Linux Mint 12 / Win7 Install - Primer Questions

[bangkokburning]

I am going to take a stab at running Linux Mint(12) again but have some questions. First disclaimer, I need a few programs so ultimately this will have to be a dual boot configuration.

HDD = 250GB or 232.5 formatted currently in NTFS

2GB RAM

I want to blow away the disk and do a fresh install starting with Mint12 BUT ... I would like the lovely icon screen as opposed to the black/white boot selection screen if possible. Am I indeed better installing Mint first?

How do I partition the drive (with Gparted) > Three or four drives:

Boot, Swap, Root - and "Home". Can I name Home - Data instead? These can/should be primary parts all? Ext3 or Ext4 (Asus Netbook 1001P 2010).

When I install Mint with the drive parted, will the installer know where to place the files on respective partitions? I assume so. What about the swap drive, do I need to tell Mint I have one, point it there and possibly adjust a number as in Windows OR does it just take the whole drive?

Where should Windows be installed? Should "Data" be FAT32 if I am storing pictures, MP3s and data that might be shared with WinOS? Should I bother to keep Windows up to date if all I am using it for is basically iTunes and perhaps to watch videos as I like KMP player? AntiVirus, etc...?

Do I need AntiVirus for Mint (Linux) - yet?

Any USB should be formatted as Ext2/FAT32 correct?

How should I dice up the drive (with Win7)?

Boot

Root

Swap

Data

Thanks for the push over the cliff -

PS: My computer has a real problem with a "jumping cursor". It is tamed by DL of a program called TouchFreeze. Honestly, I was never able to pinpoint exactly what is the issue after days of searching. It is what drove me to remove Linux last time. Any remedy here for Linux?? I think I will definately install all Unix drivers from Asus site as well. I THIINK I did install the touchpad/keyboard driver and still had problems but can't recall.

Edited March 22, 2012 by bangkokburning

[Crushdepth]

I would suggest installing VirtualBox, then installing Mint as a virtual machine. That way you don't need to mess with your hard drive, and you can easily remove it if you want to.

[PaulBax]

when loading mint from disc you need to set one partition as / = boot.

no need for any anti virus progs at all.

dump windows completely and run any essential progs through wine

[smiling mantis]

Consider using a USB stick to boot from. Lets you use Windows to set the disk up (just create two partitions) and have its way with the MBR. Set your BIOS to give preference to the stick. Then when you want Linux you just put the stick in and boot.

Bonus: you can use dmcrypt, LVM2, etc. on your Linux partition. Even without LVM2 since boot is on the stick you can get by with just the one partition (swap can be a file). And the stick is a convenient place to back files up to.

[bangkokburning]

I undertstand iTunes cannot be run from Wine. Bunch of other progs I may have issues with as well. You can talk a lot of smack about Windows but there are loads of programs!

The rest of your replies (thanks) are too complicated. If I can't run in from the drive without the drama, it's not good for me.

[aarn]

I have been running a dual-boot win7 starter and mint 11 system for about one year [on toshiba NB305: HDD 250 Gb, RAM 2Gb]. Tried mint 12 it was OK, but the graphical interface is easier with 11.

The convenience of having the dual setup operating is that if one side stuffs up, you can open the other side to try and fix things.

I tried virtual box with little success. With it installed, both operating systems use 1 Gb of RAM, slowing everything down.

OK, the majority of forums recommend install win first, create a partition of 10+Gb, then install mint, Install mint on a usb stick - first download the .iso file of your preferred mint distribution, then create a 'live' usb using www.pendrivelinux... you can have a play with linux first, or go straight into the installation - it will find your newly created 10+Gb empty partition, and do the rest (create boot and swap partitions) with little need for you make big decisions. Later you can tweak mint so that, on opening the computer, the mint bootloader [GRUB] will by default boot into Win.

You can install linux before win, but later need to use easyBCD (after the win installation),so your system can find mint.

Mint - you can get some anitvirus systems (such as avira) but they will really slow your machine down. And yes you can use 'wine' to operate most software designed for win, but a lot of mucking around.

You could be adventurous - I have seen reports that mint 12 works well with the win 8 consumer preview, which is free. Unfortunately I haven't tried win 8, as my netbook has inadequate screen reolution.

Good luck, AA

[roban]

Everything too complicated...If you want to try it on your real hardware and not in a "VM":

Just use "mint4win-12"

It installs Mint 12 into a folder under Windows.

No need to format/partitioning or install Grub etc..pp.

Also it adds a menu item "Mint" into your Windows Bootloader

You can remove this installation easily with Windows control panel => "add/remove software"

Edited March 24, 2012 by roban

[noisyboy]

Mint is based on Ubuntu. If you like the Gnome 2 interface (the one with proper taskbar, desktop icons etc.), you can use upto Gnome 10.10. Graphical boot requires some minor tweaks after installation if you are using Grub. Just google for "Grub grahpical boot" or "changing background for grub boot menu".

Some points which may answer your question:

1. You can have upto 4 primary partitions on a disk OR 3 primary and an extended partition (which is kind of a container for more partitions inside it). I would choose the latter.

2. I typically reserve the first primary partition for Windows (format it as ntfs/fat32). Atleast keep 25 GB for this - I burned my fingers when I only allocated 15GB and that got quickly full (even though I don't keep any users files on it).

3. The second could be the root partition for Linux - ext3/4. There is no need to have a separate boot partition now a days; it can be part of the root partition. Just remember that the more things you keep in root (vis-a-vis creating dedicated partitions for them), the larger the size of this partition should be.

4. The third could be kept as a shared data storage - if you format it as fat32 (or ntfs - that works fine with newer linuxes and is a better choice I think). You can use it as a common place to put your data which would be available in both Windows and Linux which is what you need.

4. Fourth partition would be the extended partition which would house your swap/home etc.

5. Atleast for Ubuntu installer, it provides you with a choice of manual partitioning. Don't be scared and that that choice - all the above things are a breeze with that option and gives you full control.

No need for anti-virus yet.

USB thumb drives are already formatted as exFAT. If you are using it across windows/linux (as I would expect), FAT32 would be an inefficient but safe choice.

[schondie]

I have to agree with most of these comments about Mint 12 as I was one of those people that got so used to Win 7 that I thought nothing could beat it. I played around with Ubuntu in the past but was put off by the interface.

I tried out Mint and just realised that it's perfect for Linux n00bs, like myself. It pains me when I have to use a Win computer now and again as people need things fixing.

Here's a good guide to making some changes for the better;

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=86813

No AV needed in my opinion but if you feel the urge I'd install ClamAV through the software centre.