10 Things To Do Before Installing Ubuntu

Monday, October 23, 2006

So you want to dual boot Ubuntu and Windows XP but you aren't sure whereto start. I have made up a preliminary list of some things that you ought to do before you install. In the coming week, I will be doing the same thing and preparing my own hard drive, gulp, to eventually dual boot Windows and Ubuntu. Get the podcast below by pressing on the link, or subscribe for free by clicking on the links at the bottom of my sidebar. Keep your fingers crossed! Oh yeah, and don't forget, Edgy Eft Ubuntu 6.10 is due out October 26!!!

Download Fresh Ubuntu Episode 14.


News Item #1: See screencasts of Ubuntu tips and howtos

News Item #2: RC for edgy eft is out as of 10/19


Main segment

1 Run a scandisk on your hdd
2 Run defrag
3 Back up MS Office documents
4 Back up media (videos, music, photos)
5 Back up emails
6 Back up contacts
7 Back up downloaded software and plugins
8 Make sure you have copies of programs that you installed from CDs handy
9 Write downs settings for various programs or export your configurations
10 Make sure you have a copy of XP in case the install is botched

email or leave a comment with more at freshubuntu@gmail.com or leave a comment at freshubuntu.blogspot.com

Command line command of the week - locate

syntax - locate [options] pattern

Search database(s) of filenames and print matches. Matches include all files that contain pattern unless pattern includes metacharacters, in which case locate requires an exact match. *, ?, [, and ] are treated specially; / and . are not. Searches are conducted against a database of system contents that is updated periodically. To update the database, use the updatedb command.

Options

-d path, --database=path

Search databases in path. path must be a colon-separated list.

-h, --help

Print a help message and then exit.

--version

Print version information and then exit.

ADDENDUM

I have given out some erroneous information in the last podcast. Shred will not work in ubuntu since it uses Ext3 filesystem and the shred man page clearly says it wont work on this type of file system. But, I think you can still use this command by popping in a live cd of another distro or even ubuntu live cd and mount the partition that you want to shred then issue the command using the live cd terminal. Warning: This command is useful in only a few instances where extreme privacy is concerned and should not be usued as your daily delete function.

Posted by harlem at 7:14 PM  

2 comments:

Hello,I am new to Ubuntu.I am also new to your show.Thanks for the help.How about tutorial for running xgl of aixgl under Ubuntu.I love your show,a video podcasts would be great..Keep up the great work,we need more linux podcasts

chain.zinzi@gmail.com
www.zinzi.us

Anonymous said...
12:37 PM  

Hi Harlem,

First off, great work on the podcast so far, I hope you keep it up, I caught it a bit late but I've listened to them all now from the begining.

The reason I leave this comment is, other than to show my support for your work, to ask for your help. I am currently on the Windows OS and am a user of the magnifier.exe tool (screen magnification) built into the OS, as I have limited sight, I was wondering if there was a linux compatible software available as the one built into Ubuntu didn't really work on the Live CD for me.

Hope to join you in your migrating to Ubuntu very soon

Thanks

Matt

Anonymous said...
4:42 PM  

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