[Theroty]

So I tried Ubuntu about a year ago but gave after a few days. I wanna go at it again because I now have more storage space. Last time I installed it I used the "side by side" option but it was with windows xp. It let me use the nifty little slider to determine the partion size.

Since then I have upgrade to Windows 7 and when I went to try again all I get is "erase entire disk" and "partion manually" or something of the sort. Then after doing some research I came across Linux Mint so I am gonna download it instead and give it a try. I assume it has the same installer. Does anyone know why the "side by side" option was not given to me during the installation of Ubuntu? If I try this again do I need to "shrink" my current partion using the Windows admistrative tools before I decide to install Mint? Thanks for your time and help everyone!

 

[Devoid]

This is the way I usually set up dual boots:

Boot into the live Ubuntu desktop, go to System->Preferences->Gparted. (Or use a Gparted live cd).

Open Gparted and resize your Windows partition to allow for the Ubuntu install and your linux-swap space.

I usually leave the Ubuntu partition unformatted the I create a swap (formatted as linux-swap). A swap should be approx 1.5x your total RAM.

Write the changes.

Click on the "Install Ubuntu" icon and choose partition manually.

In the manual partitioning select the unformatted block for Ubuntu and create a new partition. Make it a primary partition and have it mount at "/" format it to ext3 or 4, whichever you prefer.

Run the installer.

~Devoid~

 

[Rothen]

You can do what you want to do in "Partition manually". I never heard of this simple slider system you are talking about, because partitioning shouldn't be that easy. But partitioning it manually is pretty easy, just follow some of the following tips. Just boot into the installer.

1. Shrink your Windows partition by selecting it (it will be something like "sda or sdb etc.") and resize it.

2. Add a new partition, 1-2GB in size and make it a swap partition. This is extra space dedicated to your hard drive if your RAM runs out.

3. Then the rest of the space, make an ext4 partition that you will mount as "/"

4. If you are going to have more than 4 partitions, make them logical partitions. However if you aren't going to have many, you can make them primary partitions.

It isn't that hard. This is the simplest set up. Some people might want you to do something more complicated by making multiple mount points, like /home and /var. However, just creating two partitions and two mount points is sufficient, / and swap.