[SOLVED] Dump Vista

[redbook]

You've probably been asked the same question before but here goes.

I've finally got kubuntu to deal with my last windows issue (visio) so I am now ready to dump Vista for good.

1 . Can I dump Vista on a dual boot system without reloading Kubuntu.

2. If so how do I merge the windows partition into the linux partition.

3. I have qgrubeditor to edit the grub settings

4. If I need to rebuild how can I keep all my existing settings and updates.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[RobinVossen]

The answer is Fdisk
and /etc/fstab

Hope that helps

[kostasan]

I suggest not to use Kubuntu. I use Ubuntu and it is great, but Kubuntu never got that same attention to detail that made Ubuntu so popular. If you want a distro that has KDE as default, better try OpenSuse or Mandriva.
1,2:If you have a dual boot system you can erase the windows partition using gparted.As far as i know you can make a partition bigger with gparted.
3:For the bootloader you just have to remove the Vista entry in grub. You can obviously do that with qgrubeditor, or by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst
4:Your settings should be okay if you don't format /home patition. If you reinstall though, i don't know of a way to keep the updates. Others may probably know.

But as i said above, Kubuntu is not a very good choice.If you haven't installed it already, try some other distro first(Ubuntu!)

[oz]

In the real world, some like Ubuntu better, and some like Kubuntu better. Some even prefer one of the other *buntu options.

I personally don't care for any of them, but *buntu users should try several of the varieties, and then decide for themselves which they like, at least in my own opinion.

Either way, have fun with it whichever route you should take.

[techieMoe]

1 . Can I dump Vista on a dual boot system without reloading Kubuntu.

Yes, as mentioned above all you need to do is delete your Vista partition, leaving your Kubuntu partition intact.

2. If so how do I merge the windows partition into the linux partition.

That's a good question, to which I don't have an immediate answer. I know some partitioning tools allow you to expand one partition to fill empty space once you've deleted your Vista partition. GPartEd has this ability, if I'm not mistaken.

[techieMoe]

I suggest not to use Kubuntu. I use Ubuntu and it is great, but Kubuntu never got that same attention to detail that made Ubuntu so popular. If you want a distro that has KDE as default, better try OpenSuse or Mandriva.

...

But as i said above, Kubuntu is not a very good choice.If you haven't installed it already, try some other distro first(Ubuntu!)

Choice is distribution is a deeply personal thing. Simply because you disliked Kubuntu doesn't mean other folks should avoid it entirely.

[kostasan]

Hello techieMoe,
Since you don't accept private messages and for good reason (everyone would ask you directly and that 'd cancel the whole idea of the forum), i guess i have to post this here.
I could write some arguements about Ubuntu vs Kubuntu but this is not the point here.
I just said my opinion and redbook and everyone else can simply choose to ignore it... I strongly believe that choice is sacred, just like the right of opinion. If i didn't, i would not use use Linux at all! I would use whatever a company believed it was right for me to use and "made me" to use it. I didn't force anyone into anything, just said try some other distros first...Others have posted that this or that distro totally sucks and should be erased from the face of the planet(the distro, not the persons!) I believe i haven't crossed any line concerning how far an opinion can go.
Last, do we have the right then to tell people they should avoid vista (because many of us, including me, do it all the time) and not the right to tell them avoid a specific distribution?
Thanks for your patience in reading this, i know moderators are very busy all the time.

[jayd512]

Last, do we have the right then to tell people they should avoid vista (because many of us, including me, do it all the time) and not the right to tell them avoid a specific distribution?

If I told somebody to avoid Vista, how would that be so different than telling them to avoid Kubuntu or Fedora or Arch? Just like all the different Linux distros, Vista does, indeed, offer up one more choice for an OS. Granted, it doesn't have the shiniest track record, but I happen to know quite a few folks who love running Vista... one is actually on a box that is set to dual boot Kubuntu!

I think what we might all want to do is explain to others why they may want to shy away from a specific system (based on one's own personal experience), but not really try to tell them that the system should be avoided.

Just my take on it

[kostasan]

I think what we might all want to do is explain to others why they may want to shy away from a specific system

I explained why: Kubuntu is not as polished as Ubuntu and there are better KDE-oriented distros, such as Mandriva and OpenSuse. Kubuntu 8.04 with KDE 4 does not have LTS(of course you can choose Kubuntu with KDE 3.5), but for KDE 4 at least, i believe that OpenSuse and Mandriva are better choices.
The following are written in the KUBUNTU WIKI, they did not come out of my mind: "The focus for 8.04 for the Kubuntu community will be stability. Following the stability portion of our goals, the Kubuntu developers plan on implementing a new strategy which will allow Kubuntu to catch-up with some of the functionality of Ubuntu."
https://wiki.kubuntu.org/HardyHeron/Alpha2/Kubuntu

It was not my intention to start a flame or anything like that... I must like Ubuntu too much, i guess.

[freemansh2000]

I dual boot vista with kubuntu. I formally used ubuntu, but one day I clicked on suspend and the system wouldn't resume just a cursor blinking, so i cold boot the system and the touchpad wouldn't work anymore except for the click buttons. I got frustrated after editing the xorg.conf and trying fn+f7 to no avail. I formatted the linux partition and installed kubuntu since installing without formating wouldn't let me login always giving dcopserver and configuration not written errors.
Sincerely, Kubuntu seems a lot nicer than ubuntu, I prefer the default amarok, dolphin, kde desktop to ubuntu's. In fact I could play wma and dvd, unlike ubuntu that is always asking for codecs, some of which I couldn't locate to download (I have no internet connection I download on my office computer).
The only present problem is that the package installer wouldn't install my downloaded files, it just pops off when I click install and enter my password. So I use dpkg -i for installation which is quite stressful, though I found a workaround, copy and paste.