I believe you left out a few steps that are very helpful.
First, I would strongly advise backing up the data you cannot afford to
lose--either to an external drive, recordable media like CD or DVD, or perhaps
to a cloud-based service like DropBox.
Next, it is *always* best to be sure your Windows install is scavenged (or
"defragged"). That makes the partitioning step even simpler and more
reliable--although it rarely screws up these days, if it should it's a little
late to cry over lost data.
I would also be sure to have a recovery set of disks for Win 7--most large OEM
manufacturers like HP don't ship physical media, but have a routine for
creating your own. My ASUS took five DVDs for that purpose, which completely
amazed me--but whatever it takes, be sure you have them along with the backed
up data just in case. Also, don't forget to know where you can lay hands on
installation media or download locations for any applications you have that
created and manipulate that data in Windows. That also means making a list of
all the serial numbers you might need for those applications--this is extremely
helpful for *any* Windows setup, by the way, but is something that is often
overlooked and causes incredible hassles in the case of a hardware failure.
As for running things like Virtual Box, I find it is a much better strategy to
run Windows in a virtual machine hosted by Linux if you want maximum
performance. That is because the basic Linux system is rather more efficient
than Windows and the combination will tend to run faster.
The most straight-forward install, though, is a simple dual boot setup. The
partitioning utility in the Mint live CD should be fine. With your freshly
defragged Windows partition, there is really very little that would normally go
wrong.
When you partition the disk, you will need to create a swap partition which
works like the virtual memory of Windows, except that Linux uses a separate
partition for the purpose and is somewhat more efficient because of it.
Conventional wisdom says hyou should make your swap partition about twice the
size of your installed RAM; however, with a modern machine you may have two to
four gigabytes of RAM or even more in some cases. With that size, I have found
that about 1.5 times the RAM amount for swap works fine.
As a first install, you will probably put all of the Linux system itself in a
single partition. Much depends upon the size of the disk space you are
allocating to Linux. On my system, my Win 7 install is allocated a total of
about 60 GB--more than I really need, especially since I have a shared
partition for data that both the Linux and Windows install can access (which is
why it is partitioned as NTFS, since Windows is rather brain-dead as to what
formatting it can read. That's a shame, too, since several of the Linux file
systems are far more efficient and higher performance than NTFS. Next time I
change things, I'll probably eliminate the NTFS outside of the Windows
partition itself, so I can go with something substantially more efficient for
the rest of the disk.
I separate the root partition from the /home partition. Linux can have various
parts of its filesystem on separate drives, or on various partitions. Most of
the really big files you'll be accumulating are probably going to be things
like multimedia files--and the simplest place for them is in the /home
hierarchy. By having /home on a separate partition, I can upgrade the Linux
version without disturbing the /home stuff at all; the basic root directory
stuff is usually reformatted on major updates if you want the cleanest results.
By not having to reformat the /home stuff, I avoid a lot of hassle.
Thus, I use about twenty GB of root and about 160 at present for /home. I also
have a second 20 GB partition I use occasionally to test different versions of
Linux. The balance of my 500 GB notebook disk is on the shared NTFS data
partition.
This may be a bit more elaborate than you would want as a first time user. Much
depends upon whether you simply want to experiment a bit or plunge into things
on a more committed basis. However, you may well want to do something similar
to mine since the bulk of your data could reside either in the Windows
partition or in the data partition, and you could access it whether you were in
Windows or Linux.
Actually, Linux can also access the data in your Windows partition, but I think
the best possible practice is to leave that one mostly alone when operating
from Linux so you cannot inadvertently do anything that may mess up the Windows
install.
I also use an external drive to back up my computer onto. It has a full Windows
7 install on it, too, just in case something with the original disk should fail
so I can be up and running quickly. Linux is so easy to install that I don't do
much special on the backup disk--the balance of the space on it is merely
backup storage. The external drive was bought as a bare notebook drive, and I
put it in a cheap external enclosure that slips easily into my laptop bag.
Thus, should I have a disk failure on the primary laptop disk, I can take out
the backup one and slap it in the laptop and be up and running in about fifteen
minutes flat.
I also have data backed up to a cloud service in case I ever have the computer
stolen with the backup drive as well, to give just one possible scenario.
Thus, in a small and easily portable CD wallet I keep my recovery disks and any
installation media for apps that are not easily downloaded. My external drive
is updated to reflect data changes every week or so--I am not doing things that
are so critical that I would be in a bad way if I lost only a week's data. My
machine is set up to boot either into Linux (the default) or Win 7 from power
on--I don't bother with virtual machines.
I hope that was sufficient detail to give you some ideas of how you want to
proceed. I agree that Mint is a fine choice, although at present I have a
Kubuntu install that also has various other graphical environments
installed--Gnome, XFCE, LXDM,Enlightenment, and fluxbox to be specific.
David
--- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "grantrocket2" <mars_rover@...> wrote:
>
> Ok the sun viritual box is used to have 2 operating systems running at once.
> So linux mint would be running inside windows. This will obviosly cut down on
> preformance.
> You mentioned linux mint, this is what I use and it is one of the most
> "newbe" freindly o/s out there. (my opinion)
> To safely partition your drive, first turn your computer off.
> Put in the linux mint 10 disk and boot from it.
> Select start linux mint, in a few minutes the o/s will be running from the
> disk. No changes have been made to your computer yet.
> On the desktop click the "install linux mint" icon.
> It asks you a few questions about where you live and such. When it gets to
> the partitioning part, this is where it gets REALLY easy.
> Just drag the slider to give more or less room for windows and linux.
> I recomend atleast 40gb for linux, this will fit your o/s and your files
> confortably.
> Continue with the instalation and the installer will walk you through it.
> It will install in about 10 to 15 min.
> Once it is done shutdown your computer and remove the disk.
> Turn your computer on, when it turns on you will have the option to select
> windows or linux. Select linux and start having fun.
>
> As for the broadcom wireless chip, chances are it will support it. Support
> for broadcom has come a LONG way since the old kernal. Most web posts are
> about the old one. Mint i think has the largest preinstalled selection of
> drivers. If it doesent' work right out of the box. Feel free to post another
> question here.
>
> --- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "younger.matthew" <younger.matthew@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi, I am totally new to the Linux OS. I have an HP Pavilion Dv4 Laptop
> > that has windows 7 on it. I really do not like Windows. I hear that Linux
> > is supposed to be a good OS. I do not know where to start. I want Linux.
> > I would probably go with Mint since it runs so good with the Sun virtual
> > box. I need to keep windows. CANNOT risk ANY data loss. I know there is
> > a way to partition the Hard Drive to Run both OS but do not know how to do
> > it and it sounds a little risky. Also... I am aware that the Broadcam
> > wireless adapter that is built in to my laptop might not work. This is a
> > big drawback. Is there a solution for this? If not then I have a linksys
> > wireless usb thing that plugs into the computer that might work. But I'd
> > rather have the one that is built in. I need a lot of description! I
> > have NEVER used Linux ever! I hope that there is a Linux genius out there
> > that can help me.
> >
>
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