techWednesday, December 14, 2005
Linux on the laptop
I finally installed linux(a probably outdated underground desktop distro) on my laptop.
It was a bit tricky because I didn't want to reinstall Windows (I need Windows for my GPS software), but the windows partition is taking up the entire harddrive.
So I had to resize the windows filesystem, then repartition the harddrive to allow space for the linux partition, then install linux to the freed space.
I resized the windows(ntfs) filesystem with the ntfsresize tool in the open source ntfstools package. This is a bit dangerous (I first backed it up of course) because if the system crashes (and mine did - I left it sitting on the bed and it overheated and shut off because it couldn't get airflow through the fans on the bottom) it's possible to destroy the filesystem. Thankfully, it wasn't damaged much, so I could repair it and continue with the resizing operation.
Now the filesystem is smaller, but the underlying partition still takes up the entire drive. So now I have to change this, and at the same time create the linux partitions (a second one for swap). This is done with the linux fdisk program. It's very simple, but you gotta make sure that the new ntfs partition starts at the exact same place and is large enough for the filesystem.
I was crossing my fingers when I first booted to Windows after doing all this - it ran scandisk without any problems (ntfsresize sets the flag to run scandisk). Then booted and everything was fine.
Then I installed linux - piece of cake with the Underground Desktop install disk. The only problem is that it's just a basic setup. I gotta download updates and several applications. I'm not worried about getting this all done in a hurry. Just getting linux installed without destroying the existing windows installation was the tricky part. The rest will probably take a while since I'm working some long hours and don't have much time to play around with it.
It was a bit tricky because I didn't want to reinstall Windows (I need Windows for my GPS software), but the windows partition is taking up the entire harddrive.
So I had to resize the windows filesystem, then repartition the harddrive to allow space for the linux partition, then install linux to the freed space.
I resized the windows(ntfs) filesystem with the ntfsresize tool in the open source ntfstools package. This is a bit dangerous (I first backed it up of course) because if the system crashes (and mine did - I left it sitting on the bed and it overheated and shut off because it couldn't get airflow through the fans on the bottom) it's possible to destroy the filesystem. Thankfully, it wasn't damaged much, so I could repair it and continue with the resizing operation.
Now the filesystem is smaller, but the underlying partition still takes up the entire drive. So now I have to change this, and at the same time create the linux partitions (a second one for swap). This is done with the linux fdisk program. It's very simple, but you gotta make sure that the new ntfs partition starts at the exact same place and is large enough for the filesystem.
I was crossing my fingers when I first booted to Windows after doing all this - it ran scandisk without any problems (ntfsresize sets the flag to run scandisk). Then booted and everything was fine.
Then I installed linux - piece of cake with the Underground Desktop install disk. The only problem is that it's just a basic setup. I gotta download updates and several applications. I'm not worried about getting this all done in a hurry. Just getting linux installed without destroying the existing windows installation was the tricky part. The rest will probably take a while since I'm working some long hours and don't have much time to play around with it.
