Today I successfully installed Vista on my ibm X60 after obtaining a copy of RC2. I also installed Office 2007 Beta. Now I’ve got a triple boot IBM x60 that’s almost too cool for me to type on.
Where I work we’re expecting to see Vista machines come January when it starts shipping from vendors installed on computers. So, while Windows is not my OS of choice, I’ve still got to support it. Being the geek that I am I also get a thrill whenever I install a new and untried OS, so this allowed me to start learning and be my geeky self.
One interesting thing about Vista (and XP as well) is that when you install it on a machine that uses some other bootloader, Grub in my case, it will blow away and rewrite the Master Boot Record without so much as a shrug.
Here’s what I did to install it. (If you’re interested in how to restore grub, see my previous post).
- Backed up my Ubuntu data and my shared FAT32 drive.
- Got an external DVD drive and a hard drive ultrabay adapter for my laptop.
- Put a 60 GB hard drive in my adapter.
- Booted from my external DVD drive and installed Vista on my 2nd hard drive.
- Grumbled a lot about how Microsoft really doesn’t care about the MBR or Grub.
- Reinstalled grub.
- IM’ed a friend with self-props about how cool and amazing I was.
- Spent about 20 minutes booting into my various OSes for the delight of other just as geeky office mates.
- installed Office 2007 beta.
- Started learning the new UI’s of both the OS and Office 2k7
Now here’s what I have to say about Vista on my x60. It runs smooth. I mean, really smooth. I’ve got Aero running and it looks nice. The performance seems to be what I see with XP. Sure I’ve got a dual core machine with 1.5 GB of memory, which helps but it’s also got onboard graphics so the performance really did surpise me.
On first look Vista seems to run well. I can already tell thought that this is going to be a hastle with highly entrenched XP users or those who fear change, as any OS change seems to be.
Office 2007 is a major, major change from Office 2k3. The entire GUI is different. In my opinion, after the first 10 minutes of fumbling around and looking lost, it works out a lot better. Office also has a few new file formats. In short, it’s going to be a good change I think, but one which will again take the end user quite some time to get used to.
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October 24th, 2006 at 2:34 am
Hi there.
I am about to install Ubuntu 6.06 (or perhaps 6.10)on my T41p. I don’t want to dual boot or anything fancy like that – l just want Linux on my Laptop.
I am unsure on how the install of Ubuntu will go on the T41p given it has this bloody R&R partition. I have backed up my R&R and the copy of XP using the IBM tool(I believe these are called recovery discs).
Will I have any problems with this install if I just let linux take over the whole disc or do I need to unhide the R&R partition or some other stange thing??
I’ll buggered if I can find anything on this subject – plenty on installing to ensure dual boot remains but nothing on having Ubuntu as your only OS on the thinkpad. perhaps it because its so brain dead easy that no one thinks an article on it is deserved.
Cheers.
October 24th, 2006 at 5:38 am
Hey De’Pannone,
This is just a personal thing, but I can’t stand that R&R partition. It drives me nuts that they sell computers with 80GB drives, and then take 4 GB away. But then, I work in a shop where reinstalling windows is a matter of a few clicks so… on to your point.
There’s no need for it if you’re only running Linux. Unless of course you want to restore windows. That choice I’ll leave up to you.
As for the install… Ubuntu can be told to just ignore it. It should install itself on the remaining space if you have it partition that. I was running 5.10 on a T41p for some time and it worked very well.
October 26th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Thanks arsgeek. I’ll chuck in 6.06 (perhaps 6.10) and see where the ride takes me.
I hope it blows the R&R away during the install, is there something I need to do to ensure this happens?
October 27th, 2006 at 7:50 am
De’Pannone,
When the partitioner comes up, you should be able to select the R&R partition and have your way with it.
February 22nd, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Hi arsgeek,
Is it possible to install Vista without a DVD drive?
I just bought a X60 without a ultrabay. Buying the bay cost alot more. So is there a way to install Vista without a bay?
Thanks,
Tony
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