linux only!
>
Chances are if your daughter wants to use Bebo she'll need to be running 
something that can support Flash.  My other half's eldest daughter who 
is also 12 moans that some sites don't work.  They're usually either 
Flash based or Windows Media streaming video.  What is the spec of the 
laptop?  You might get away with something like Xubuntu if it is already 
running ME.
> Finally, what would be the best way to dump Windows on two of my 
> machines? My laptop (currently with XP dual booted with Ubuntu) seems 
> the best option, leaving one desktop in my office dual booted (the one 
> I write about above).
>
> Many thanks
How I dumped Windows was to go cold turkey and just use Linux.  I found 
alternatives for most of the stuff I used in Windows and for the one or 
two stubborn programs that I couldn't find a good alternative for I used 
Wine (which works fairly well).  I do have two pieces of hardware that 
aren't supported at all by Linux (a Sony Minidisc recorder and some 
cheat cartridge for my Gameboy Advance).  For these I use my work laptop.

Rob

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