Ubuntu 10.04 as dual boot on Open suse 11.2

sunny1985 · January 25, 2011, 5:15pm

Hi all,
can someone direct me how to install Ubuntu as a dual boot on my open suse 11.2
I could not find any installing instructions. if someone could give me a link or direct me , it would be of great help.

please_try_again · January 25, 2011, 5:33pm

You need at least 1 free partition on one HD. Then install Ubuntu in this partition. To do that, you’ll chose “custom partitioning” in Ubuntu’s setup and select this partition, so it won’t touch the openSUSE one(s). I’m not sure if it is called “custom partitioning”, I might confuse with Fedora. But anyway this is the last of 3 options. Always pick the one which looks the most like expert mode. “Expert mode” doesn’t mean that you are an expert. It means that you’re planing to do something usual (from a setup point of view), like dualbooting two linux distros. You can install Ubuntu’s Grub in MBR. It will be a little bit less work for you.

It is better to create the partition(s) before installing Ubuntu (or any other OS), for example with PartedMagic. In setup (expert mode) you just select the partition you need for Ubuntu, assign mount point ( / if you have only one partition) and format in ext4.

sunny1985 · January 25, 2011, 5:43pm

Hi,
I have just one space of 40 GB on which my open suse is installed (ext4 partition)
So first thing for me to do is create a seperate partition for Ubuntu 10.04 and do i have do it only with the help of Ubuntu live CD or i cando it without that? and what about the extension of it?is it also ext4 ?
I have installed Ubuntu successfuly on my laptop with windows as other OS , but now i donot want to take any chance with my data on open suse being lost (as i have not used earlier open suse )hence i just want to follow some basic guidelines for it.

Thanks for the information you gave

gogalthorp · January 25, 2011, 5:50pm

When playing with partitions there is always a chance to lose data. Always backup important data!!!

please_try_again · January 25, 2011, 5:59pm

Resizing this partition could be dangerous. And 40GB for 2 distros is not that much space anyway. You might consider installing Ubuntu in a virtual machine using VirtualBox. It works amazing well and is a safe alternative.

sunny1985 · January 25, 2011, 6:27pm

@gogalthorp : yes i will and i have to …all my data is very important at this my time of project work.
@Please _try_again : but for me on my laptop i have ubuntu on a 20 GB space and till now i dont face any problems with it,
or maybe i have to use Virtual box, which i never tried though