Replacing Windows 7 with Ubuntu

[scottmw90]

Hello,

First things first. I have NO idea what I'm doing yet with Ubuntu. I have a small Intel Atom notebook which came with Windows 7 Starter installed. However, I've now up and decided to replace Windows 7 with Ubuntu. So, I downloaded Ubuntu last night and current it appears to be running as a dual-boot setup, because I can select either Windows 7 or Ubuntu when I start the notebook up. However, this is killing the notebook since it's only a small 1.something GhZ thing, so I want to remove Windows. Microsoft doesn't seem to offer any guides on how to do this other than "don't do it!!!", so can you help me?

It is just as simple as deleting the Windows 7 hard disk partition after copying over all my pictures/videos etc.?

 

[Night Fox]

uninstall - How to I remove windows but keep Ubuntu? - Ask Ubuntu - Stack Exchange

I don't see how this is "killing" the notebook, but if you're sure you don't want it on there, you should just be able to delete both the Windows7 partition and the System Reserved partition that windows makes, and then just resize the Ubuntu partition. The link above tells you how if you're unsure. If I were you, I'd copy your files to an external drive if you can just in case this method fails and you have to reinstall Ubuntu.

 

[scottmw90]

The notebook loads up fine and I can navigate the windows without any trouble, but God help me if I try to install something - it took 30 mins to install VLC through the Ubuntu Software Centre and 3 hard resets to uninstall Libre Office.

 

[Night Fox]

How good is your internet connection? Ubuntu Software Center reaches out for a lot of package information from Ubuntu servers when it opens. Even on my desktop (in sig), when I had Ubuntu installed, it would take a while for it to open up. Ubuntu itself is very hard drive dependent and has to run through lots of files. Notebook hard drives are generally slow. As for installing the packages themselves, your slow hard drive and (possibly) slow internet connection could be hindering it. I highly doubt deleting Windows 7 will help.


Try installing applications through the terminal (sudo apt-get install vlc).

Btw, if you want to install the latest VLC for Ubuntu you have to add a different repository as it isn't in the official repository until the next version of Ubuntu is released. To do this open the terminal (alt + ctrl + t), and type the following:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:n-muench/vlc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade


Also, I don't know if you're set on using Ubuntu or not, but Linux Mint is based off Ubuntu and is much easier to use and has a better graphical interface in my opinion.

 

[scottmw90]

Thanks!

I just want a lighter alternative to Windows, plus I think I'm becoming a bit more anti-corporationist lol. I'll have a look at Linux Mint then - that would then lead to me asking how to get rid of Ubuntu!

Also, my internet connection is average. I don't have an exact speed for it though since I'm just renting a room in a flat and haven't bothered asking.

 

[Night Fox]

If you have an external drive, I'd recommend moving all your files to that so you can mess around with different OS's and see what you like.

If you want to get rid of Ubuntu and keep Windows7, you can boot up the Mint installation, and choose "Something Else" and choose the partition with Ubuntu on it. There MAY be an option to just "Replace Ubuntu with Linux Mint" or something like that. You can try that if you don't want to mess with the partitions, but I've never done that and don't know how well it works.


http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2011/08/23/linux-mint-11-lxde-review/

The second image on here is an example of what yours will look like. It will give you different options based on what you already have installed. "Something Else" will let your choose your own partitions and stuff. Or the menu might have a replace Ubuntu option.

The good thing about Mint is it's based off Ubuntu and uses the similar, if not the same packages. So most things that can be installed on Ubuntu can also be installed on Mint.

 

[scottmw90]

Thanks again! Do you know if Mint has the same sort of Android Market/Software Center/App Store type setup for its programs?

 

[Night Fox]

It does, but I do suggest you'd read up on terminal commands as it makes life a lot easier once you get used to it.

 

[MindoverMaster]

It does, but I do suggest you'd read up on terminal commands as it makes life a lot easier once you get used to it.

+1, it makes the process a lot faster. I think every distro has some kind of software center.

 

[MyGodAL3X]

It does, but I do suggest you'd read up on terminal commands as it makes life a lot easier once you get used to it.

+1 to that as well.
If you ever start doing more complicated things in Linux, they pretty much all use the terminal.
Terminal also, as MoM mentioned, make things faster, once you know the command you can do things much quicker than if you were to do them graphically.

P.S. I tried Linux Mint and it is really nice, the GUI is really nice and user-friendly.