I'm confused by installation instructions for 8.04.1 LTS

[cousinlucky]

I got to the instruction step concerning saving the two suse partittions already on my computer while installing ubuntu. It says edit partition it says delete partition there is also a blank device at the top.

I want to keep the two very small suse partitions already on my computer but it seems that all of Ubuntu's instructions lead to wiping out these partitions. I thought it best to ask for exact instrutions from people than know just how to do it rather than grope in the dark about it. Thank You!

[devils casper]

Best way is, boot up from Ubuntu LiveCD, open GParted Partition Manager and create new partition for Ubuntu.

Start Ubuntu installation and select Manual Partitioning in Partition Section. Select newly created partition and assign / mount point to it. Installer will detect SWAP and SuSe partitions. It will setup dual boot itself.

[elija]

Open a terminal (in Suse) and become root if it doesn't use sudo by typing "su", press enter and give your root password. Then type "fdisk -l" (that's a lower case L) and in both cases you don't need the quotes. If Suse uses sudo you should type "sudo fdisk -l" and then post the output back here.

We can take a look and offer advice.

DC is right that GParted is the simplest way to partition your hard drive but I will add that if you are going to mess around with partitions in any way, you should back up your data first. You probably won't need it but it is better to have and not need it than to not have it and need it.

Sadly, I speak from experience.

[cousinlucky]

Gentlemen, thank you for your instructions. Devils Casper the Ubuntu partitioning instructions on the disk have me bewildered.

Ok, Elija! I can log in as root in suse 10 and open up the terminal.

Am I then to insert the Ubuntu 8.04 into my computer and then type fdisk -l
into the terminal and then press enter and that will install Ubuntu into a seperate partition on my computer?

[elija]

fdisk -l will show the partitions on your hard disk so you don't need the Ubuntu disk at this time.

If you give us this information we can help you more effedtively with your partitioning.

[cousinlucky]

OK, Eliija here is the information you requested. I'm very sorry for not understanding what you meant.

fdisk -l

disk /dev/hda: 160.0 gb, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

device.......boot....start........end........block s.........Id........system

/dev/hda1.... *..........1..........19293.....154970991...83.... .....linux
/dev/hda2.............19294......19457.....1317330..... ..5...........extended
/dev/hda5 ............19294.......19457....1317298+... 82.........linux swap/solaris

I had to add all of the dots to keep the columns straight , sorry.

[D-cat]

Just an FYI, if you use "Code" tags, the display will output in a fixed font, so you won't have to add the spaces.

Okay, well, I'd go back to DC's suggestion, or you can DL the gParted Live CD (or PartedMagic, more or less the same thing) will will bring up the partition editor on boot.

However you get gPartEd running, once it's up, you'll need to shrink the first partiton, probably about half its size if you can. Then you need to create a second Linux partition in the free space, format ext3. Activate the changes (depending on how much data you have on your current Linux installation, this can be from a couple of minutes to about an hour).

When you reboot, have the Ubuntu CD inserted and you can choose the install. When you get to the partitioning step, select Manual partitioning. "Edit" the second (new) Linux partition and tell it to mount this partition as root (/). As far as the first Linux partition, mounting this for access (something like /mnt/alt_lin) is your call, you don't have to use it.

You then should be able to continue as normal.

Good Luck!

[elija]

What D-cat said but I would like to re-iterate that you should take a backup first.

[Jonathan183]

I guess you already have data backed up ... based on your recent restore (I'm sure that was on another thread) ... anyway - when you resize the partition leave at least 10% free space otherwise you may find openSUSE will not boot anymore. Try running df -h and check available capacity. You can squeeze Ubuntu on 5GB ... or at least you used to be able to ... but 10 or 15GB is probably closer to a typical root partition.

... you might want to consider a separate /home partition for the install as well.

[cousinlucky]

I only put in a basic gnome desktop suse 10 and added rkhunter. The package panel in yast's system update says that I am using 3.17 GB or 2% of the disk space. There is 143.61 GB free.

I do not have any idea on how to " shrink " an installed partition.