I can't answer your questions about partitions because I have windows and linux on separate drives but if you want to try two distros to try out both the gnome and kde desktops I do that by by having both ubuntu and kubuntu on my drive. I had ubuntu with the gnome desktop and read how some people prefer the kde desktop so I installed the kubuntu desktop and I can choose which one I want to load at the log in screen. I still prefer gnome because I am used to it but am giving kde a try.
I can access my windows drive from within ubuntu. I often word and excel files which I open in open office in ubuntu. I don't know if that helps answer your questions about partitions. When the more knowledgeable users log on they can answer more of your questions and while in windows you can visit the linux help forums and ask your questions. They are very helpful. The people at the ubuntu forums are very friendly and helpful.

Install the first distro... watch the install process as one of the first tasks is to define the partitions. I don't know how much you need for your Windows, but you can install linux using 10Gb or as much as your disks allow. I have a laptop that I've limited to 10Gb and a desktop PC with 80Gb, so whatever you feel comfortable with. Remember, you can extend partitions after the fact.

Keep in mind that only one operating system can function at any given time. I'm not sure one can define swap for either distro, but why would one attempt it? Not like you don't have plenty of disk space. :-)

Having said that... I believe you may prefer to virtualize your machines. Provided the resources are available, you can run all three at the same time. Or, you can run two, windows as the host and one of the linux distros as the guest. You can even install more operating systems or guests, for example FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Windows 95 (don't know why you would, but you can), and run any them when you want.

Of course, this depends on your pc's resources, such as memory, cpu, and sounds like disk space is no problem. :-)

Although I personally don't like VMware Server, it is free and does a good job. (See http://www.vmware.com, right side of upper page). There are others such as Xen, which runs on linux host.

Hope this helps,
:-)
--majickmann

Thanks. I've noticed too that KDE seems to be preferred by many. I understood the only basic difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu is the desktop but that Ubuntu has the KDE available in it anyway so it seems to be no need for both of them on there if I understand correctly. Again, I'm new to Linux so I don't know.

My daily use distro is Mepis7 and I love it, I have a dual boot with another distro, I much prefer KDE desktop to Gnome and coming from windows KDE is more intuitive for windows users I think. You can add the KDE desktop to Ubuntu so you have both Gnome and KDE or for that matter another desktop, there are several to choose from, I tried enlightenment out when I had gOS, not a big fan of it.

There is a site that does excellent tutorials on step by step install and set up of various distros, here are links to some of them.
The Perfect Desktop - Kubuntu
The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron)

the distro number versions are out dated now since there is a new version out but the directions are the same.

Mepis comes with the KDE desktop and really everything works very well right out of the box with it which is why I often recommend it. Plus the Mepislovers forums are excellent too.
This is a good link for dual booting info
The definitive dual-booting guide

Ravencajun,

Very good links. But, one minor correction. The versions are not outdated.

8.04 is the Long Term Support version with support for 3 years on the desktop and 5 years on the server version.

8.10 is updated with a new version every 6 months as it is like a test version.

Of course, there are no fees for either version.

Hope this helps,
:-)
--majickmann

I guess I should have said, I have a Toshiba laptop, 1.4G Celeron, 1.5G RAM, now a 160g hard drive.

Went to try to download the distros and bootdisk. The Wifi lost connection after an hour and 15 min. Had to start over. Guess I should have used a download manager. And after another hour and only getting 17% on one and 8% on the smaller file, I said forget it. Try another day.

I'm anxious to get this working. At least try it. I'm frustrated! Ah well, it beats shopping on Black Friday!

majickman I really do not know what your problem is with me but we are adults here and there is no need for your snide remarks as you have been told by others before there are ways to help on forums and there are ways to be out right rude you have now proved to us (multiple times) just exactly which you are.

So play your little troll games knowing that we are well aware of your antics. Play on if that is what makes you feel superior.

I didn't understand your reaction to this, so I decided to check on the information provided by majickmann... It is correct, just as he posted.

Let's be clear that I'm not "siding" with anyone. Like most people reading this forum, member or not, I just want to learn a few things here and there.

You, ravencajun, have been a big contributor to this forum and helped many people. I don't know how you find the time to reply to so many postings. LOL

I appreciate the time and knowledge that you have provided to us.

