lubuntu-desktop team mailing list archive

[Jonathan Marsden <jmarsden@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Leo,

On 05/01/2011 06:15 AM, Leo Allen wrote:

> I did not do any beta versions, so I am not sure wether wubi worked 
> with them  or not. 

OK.  It looks as though wubi wasn't tested, and so probably doesn't
work.  We need to add wubi to the list of things to test for Lubuntu
11.10, so we don't make the same mistake then that we seem to have made
this time!  But that doesn't help you right now.

> You mention to try as a normal graphical installer - is there a
> particular file I need to point to to begin the installation?

No.  Instead, you would just boot the computer from the Lubuntu CD. Put
the Lubuntu CD in the drive, then reboot the computer.  That will
(usually) automatically run the install menu from the CD.  Windows (or
any other operating system on your hard disk) never even has a chance to
even start to run, if you do this :)

If doing that still runs Windows, you might have to press F10 or F12 as
the computer starts up so it will offer a little "boot menu" from which
you can choose to boot from CD. (You can change CMOS settings instead,
but that's a bit more complex to describe).

> This is being installed on a Windows XP Pro system (as I've found
> with other Linux versions, XP is the most "friendly").

OK...  Do you want to keep your XP Pro installation and files intact, or
are you planning to wipe it out and replace it with Lubuntu?  Or, do you
want to repartition the hard drive so that (for example) half the disk
space is for XP Pro, and half is for Linux?

Do you have a good up to date backup of the Windows installation and all
your files, somewhere not on that same PC?  If not, creating such a
backup is a good idea, as a precaution (against hardware issues or other
accidents, as well as against making mistakes when trying to share the
disk between Windows and Lubuntu).  So if you are going to share the PC
between Windows and Lubuntu, it would be wise to take the time to make a
good full backup of the machine as it is now, before you do anything
else.  Just in case :)

Wubi is (in my biased opinion!) a somewhat odd hybrid installation
approach, that installs Linux (Lubuntu, if it worked) into some big
files inside Windows... but that is not the usual way to install any
Linux distribution.

> I'm anxious to give Lubuntu a try ...

Good :)

If you are a newcomer, the safest way is to attempt that first "try" on
an older machine dedicated to that purpose.  One you have no files or
programs on that you care about.  That way, you *know* you can't
accidentally remove your main working copy of Windows and all the files
in it that you wanted to keep :)

If you do not have a spare old machine for that sort of "windows-free"
testing, there are several other alternatives.  Which one is "best"
depends on your experience level, and the capabilities of the machine
you are trying to "share" between Lubuntu and Windows.  On modern PCs
with a few GB of RAM and a multicore CPU, running VirtualBox inside
Windows, and installing Lubuntu as a "virtual machine" under VirtualBox
can work very well, but on older PCs it is impractical.

> - I tried the much-hyped Kubuntu
> and felt that it is to Linux what Vista is to Windows!

That sounds as though you have an old-ish PC, or one with limited RAM.
Lubuntu is designed specifically to be useful on such older PCs;
however, it is not necessarily designed to be ultra-easy for beginners
to use on older PCs while also keeping Windows on those same PCs.

To be able to offer a specific "try Lubuntu *this* way" suggestion for
you, other than "try it out on a dedicated test PC", it would help to
know what sort of PC you are wanting to run Lubuntu on:

 * make and model if it is a well known brand
 * CPU type and speed
 * how much RAM the machine has
 * how big a hard disk it has
 * whether you are comfortable repartitioning it to free up some space
dedicated to use by Lubuntu.

Hoping this helps and doesn't seem *too* complicated!

Jonathan