[NTLUG:Discuss] Linux Install on Dell Mini 10 (1018)

[Fred Hensley]

I recently went through the same exercise with an older Dell Mini 10
(model 1010) and a newer Dell Inspiron 11z.  In the case of the older
unit (1010), the Intel GMA500 video chipset driver was a disaster to
support because the Poulsbo hardware manufacturer had little interest in
maintaining support for Linux, but by contrast the 10.10 installation to
the newer 11z Intel 945 chipset was a breeze.

Ubuntu maintains a hardware compatibility list as follows, but so far no
entries yet regarding your newer Mini 10.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks

We also had to keep our Windows 7 partition alive and well on our
netbooks to support some applications, but the newest 10.10 Ubuntu
installation flawlessly resized the Windows partition for us. We even
had a little graphical "slider" during the install process to
dynamically resize the old windows partition (making it t-i-n-y)
compared to the new Linux partitions.  When we next rebooted Windows 7,
it complained about the resized hard disk and performed some HD tests,
but nothing more.  

I would assume installing the newest 10.10 Kubuntu install should also
work well with existing Windows partitions, but as always your mileage
may vary.  Out of curiousity, why does your better half want to install
the older v8.04?

Finally, although your stated interests lie elsewhere with Kubuntu, we
also installed the newest netbook version of Ubuntu 10.10 with the
flashy "Unity" interface for small form factor displays.  So far, so
good, despite some small technical issues thus far.  FYI, we like it
quite a bit when running standard graphical desktop apps.

Have fun, good luck with Kubuntu on your Mini 10, and Merry Christmas to
everyone at NTLUG!

-Fred-
Fred Hensley
fred at hensleyhome.org


On Mon, 2010-11-29 at 22:32 -0600, agoats at compuserve.com wrote:

> Ya'll,
> 
> Spousal unit wants Kubuntu 8.04 installed on it and she wants to keep 
> Winbloze 7 as well. Wiping and install, no real issue, but windows 7....
> 
> Anybody have any war stories on installing and resizing partitions on 
> windows 7?
> 
> Alvin
> 
> 
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