Linux

[Burkingam]

You know, I don't understand why we absolutely need to use a USB key or a CD to install Ubuntu on a drive normally. Why isn't there some program to install it directly from windows? I don't see how that would be a problem as long as you install it on another drive than windows.

[Bob2004]

You know, I don't understand why we absolutely need to use a USB key or a CD to install Ubuntu on a drive normally. Why isn't there some program to install it directly from windows? I don't see how that would be a problem as long as you install it on another drive than windows.

There is, actually, or at least there used to be. A Windows program called Wubi, which you could install on Windows, and it would download and install Ubuntu for you on another partition. It even had an uninstaller, so you could uninstall Ubuntu again from Windows. It still installed Ubuntu as a totally separate OS, but it was quite convenient.

[Duki3003]

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

If you don't want it as a separate OS you can always play with it with VirtualBox.

[Burkingam]

I don't want to run Ubuntu along side with Windows. I want to have it installed on my computer but I don't want them to run at the same time. That's what I meant by "install Ubuntu on a drive normally"

[kitamesume]

^errr, just do the usual dual boot mode, where you install two OS on one computer and boot on either at start-up...

[Bob2004]

I don't want to run Ubuntu along side with Windows. I want to have it installed on my computer but I don't want them to run at the same time. That's what I meant by "install Ubuntu on a drive normally"

That's what the Windows installer does, it installs it normally, it just does it from within Windows. Once it's installed, you get a menu when you boot the computer which allows you to choose whether to run Windows or Ubuntu - exactly the same as if you'd installed it yourself from the cd. The two operating systems don't run at the same time - that's impossible (unless you use virtual machines).

[Slysoft]

My friend told me that gentoo was the best thing since sliced bread, but I think you have to be an advanced user since you have to compile the OS from scratch.

[Burkingam]

I don't want to run Ubuntu along side with Windows. I want to have it installed on my computer but I don't want them to run at the same time. That's what I meant by "install Ubuntu on a drive normally"

That's what the Windows installer does, it installs it normally, it just does it from within Windows. Once it's installed, you get a menu when you boot the computer which allows you to choose whether to run Windows or Ubuntu - exactly the same as if you'd installed it yourself from the cd. The two operating systems don't run at the same time - that's impossible (unless you use virtual machines).

Hmm? That's not the impression I have from reading ubuntu's website but I might be missunderstanding. I haven't actually trying. I think I will do that and see for myself. I have to reinstall Ubuntu anyways cause the HDD from my last installation is broken.

[rkruger]

My friend told me that gentoo was the best thing since sliced bread, but I think you have to be an advanced user since you have to compile the OS from scratch.

I used Gentoo a long time ago myself. (But I eventually switched away from it, since it becomes quite tedious to maintain in the long term due to the excessive re-compiles.)
You will learn alot by installing and using it, since there is a fair amount of manual work involved. But I would not recommend it to a first time Linux user, since you'll need more background knowledge to get any benefit from the advanced concepts involved.

Ubuntu or Mint is probably what the OP is looking for.

[Burkingam]

Worked wonder! First time on Ubuntu in like 8 months.

Oh! Fancy new design is fancy. 

Now I just need to find a way to emulate terraria (when I will feel like trying). I'm not sure that wine would work.

[shikitohno]

I don't want to run Ubuntu along side with Windows. I want to have it installed on my computer but I don't want them to run at the same time. That's what I meant by "install Ubuntu on a drive normally"

That's what the Windows installer does, it installs it normally, it just does it from within Windows. Once it's installed, you get a menu when you boot the computer which allows you to choose whether to run Windows or Ubuntu - exactly the same as if you'd installed it yourself from the cd. The two operating systems don't run at the same time - that's impossible (unless you use virtual machines).

Not true.  Wubi is basically a really slick looking virtual machine program.  It may work well, but it is NOT the same as a legitimate install of Ubuntu.  If you decide you like Ubuntu best, and wipe your WIndows drive thinking "I'll just use a live disk and install GRUB(2)," you'll be sorely disappointed by the lack of any functional Ubuntu install.  Come on, did you even read the Wubi guide?  It becomes blatantly obvious in the course of it that you are not running a full-on install of Ubuntu, although you can change over to a complete install if you so desire.  Seriously, though, what's the big complaint about having to use a CD or USB drive to install linux with?  Every OS uses some form of media for their installs, the only difference is Microsoft and Apple sell you considerably more expensive CDs.

[Burkingam]

I don't want to run Ubuntu along side with Windows. I want to have it installed on my computer but I don't want them to run at the same time. That's what I meant by "install Ubuntu on a drive normally"

That's what the Windows installer does, it installs it normally, it just does it from within Windows. Once it's installed, you get a menu when you boot the computer which allows you to choose whether to run Windows or Ubuntu - exactly the same as if you'd installed it yourself from the cd. The two operating systems don't run at the same time - that's impossible (unless you use virtual machines).

