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61 Replies Last post: Dec 14, 2007 12:13 PM by RedRat   Go to original post 1 2 3 4 5 Previous Next
Click to view smax013's profile Old Hand 3,745 posts since
Jan 28, 2007
30. Oct 2, 2007 5:49 AM in response to: kcihtred2
Re: Dual booted linux machine
kcihtred2 wrote:heres my hard drive layout (and mph i think you are missing what im saying).

C: Windows XP Home 90GB, partition of D:

D: No OS 3.3GB, main drive

I think when i formated the hard drive, the D: was left and turned into the primary becase that was a untouched partitioned recovery drive. And considering that wasn't formatted, it probally became the letter for the hard drive. So what i need is a way to resize D: or make a partition out of a partition (C:)

GParted should be all you need to "shrink" the C: partition and "expand" the D: partition. Just need to boot off the GParted Live CD and go from there.


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Click to view mphenterprises's profile Member Moderators 9,068 posts since
Feb 19, 2007
32. Oct 3, 2007 5:59 AM in response to: kcihtred2
Re: Dual booted linux machine
I do not think this has anything to do with eMachines. Let's try to figure this out. I am going under the assumption that you went into the BIOS, went to the Boot Sequence section, and made sure that the Optical Drive is the first boot and the Hard Disk Drive is the second boot, correct? Do you have more than one optical drive? If not, there should be no reason why Windows boots up when you put in the Ubuntu .iso CD. The only thing I can think of is that the .iso CD that you created was not created properly. If this is the case, the BIOS would not find any bootable device in the Optical Drive and then would revert to the Hard Drive to boot from Windows.

Again, just going by this assumption, please verify that you truly have the Optical Drive as a first boot device. If you are not sure exactly how to do this, follow the instructions within this Document.

Also, according to your layout, you are showing D: as the primary drive and C: as the Recovery partition, correct? Again, I do not think this is an issue. Gear presented a perfect tutorial for you that was turned into a Document. You should be able to partition D: for another Operating System installation, Ubuntu.

I think you have all the tools you need to make this work. Once we get around the boot sequence issue, I think you will be good to go.


This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
Click to view gearGE's profile New Member 30 posts since
Sep 29, 2007
33. Oct 3, 2007 9:45 AM in response to: kcihtred2
Re: Dual booted linux machine
I agree with Mph. May be you burned the .iso file as DATA? You shuld burn a .iso file on CD/DVD in an ISO format, otherwise the disk won't be bootable! If your current CD/DVD burning software doesn't support burning in ISO, consider useing an excellent freeware CDBurnerXP (on Softpedia )
Click to view mphenterprises's profile Member Moderators 9,068 posts since
Feb 19, 2007
35. Oct 3, 2007 10:59 AM in response to: kcihtred2
Re: Dual booted linux machine
Kcihtred, if the Ubuntu .iso CD is not formatted correctly, this whole process is moot. I know Windows has a default burning application; however, I do not know how well it burns .iso files.

If you do not have applications like Power ISO or Nero, the application that Gear suggested to you should work for you. Try to burn another Ubuntu CD and try the process again.


This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
Click to view gearGE's profile New Member 30 posts since
Sep 29, 2007
36. Oct 3, 2007 12:04 PM in response to: mphenterprises
Re: Dual booted linux machine
mphenterprises wrote:Kcihtred, if the Ubuntu .iso CD is not formatted correctly, this whole process is moot. I know Windows has a default burning application; however, I do not know how well it burns .iso files.
The default burning tool (or CD Writing Wizard) in Windows XP only has the ability to burn data CDs. No ISO support, what so ever! It also has NO support for any tipe of DVDs, CDs with both sides to burn on (don't know how they are exectly called:-) and, obviously, LightScribe too :-) . The disk burning tool in Vista is a bit beter as it finally works with DVDs. But, again, no ISO support!
Click to view mphenterprises's profile Member Moderators 9,068 posts since
Feb 19, 2007
37. Oct 3, 2007 12:12 PM in response to: gearGE
Re: Dual booted linux machine
gearGE wrote:

It also has NO support for any tipe of DVDs, CDs with both sides to burn on (don't know how they are exectly called:-)


I believe you meant Dual Layer DVDs :-) I don't know if there is such a thing as Dual Layer CDs. But yeah, in this case, the .iso was not created properly so once that is done, the installation of Ubuntu should be flawless.