Hopefully, I haven't rattled on so long that everyone has started to snore... LOL

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mimi

the issue is his manner, he has been this way to others here as well, there are ways to handle things on forums and coming to one and with your earliest ever post insulting several people for no reason, then repeating it after members called him on it, well the behavior speaks for itself. Trollish. I am sure those that have seen those posts understand exactly the behavior I am referring to. Since I stand up to it I am the one that gets the reaction, which is just fine with me I am quite able to handle it. I work on enough forums to know that unnecessary rudeness is NEVER called for ever. Perhaps seeing how he spoke to Camp56, myself and others on his first thread here would shed some light.
AVG users please note

And actually the fact that the versions of linux are still available is well known, the statement I was making to espicer was that the LINKS I was providing were not going to list the NEWEST versions in the title, there are NEWER version numbers out now, but the instructions are the same. It is well known that as new versions come out the past version is still available, but the new version is generally what a person just getting linux would be going for.
I no where stated that the older versions were no longer available.
Done deal.

Please pardon this quick deviation. I've read this forum, off and on, for about 5 years. "majickmann" seemed familiar, but figured that it is German for "magic man", which is a long-time favorite song by Heart.

Then, I realized that for the very reason above, I remember a majickmann that used to post to this forum. Are you the same person?

I took your advice, ravencajun, to read the AVG posts. And, I must say that was an abrasive post by majickmann.

So, majickmann, you certainly could have been nicer. "Blindly" was definitely crossing the line.

But, I don't see what is wrong with the rest of his posts, including the two posts above. They have been polite and informative.

In your post above, I had understood the links are to installation instructions for Kubuntu and Ubuntu 8.04. And, that "the distro number versions are out dated now since there is a new version".

It seems very clear to me that there is a newer version Ubuntu (8.10), so I would want to download it. And, I could use the tutorials even though they were for the out dated version.

Majickmann's reply was polite and provided an explanation about the two version of Ubuntu. While I understood what he said, just like on the Ubuntu pages, this is where majickmann probably should have explained the meaning of long term support. Because I did not understand why anyone would want to install an out dated version. So, I turned to my husband, the IT guru. (He really is.)

Basically, my husband said that many people want the long term support version because the environment is stable and is supported for 3 or 5 years. That would be me. I don't want to "upgrade" every 6 months.

The other people, for varying reasons, want to be "on the bleeding edge" or want the improvements associated with the newer version. So, they may upgrade or install the newest version as soon as it's available.

So, the 8.04 version is actually the newest Long Term Support version while 8.10 is, for lack of a better term, the newest bleeding edge version.

I'm confused with your last reply, for example, "I no where stated that the older versions were no longer available."

You certainly did not make that statement, but, neither did majickmann.

I hope each of you take my comments to heart. They are not meant to belittle anyone.

Again, I find myself apologizing for the long winded post. But, it is my last post. espicer, I'm sorry we got so far off topic.

I thought it would be good to contribute to the forum that has given me so much over the years. But, I now know that I'm just not a poster. It is too easy for misunderstandings over the simplest words or ideals.

And, while I have the opportunity, thanks to everyone for the help and guidance over the past 5 or 6 years, especially cboy, mikie, owbist, majickmann, and most recently, ravencajun.

Happy Holidays,
Mimi

Thanks, Mimi.

But, I politely disagree. You do have much to contribute.

Happy Holidays!
:-)
--majickmann

Hi everyone. Thought I'd give you an update. Haven't gotten as far as I hoped I'd be by now. I downloaded Ubuntu 8.10 and Mepis along with a Linux boot disk with tools for resizing partitions and stuff. Downloaded an ISO burner program. Turns out I didn't need the burner program - the burner in my new computer works with burning ISOs. I put the new hard drive in the old machine and loaded Windows XP. Did a few tweaks but don't want to spend a lot of time on it in case I mess things up and have to reformat.

On to the installation. It started Ubuntu. And I looked around a little and all of a sudden the computer shut down. Just like the power was pulled from it or a bad mainboard or something. This concerned me. Tried a couple more times. Same thing. I think I have an idea on what's going on though. All I had here was some very old CDR disks to burn to and I'm thinking I might have a bad disk. I re-downloaded Ubuntu just in case and I'm going to try some other disks I have here to see if it's an issue or I'll pick up some new ones when I'm out and about. I did order a new disk from Ubuntu but that could take 10 weeks they said. But the way things are going, well, maybe it will be that long!

I've been looking through various tutorials and stuff. Lots of good stuff out there. And I've been downloading things like OpenOffice and a couple other essential programs for it like Firefox and the like.

So there it is. Right now I'm kind of on hold but hope to get some time to work on it again soon. Hoping to be able to post here soon, from Linux!

Thanks everyone for your help and support. It's appreciated. Hope all are having happy holidays.

When you install Ubuntu it will have Firefox and Open Office already installed. It will use the update manager to update them. You will be surprised how many applications are there when you install the program.