Not true.  Wubi is basically a really slick looking virtual machine program.  It may work well, but it is NOT the same as a legitimate install of Ubuntu.  If you decide you like Ubuntu best, and wipe your WIndows drive thinking "I'll just use a live disk and install GRUB(2)," you'll be sorely disappointed by the lack of any functional Ubuntu install.  Come on, did you even read the Wubi guide?  It becomes blatantly obvious in the course of it that you are not running a full-on install of Ubuntu, although you can change over to a complete install if you so desire.  Seriously, though, what's the big complaint about having to use a CD or USB drive to install linux with?  Every OS uses some form of media for their installs, the only difference is Microsoft and Apple sell you considerably more expensive CDs.

Because the standard way to install it doesn't seem to work on my comp anymore for some reason. The install wizard  always freezes everything I try to do it with the default installer. I have already looked for a fix and although I have found several other users with the same problem(I found other threads with it), there doesn't seem to be a solution.

[shikitohno]

Ah, that sort of thing can be a bit of a pain.  I had similar issues with Ubuntu, where discs that were known to be good (tried a CD my friend installed off of, a rescue thumbdrive he'd just tested out...) when I first tried linux, which is part of what led me to Fedora.  Ubuntu's installer bugged out at my laptop for some reason, but Fedora's went through with no problems.  Sometimes things can be quirky like that.  My mother's laptop recently would cause the Arch install to freak the hell out, yet is now happily running FreeBSD 9.0 with essentially the same packages installed, aside from some BSD-specific things.  Could just be an opportunity to try out a new distro and see if you can find one that works automagically. 

[Kyrdua]

Worked wonder! First time on Ubuntu in like 8 months.

Oh! Fancy new design is fancy. 

Now I just need to find a way to emulate terraria (when I will feel like trying). I'm not sure that wine would work.

what.

Please tell me that's not your only reason for installing Ubuntu...

[Bob2004]

I don't want to run Ubuntu along side with Windows. I want to have it installed on my computer but I don't want them to run at the same time. That's what I meant by "install Ubuntu on a drive normally"

That's what the Windows installer does, it installs it normally, it just does it from within Windows. Once it's installed, you get a menu when you boot the computer which allows you to choose whether to run Windows or Ubuntu - exactly the same as if you'd installed it yourself from the cd. The two operating systems don't run at the same time - that's impossible (unless you use virtual machines).

Not true.  Wubi is basically a really slick looking virtual machine program.  It may work well, but it is NOT the same as a legitimate install of Ubuntu.  If you decide you like Ubuntu best, and wipe your WIndows drive thinking "I'll just use a live disk and install GRUB(2)," you'll be sorely disappointed by the lack of any functional Ubuntu install.  Come on, did you even read the Wubi guide?  It becomes blatantly obvious in the course of it that you are not running a full-on install of Ubuntu, although you can change over to a complete install if you so desire.  Seriously, though, what's the big complaint about having to use a CD or USB drive to install linux with?  Every OS uses some form of media for their installs, the only difference is Microsoft and Apple sell you considerably more expensive CDs.

Ah, you're right. My memory must be failing me, I'd completely forgotten; when I installed Ubuntu with Wubi a couple of years ago, I moved it onto a dedicated partition straight afterwards, which effectively made it work like a normal install of Ubuntu. By default it does install it to a virtual drive on the Windows partition (though it still does not run it in anything like a virtual machine; it just uses a slightly different system for mounting the filesystem since it needs to mount the NTFS volume first).

Because the standard way to install it doesn't seem to work on my comp anymore for some reason. The install wizard  always freezes everything I try to do it with the default installer. I have already looked for a fix and although I have found several other users with the same problem(I found other threads with it), there doesn't seem to be a solution.

Have you tried the text-based installer, or whatever it's called? It may be different in the latest versions, but there used to be two installation methods; the graphical, live-cd based installer (which was the default), and an alternative text-based installer. Often, if the graphical one doesn't work, the text-based one will still work fine, and it's generally just as functional, so give that a go if you haven't already.

[kitamesume]

theres also the plan of installing linux first then windows next, window's installer isn't really shy about sharing a drive by a different partition.

[Bob2004]

theres also the plan of installing linux first then windows next, window's installer isn't really shy about sharing a drive by a different partition.

The Windows installer also refuses to accept the existence of any form of Linux, so it'll overwrite the boot loader with its own one, but won't provide an option to boot the existing Linux install. You can then reinstall the Linux boot loader again, but its complicated and a pain, so not advisable.

In any case, if it was a problem to do with Windows already being installed (which there shouldn't be, at all), then the installer wouldn't just freeze; it would most likely at least tell you there was a problem.

[Burkingam]

IMO it's better to install windows and linux in different hdd. Since Linux is not a jerk, it will detect windows normally, so it's better to boot with your linux hdd, but if you ever have a problem with it, just choose your windows hdd with your bios and you can still boot with windows. If your windows hdd brakes, buy a new one, unplug your linux hdd, reinstall windows, replug linux and choose your linux hdd with your bios.

[Bob2004]

Yeah, but generally, so long as you install Windows first, and any flavours of Linux afterwards, there shouldn't be any real problems, even if they're both just on different partitions on the same drive. Linux will detect the Windows install and add it to GRUB's boot list, so unless GRUB breaks (unlikely), you can always get to Windows even if Linux won't boot.

If you have two hard drives, installing them both to seperate disks is probably not a bad idea though, I agree.

[Burkingam]

^If your windows brakes (likely) you will have to reinstall it and that's gonna be a problem of windows and linux are on the same drive.