As soon as my 64bit Ubuntu cd comes from ShipIt, I'm going over to help my friend install it on his comp. Is there anything special we should know before trying to install it, or is it a pretty user-friendly install? And do we need to re-partion his drive for dual-booting before we install, or will the installer do it automatically? And which is easier, winxp on hda1 and linux on hda2, or vice-versa?

Once we get that installed, we need to put on Gimp. Are there any binaries you would recommend, or do we have to install from source? Neither of us have ever installed anything from source. Actually, now that I think about it, the only things I've ever installed on linux were myDSL apps(http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/mydsl/).

You're probably better off compiling from source. Just apt-get install gimp. Don't forget GTK if the dependencies thing doesn't figure it out on its own.

assuming you are getting Ubuntu desktop, it comes with the GIMP preinstalled.

It does? Oh, sweet, I didn't see it when I booted the live cd.

What about installing? Should linux be first on the drive or second?

That depends... do you want to dual boot on the same harddrive? If so, you'll *need* at least 10GB of free unpartitioned space in which to install Ubuntu.

Yeah, it's on the same drive. But how can I install on unpartioned space? I thought it needed to be partioned to install. That's how I installed DSL.

The Ubuntu installer contains a partitioning tool if your hard drive is not already partitioned.

It's on the same drive... exciting. It can be 10GB of anything really, Ubuntu will reformat it with whatever file system is uses (ext3 is my guess).

We're going to clear off his hd first. Which should be installed first, ubuntu or winxp?

Do this: make swap hda1, ubuntu's partition hda2 (I'd recommend ext3 or ReiserFS), and XP last as hda3. It's okay to put everything on one partition for a beginner to linux (with swap as a separate partition). Or, put whichever OS you want to operate faster as hda2.

Well, he wants to do all of his web surfing and general usage on linux, and just have windows for gaming.

Oh, and how big should a swap partion be? The drive is about 120gb, I think. Is 10gb fine?

10 gb is too big, I think you should not go above 512 mb or it will slow down.

Aren't you not supposed to install Windows last because it overwrites any other bootloaders in the MBR?

correct.

as for using Windows for gaming only, allow me to point you here before kllrnohj does http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedega

Bottom line:

1. Partition
2. Install Windows XP (if you must) on hda3
3. Install Ubunu with swap partition hda1 and boot partition hda2

Cedega looks cool, but paying for a linux program just seems a little... strange... Is wine alone worth anything for gaming?

wait, ult-dev said to put the faster OS on hda2 right? If he is going to game in Windows and general stuff in Linux, then wouldn't he want Windows on hda2?

Not yet, but I've heard the developers are putting more and more effort into it.

I'd really like to run Cedega, but I'm not willing to pay for it (yes I'm a cheap A-hole). I heard there was a free CVS version, and I found this on it, but I couldn't get it to work and I gave up.

Technically speaking, the fastest partition will be hda3, as read speeds are fastest near the outer edge of the drive. However, we are talking such ridiculously small amounts here it won't matter (also, as previously, er, 'discussed', games don't require great hard drive performance)

@Kerm: apt-get install gimp will download/install BINARIES, not source

So foamy, some things to be wary of...

32bit binaries == avoid avoid avoid (just easier this way - you can get 32bit emulation packages so they work, but I'm not sure how Ubuntu handles this)

Also, use Synaptic to install new packages (it'll be installed by default)

Lastly, you won't have nearly as many packages as 32bit x86 Ubuntu does - you'll either have to install from source (can be tricky if you don't understand things like dependencies, otherwise pretty easy), or find alternatives that have Ubuntu 64bit binaries

The swap partition should be physical memory * 1.5 (or thereabouts). So if his comp has 512mb RAM, make the swap partition 512mb to 768mb. Cap this at about 1gb, as you won't need more swap than this. I personally would set up the hard drives as such

windows == hda1
Linux == hda2
swap == hda3

Just so that it is easier to install windows, as it will want to be first. Easiest way, of course, is to install windows first and just leave a sizable chunk of the hard drive UNPARTITIONED and UNFORMATTED - don't let windows touch what you want to use for Linux and swap!

As for cedega, it does work, albeit rather slowly and clumsily. Not the best, but in a pinch, it does a decent job

I was reading that wikipedia entry through, and I do think it's a bit lame of them to abuse the LGPL that way. Bah.