This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
Click to view gearGE's profile New Member 30 posts since
Sep 29, 2007
38. Oct 3, 2007 1:19 PM in response to: kcihtred2
Re: Dual booted linux machine
Kcihtred, if you have just too much trouble with burning ISO CDs, you might want to request a free Ubuntu CD (ISO) from Canonical (the commercial sponsor of *Ubuntu). They say delivery may take 6-10 weeks, but this is not true. It took max 2 weeks for the disks to come here, to Georgia (not the one in U.S.). it shuld take less than a week if you are in Europe or North America. You also have the ability to buy this same CDs. In this case they shuld come in a snap ;-)
Click to view mphenterprises's profile Member Moderators 9,068 posts since
Feb 19, 2007
39. Oct 3, 2007 1:18 PM in response to: gearGE
Re: Dual booted linux machine
Very good point, Gear. I actually ordered the CD and it took less than two weeks to New Jersey. The good thing about getting the actual CD is that you would not need GParted. Everything would be included.


This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
Click to view mphenterprises's profile Member Moderators 9,068 posts since
Feb 19, 2007
41. Oct 3, 2007 7:13 PM in response to: kcihtred2
Re: Dual booted linux machine
Hi Kcihtred. Okay, I am known for being blunt and direct. I really think you are making this a bit harder than it really is. Ubuntu was a very straight installation, less than 20 minutes. There are no instructions needed other than the instructions provided within the installation CD.

You stated, "now that we have linux working...," If you have Linux (Ubuntu) working, there is no need for GParted. These are, to the best of my knowledge, the steps to install Ubuntu:

  • Download GParted .iso (the link was provided earlier)

  • Download the Ubuntu Live CD .iso (the link was provided earlier)

  • Use an .iso program to burn the .iso of both GParted and Ubuntu to a CD (If you used one of the applications that Gear or I suggested and successfully created a bootable Ubuntu CD, you are good to go)

  • Make sure that your computer is set to boot from the Optical Drive

  • Insert the GParted CD and follow the on-screen instructions to create a bootable Linux partition

  • Put the Ubuntu Boot CD in the Optical Drive and restart the computer

  • Allow Ubuntu to start and follow the on-screen instructions to install Ubuntu into the partition you created

  • Once Ubuntu is installed in the newly created partition, restart the computer (You will be prompted to take out the CD before the computer will restart)

  • Once the computer restarts, you will be prompted to choose which Operating System you would like to boot, Windows or Ubuntu

Again, unless you have created the correct bootable CDs using an .iso application, all of this is moot. Also, if you are stating that "linux is working" than you should already have installed Ubuntu on your computer. The article that I provided in my first response to you gives you the same step by step instructions that you asked for and provides illustrations as well. If you have any concerns, I would highly suggest checking this article out. I have never seen a more comprehensive tutorial.

http://apcmag.com/6101/dualboot_windows_xp_and_ubuntu

Additionally, according to the instructions provided in the above link, GParted wasn't even used. There is a link within that tutorial where you can download an Ubuntu .iso. If this is not the same as the version you have, you may be able to bypass GParted with this version. Again, make sure you properly burn the .iso or you may not get anywhere.


This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
Click to view mphenterprises's profile Member Moderators 9,068 posts since
Feb 19, 2007
43. Oct 4, 2007 6:25 AM in response to: kcihtred2
Re: Dual booted linux machine
Okay, at this point, I would advise you not to worry about GParted. According to the article that I have mentioned, you would not have to use it. Also, as Gear mentioned, you may want to have the CD sent to you from Ubuntu. It took two weeks to get to me from Nigeria, I think. When the CD arrived, I set my system to boot from the optical drive, inserted the CD, started my computer, and installed Ubuntu within 20 minutes with no GParted Live CD needed.

So at this point, since you are having trouble with GParted, I would advise you to either:


OR

Now, 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is being prepared and you would be able to get it shipped to you in about two weeks.


This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
Click to view smax013's profile Old Hand 3,745 posts since
Jan 28, 2007
44. Oct 4, 2007 6:34 AM in response to: kcihtred2
Re: Dual booted linux machine
kcihtred2 wrote: ok the step which you have to use gparted is where im confused, ive like never used text line command OS's before and its kinda confusing. If you could get me the commands i could figure it out. But when i put ubuntu in the drive, it boots to caldera rd-dos or something... and i dont no how to do that. The same happens to Gparted
You did down load the GParted Live CD ISO, right? From here? And burned the ISO to a disk using ISO burning method as previously described?


If so, then you should see things similar to what this "manual" shows in terms of screen shots. According that that documentation, it should boot right into the graphical mode if you created the Live CD properly.


[soapbox] Backup good...no backup bad!! [/soap box]

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