Setting up a windows XP + ubuntu box

I got my netbook with Windows XP preinstalled, and installed ubuntu first thing. It is recommended to create three partitions, and 3 mount points:

• / with ext4 (which no longer has security issues, the reason for it not being the default option in Ubuntu 9.04 Jauny roll out, ext3 if you are still paranoid)
• /home which can be vfat (FAT32) for windows access, for all your Music,Pictures,Videos, Documents etc. folders. The /home folder also stores all user personalization settings, such as firefox browser settings. So it is a good thing, mainly when it comes to data and setting preservation, over future re-installations, installations and upgrades
  
• Swap space which should be 2x your RAM, if you do not mind shelling out the 2 or 4 GB of space.

I chose to have just the / and swap partitions. The / partition can be anything more than 6-7 GB, mine is a 10 GB allocation. Considering I did not plan to store any media files on this partition and will be restricted to development of applications and test projects.

Installation of ubuntu is getting easier by the days, mainly Jaunty installation is breezy. A few notes:-

• Download the latest (Release Candidate) from the official ubuntu website.
• Ubuntu releases are brought out every 6 months (April-04, October-10). The naming convention is yy.mm and hence is always yy.04 or yy.10. The common name is in alphabetical order
• Dapper Drake - 6.06
  
• Edgy Eft - 6.10
• Feisty Fawn - 7.04
  
• Gutsy Gibbon - 7.10
  
• Hardy Heron - 8.04
  
• Intrepid Ibex - 8.10
  
• Jaunty Jackalope - 9.04
  
• Karmic Koala (Release Candidate Oct 22nd, Final release Oct 29th) - 9.10
  
• Lucid Lynx - 10.04
• Lucid Lynx is targetted to have a 10 second boot up time on a normal HDD and not an SDD. Ambitious target, and Karmic Koala Beta gives 22 seconds, which is a good sign.
• Usually alternate releases, do not have LTS (Long Term Support), i.e. Ubuntu 9.10 for eg. will not provide for as much support, and is more of a mid way release to 10.04 Do not get this wrong, the release is completely stable and is prefect for installations.
• When burning the Live CD (or Alternate CD) burn it at lower speeds, as few users have reported installation hangs in the middle of installation (I have never faced such a situation)
  
• When using a boot from pen drive, format it completely and then use. Do not just delete the contents. Although most softwares that convert ISOs to bootable pen drives do the formatting, it is a precautionary step.
• I have never used the Wubi installer (Permits you to install right from Windows), and would always recommend a fresh boot and install, be it Live CD or Alternate CDs.
• Although there are multiple ubuntu distros available (ubuntu, kubuntu, mythbuntu xubuntu, edubuntu, and a few more), installation of the skeletal ubuntu is best, and later installing the desktop environments and packages over this. Kubuntu installation should also do.
• The graphical installation is a guided step-by-step process, and does not need explanation. The user has to be careful only in the partitioning stage, and not choose the automatic partitioning option for the windows + ubuntu box. Use the configurations mentioned above.
• If confused which partition has windows, check the size of drives in Windows and use the D: partition (if C has Windows), which will be formatted.

Now once you have your ubuntu installed, reboot and login, and enjoy using the beautiful Gnome Desktop Environment.
A few must haves on Jaunty

• Gnome-Do - a very neat docking utility for ubuntu
  
• Using Compiz fusion, not too much, not too less, just setting it up to your likes for good user experience along with functionality.
• MP3s and AVIs will not play by default, and ffmpeg codecs etc. will need to be installed. The best way to install them is to try playing the file of the desired format and using the Search and Install plugin option that appears.
• Removing and Adding Stuff to your GNOME Panels based on your usage.
• I had problems because of my netbook using Athereos network card, and the ethernet and wifi not working. I had to separately download some packages + kernel upgrades, to get the whole thing working.
  

Once the ubuntu installation is done, and the system is all set up:-

Mounting a partition, means loading a partition into a directory. A partition can be mounted into multiple folders. Note: This does not copy the contents, just 'loads' the drive onto the folder. The default ubuntu mount options are in the /etc/fstab folder.

Create folders in the /mnt directory for all windows drives. Mounting in /mnt is better than mounting in /media as it does not create icons on the desktop when the disks are mounted.

Navigate to Terminal (Accessories > Terminal) and type
cd /mnt

sudo mkdir windows,  eg: sudo mkdir windowsc

This will create the base folders to mount the C and D drives.

Make note of the device sda numbers by running

sudo fdisk -l

Now run
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
 

Comment out any lines which mount windows partitions.
Add lines to the end of the file, 
/dev/sda1 /mnt/windowsc/ ntfs ro,users,umask=0222 0 0
/dev/ /mnt/windowsd/ vfat users,umask=0,auto

• the users property is so that it mounts for all users
• umask tag numbers set the permissions
• make ntfs readonly (ro)

Close the file and mount all partitions
sudo mount -a or sudo mount /mnt/windowsd


For ease of operation, create Music, Pictures etc. folders in the windows partitions.

 Now, all that needs to be done is to create symlink in your /home folder  to the mounted windows Media folder.

Run
cd /home/
rm -r Pictures
ln -s /mnt/windowsc/Music Music


Repeat this for all folders and now your Windows and Linux folders a reprefectly in sync, and easy to operate. Also, you can create favorites in Nautilus to these shortcuts by draggin the mto the favorites sections.