Minor Probleming, concerning partitions

S

Someone28624

Big Geek
I have an 80 gigabyte hard drive (I know, pretty small). Right now, 60 of those are going to my Windows partition, and 20 to Mandrake. Now the problem- I got my Ubuntu CDs today, and I have been using the Live CD all day. And I like it. I like it a lot. Now I want to install it. Unfortunately, I am out of hard drive space. I do not want to give up Mandrake, because I am getting very comfortable using it, and have installed many applications, and am just getting it to work the way I want. Of course I could always reconfigure this if I decide to go back to Mandrake and only have one Linux distro at a time. Shrinking Windows isn't an option because I use my TV tuner in Windows, and recording shows (though I regularly delete them) takes up a ton of space. Removing Windows DEFINITELY isn't an option at this point in time, because I share this computer with my mother, who just now realizes start -> firefox :ff: takes her to ebay, and any change could be detrimental to her ability to ever use a computer again. My computer only has space for one hard drive :( , so if I needed a bigger one, I would have to replace it completely, or add an external one.

So where can I install Ubuntu? I have come up with a couple of ideas:

1. Replace Mandrake with Ubuntu (but I like them both)

2. Place the Linux distros on 2 10 gigabyte partitions (is that enough space?)

3. I have heard of, though never personally tried, installing whatever OS's you use on the minimum space required for the OS and then having the leftover space be a partition for any documents you use, and it being accesible by all OS's (I believe it was document FAT3 or something like that?) Anyone ever do this?

4. Bigger HDD (I want 250 gigs!)

Any other ideas? Is 3 OS's on one computer major overkill? :rolleyes:
 
What is it that you like about Ubuntu? If it's the desktop environment, then all you are liking is Gnome (assuming you are using KDE right now). If that is the case, then all you have to do is use the command-line to download Gnome. Something like this:
Code: 
urpmi gnome
...though that is probably not the actual command. I would suggest doing it graphically if it is your first time and would recommend it anyways to make sure you get everything you want. K Menu -> System->Configuration->Packaging -> Install Software. Then use the search to find Gnome. Hope this helps!
 
I'd stick with one linux distro, but if you must you can fit a linux distro in very little space. I only have mine on a 5GB~ partition, yet its still enough. 10GB should be ok for both of them.

I would however recommend Mandriva over Ubuntu, its hardware detection is better and there are less trivial problems IMO. Btw, what version of Mandriva are you using? Make sure you have the 2006 official version, not 10.1 or something.
 
Part of what I am liking is the Gnome GUI, but it is also other minor things, like how easy all the software is to install, what software is included (and yes, I know Urpmi is easy, and I know I could probably find this software for Mandrake). I will look into making Mandrake KDE.

As far as what version if Mandrake I'm using, I'm using Mandrake 2005LE. So yeah, not the newest version. I downloaded the DVD for the newest one, and when I tried to install it, it just came up as a blank screen with the words, "Mandriva 2006" on it. It sat there for an hour doing nothing until I gave up. Then I read some reviews on 2006, and decided to stick with 2005 for the time being. What are the improvements in 2006?
 
Just a much better distro with newer software. There is a method of software management in Mandriva, you can type mcc into a shell to get the control center and find software there.
 
If you're happy with 2005, all is well I guess. Just make sure you're repositories are up to date to be sure it will be secure. If you like Gnome and the updater then those are available for Mandriva, you just have to download Gnome, like I said. Same thing with the programs... just find out the name for it and type it in the shell. For example, if you like Gnome's cd ripping program, called Grip, just type in the shell
Code: 
urpmi grip
and it'll download it. But like I said earlier, if you're looking to install Gnome, I would personally recommend doing it through the GUI, as it was easier for me to do when I installed Gnome.
 
I looked through my partitions on my hard drive today, and previously unknown to me- I have 9.5 gigs of unpartitioned space. Well, it's not unpartitioned anymore. I love surprises like that. I do plan on cutting back to 2 OSs in the future though.
 
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