which ubuntu?

i'll have a 120 gb, 6 cell win xp model coming on thursday. i plan to dual boot with ubuntu (i have 8.04 on my main laptop already). anyways, i noticed there are multiple versions of 8.10. should i get the desktop version, the eee version, or the UMPC version? what the the differences between all???

thanks

ryan

 

I haven't tried the eee version, perhaps I should have. I used the normal desktop version, (32 bit--the processor won't do 64 bit).

Note that they don't include the wireless driver. They felt that the ath5k driver wasn't stable, and you'll have to install backports modules. (It's mentioned in various threads on this forum--also, of course, Ubuntu has their own, very good, Aspire One page.)

The 120 gig version is almost like a normal laptop, save for size, of course, and I've been using the desktop version (on the 160 GB version, but they're similar in that respect, I believe) so I would probably use the desktop version.
Again, I haven't tried the eee version, that might be better. (I hadn't even seen it, to be honest, but of course, I hadn't looked either.)

 

i figured as much since in all respects, short of size, it is a normal laptop.

now, what are the risks of dual booting? ive never had problems with computers in the past but i keep reading horror stories on here of people getting black screen. are these related at all?

 

Hrrm, I don't think that's the case. By the way, I looked at eee Ubuntu and it seems that it hasn't been updated since September. (Possibly, with the new larger EEE's, those folks figure it's enough like a normal laptop now to just leave it be.)

Even if it did happen, flashing the BIOS really is quite easy.

 

I've only had problems after wubi install, not if a separate partition is used. I guess you only have to be carefull reducing the win partition, but I never did that myself because I always used a fresh win install.

 

i dont know the partition setup of these fresh from the factory. ill check when it arrives. does flashing the bios void the warranty?

 

My 120GB system came with a small recovery partition; the rest was the ntfs partition for WinXP. First thing I did after booting WinXP to make sure it works was shrink the ntfs partition to 25GB. Then I installed my Linux distros. I like to play with the latest and greatest, so it was Ubuntu 8.10 (pre-release versions updated to current) and Fedora Rawhide for me. YMMV

 

no problems thus far, rock?

how long has it been like this?

 

Had to return my original unit after three weeks (black screen of death), but it wasn't related to my messing with the hard drive partitions. I've had the new unit for two months, and the first Linux install went on it the day I brought the unit home. I figure the most likely cause of any future failure is operator error, so I keep a live USB stick handy, and don't mess with the BIOS. It's been over 20 years since I accidently reformatted a whole hard drive, but I have mistakenly wiped a partition or two much more recently.

 

Has the black screen issue been addressed and fixed (for the most part ) by acer?

 

That I can't answer. Maybe search the forum for recent posts reporting the problem?

 

I think the only danger in multi boot is doing the partition changes, I did it today to install ubuntu with no issues. but there is always a minimal chance something will interrupt the partitioning process when you install linux and mess up the partition table. but if you have a full battery and ext power hooked up I think you have a better chance of winning powerball then messing up the acer so I wouldnt worry about it. and they do recomend you defrag your hard drive before you re-partition I didnt but I have only had mine a few days.