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Ubuntu on Inspiron m101z
Hi,
I've bought a Inspiron m101z which came pre-installed with Windows 7 64-bit and Ubuntu Light as a dual-boot. AMD Athlon ii K325, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD. I have no optical drive, but have boot from USB enabled. The Ubuntu Light seems to be a network version of Ubuntu 10.4.
I want to install the desktop version of Ubuntu 10.10 in my Linux partition instead of Ubuntu Light. I've been having difficulty doing this. I've tried to get the desktop version of 10.4 but there are problems and it failed twice. Some of the issues include that I cannot update the Broadcom driver, I cannot delete the USA keyboard as the default keyboard layout and I get frequent crashes. Also, I cannot connect to my wireless network, despite using the confirmed key.
At this stage, I want to try a clean install of 10.10 and I want to know how to remove Ubuntu Light from the laptop. In the current setup, I tried to boot from a Live USB of 10.10 but instead it booted to Ubuntu Light on the 2nd boot...
I'd appreciate any help.
J
I like that idea, of having a triple boot. The only worry I'd have is that when I tried to run 10.10 from a Live USB, the 1st time I ran it things ran OK, but the 2nd time I booted the Unity interface loaded and it appeared that I was in Ubuntu Light and not 10.10.
I've set up a dual-boot before with a PC that had a much larger HDD. (Actually 250GB x2, with the 2nd HDD for data/documents and this HDD is shared between both OSs) and the partitions I selected were 50GB for Ubuntu and 6GB for swap file. Obviously space is a bit more of an issue here, so what partitions would you suggest?
Currently I have:
39MB OEM partition (100% free)
14.65GB Recovery (NTFS) (7.77GB 53% free)
278.4 Windows (NTFS) (179GB 64% free)
5GB Ext4 (1.4GB 27.4% free)
Since you already have 4 primary partitions, you will be forced to make one of them an extended partition to install Ubuntu 10.10 as a triple-boot. I would use the Windows partition to create the extended partition.
If you decide you don't want the hassle, you could re-size down the Windows partition and expand the 5GB partition and install Ubuntu 10.10 to this 4th partition. I would use gParted to do the partitioning instead of doing it during the Ubuntu install.
Ubuntu doesn't take up a lot of space. I have it dualbooting with XP on a 30 GB hard drive.
According to Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/hardware/201006-6098 you need a special version of Ubuntu to load on the M101z.
I have tried to get this from Dell in Singapore [my support center] but so far they have not replied. I still have a week before the laptop arrives and hope to triple boot.
gonzalomarcote_28f350
2 Posts
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Posted March 10th, 2011 01:00
Do not try to install ubuntu in this laptop.
I am very dissapointed with mine.
It does not suspend, the fan noise is horrible and the battery life is only about 3 hours or less.
Look at this posts:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1546920&page=14&highlight=m101z
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/674984
ieee488
6 Operator
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11126 Posts
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Posted January 30th, 2011 06:00
If you don't know what you are doing, you can easily wipe out Windows 7.
If you want to proceed, be sure that you can at least get yourself back to Windows 7 with restore CDs.
Look for tutorials on how to install Ubuntu 10.10 as a dualboot with Windows 7. The issue for you is that you already have Ubuntu Netbook installed.
Given the large hard drive, it isn't a bad idea to install Ubuntu 10.10 as triple-boot. Ubuntu automatically detects other installed OS.