After the recent leeds school of computing Linux install fest and my resultant tinkering with many machines I have now perfected the fastest way to install ubuntu Linux on a newcomer to Linux’s computer while leaving their Windows install intact, even if initially they only have one partition on their hard drive.

The trick is to use the GParted utility on its own boot cd, this can be downloaded from Sourceforge. Boot from this cd and resize the Windows partition to leave space for Linux, then on the free space create your root, home and swap partitions. When the utility is finished (5-10 minutes max), remove the cd, insert the ubuntu alternate cd (not desktop or server) and restart the machine. Boot from the new CD and run the server install of ubuntu. You will get a Linux install and grub on the machine in 5 minutes or under using this method, and with almost no risk of the installer crashing (a problem with ubuntu on slower machines and laptops). Then, boot into Linux and using apt-get, install the main ubuntu package from the cd. This will pull up the normal package list as dependencies and install it all at once for you, taking no more than 10 minutes.

Thats all folks! Restart the machine ensuring all cds are removed, boot into linux and your install is ready. It’s a bullet proof way of installing linux onto your system and I will be sure to repeat this method for all people in the school of computing who ask me to get linux on their machines. If any folk I know in Leeds want an install of Linux on their machine I can pop round and do it for you; all I ask is a pint in return 🙂