Re: [gNewSense-users] gNewSense 3.0 "Parkes" Beta 1

[t s]

Installation Process for Beginners

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The Installation Process is Simple

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My Install worked fine. Below I have summarised the installation process for beginners who want to create a dual boot system. This method requires you to manually partition the disk.

Dual Boot

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I installed GNewSense on a laptop which already had version 7 of a proprietary operating system installed. First I downloaded GNewSense 3.0 Beta then burnt it onto a DVD. Then restarted my machine and booted the DVD. If your DVD does not boot you need to configure the BIOS so that DVDs and CDs can boot up. Some software is installed over the net - so you will need an internet connection (I always use a network cable instead of a wifi connection because I too am a beginner).

Start the Install

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The installer has a graphical interface so I found it very easy to use.

The initial stages of the install process requires you to create users and passwords. The next stage is a little more complicated - it requires you to partition your disk. If you choose to partition manually you will be able to set up a dual boot system.

Partition

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The only part of the install that was slightly difficult was the Partitioning Stage so I have summarised this below:

My disk is 120GB so I divided the disk roughly in half for the two operating systems.

The Partition Stage allows you to:

- Lists partitions

- Create Partitions

- Delete Partitions

- Modify Partitions

Partitions can be Primary or Logical (I think that you can only have 4 Primary partitions).

You can also:

- Specify what File System to use for a partition

- Make a partition bootable

- Create swap partitions

You can tell the installer at what point a partition will be mounted. That sounds complex but I understand it like this: The GNewSense operating system is made up of many directories such as /var /usr /home and others. These can be in their own partition or can all be in one partition.

First I changed the size of my existing partition. 

Change size of existing partition

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Use the graphical interface to change the size of your existing partition. This is very simple: select the existing partition, then select change size. My partition was 120GB, I changed it to 56GB.

Create more partitions

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1. Select the empty space

2. Create a new Partition

3. Enter the size of your partition

4. Specify if it is to be Primary or Logical

5. Specify whether you want to create it at the Start or End of the free space

I selected Start of Free Space for my partitions! When I created my first partitionI manually changed the mount point to '/'.

This is the forward slash symbol and it means the root of the operating system

Next I created a 'swap' partition, then lastly i created a Logical Volume Manager (LVM).

When I created the LVM I made sure to make it bootable (that is important).

For a simple Dual Boot system the partition summary will look like this:

Summary

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#1 pri 56GB                     ntfs

#2 pri 59GB                F   ext3    /

#3 pri  4GB                 F   ext3   swap

#4 pri  1GB        B      K   lvm

When you have the Partition Summary looking like the above you are ready to proceed to the next stage which is fully automatic.

More information

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I read an article recently saying that Dual Boot systems require a seperate Boot partition, that is what I created. I have rebooted and shutdown many times today and my new GNewSense system is working just fine.

I hope you find this helpful. If you need any more help join the mailing list. Thanks GNewSense team.

My next job is to delete the old operating system off my laptop.

TS