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    G-AVLN in front of her home

    Mostly Unix and Linux topics. But flying might get a mention too.

    Friday, October 26, 2007

    Re-installing Dell XPS M1330 (Part 1)

    I have invested a few pounds ;-) into a gorgeous toy. I want to start playing with applications that require a dual core processor, have a bit more memory and disk. For one thing, I will be investigating virtualisation, first step: ESX from VMWare, now that we are the authorised training place for them. If anything, I need to understand exactly the Linux portion of the product (Linux for ESX administrators course will follow soon).

    This is a great excuse to have a box with the spec:

    System Info:
    ---------------------------
    System: XPS M1330
    BIOS version: A06 (09/03/2007)

    Processor Type: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo processor
    Max. Clock Speed: 2.2 GHz
    Processor Cache: 4096 KB
    Dual Core Present: Yes

    Memory Info
    ---------------------------
    Installed: 4096 MB
    Speed: 667 MHz
    Channel Mode: Dual
    Technology: DDR2 SDRAM
    Device Info
    ---------------------------
    Primary Hard Drive: 200 GB HDD
    Video Memory: 128 MB
    Panel Type: 13.3" Wide XGA
    Native Resolution: 1280 by 800

    It's got all sorts of other bits and pieces, WIFI, bluetooth - of course, fingerprint recognition, camera, and a product called MediaDirect, which I haven't yet sussed out.

    My first task is to reinstall it. I want a minimal install of the Vista the box came with, and Linux, which will take over most of the tasks. First quick reinstall has proven that RedHat derivatives couldn't cope. Very few devices were recognised with CentOS 5 or Fedora 6. So I decided to give the highly recommended Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy.

    Well, I'm in business, incredibly impressed with Ubuntu. I am documenting every step of my attempts, and will be posting them in turn, as things progress.

    The next post will cover the partitioning and preparing for Ubuntu install without losing any facilities and drivers used by Vista.



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