Setup Vista and Ubuntu Dual Boot on Lenovo notebook

Yesterday I setup ubuntu on my lenovo y330 notebook which originally had windows vista installed. I had to try different setup methods before finally getting the ubuntu installation to work, but the method i used in the end was the simplest and it worked superbly!

First step - backup your current system. I already had windows vista installed on my laptop and wanted to make sure that if the ubuntu installation process messed up my system somehow i could easily return it to previous state. Luckily lenovo notebooks generally come with a 'One Key Recovery' system that you can easily use for this purpose. I used the 'One Key Recovery' software to make an ISO image of my current system and write it to a dvd ( i needed 2 dvds for this). Now i had nothing to fear!:D

Next ubuntu installation

method 1 - tried to install from CD. Didn't work:( The machine booted from the CD woth no problems but when i selected the option 'install' from the menu nothing happend! none of the menu options worked. Thought perhaps the CD i used was faulty so downloaded ubuntu ISO image from www.ubuntu.com and wrote to another CD. Had same problem with CD no. 2 so gave up on this method!

method 2 - tried to install using wubi installer for windows ( www.wubi-installer.org). downloaded the installer and ran it. installer ran with no problems. i could select the partition on which i wanted to install with ease. next the installer started downloading the ubuntu iso image, the program showed 3 hrs 17min to download! this frustrated me becoz i had already downloaded the ISO image to write the ubuntu CDs! luckily on the wubi installer page i found an option for install with previously downloaded ISO image. this lead to method 3!:D

method 3 - copied wubi installer .exe file and the ubuntu ISO image i had downloaded to a folder on my hard drive and ran the installer from there. first the installer kept asking for ubuntu cd, but after cancelling this message (which annoyingly popped up several times!!) it finally started installing from the ISO image in the folder. From then on it was smooth sailing!:)

Now im running a windows dual boot system on my laptop with Windows Vista and Ubuntu 9.04. I'm using ubuntu more frequently than vista because i love the way the OS works!,

Lenovo Y330 review

I just purchased my very first laptop. Its a Lenovo Y330. There were 3 factors I was looking for in a laptop, price, performance and portability ( da 3 Ps!:D ). I found the best compromise for all these in the lenovo y330. Although weight wise it could have been leighter esp since its screen size is just 13.3". The final choice before purchase lay between the lenovo y330 and y410 [14.1"]. In the end i chose the y330 because it had better specs.

specs..

processor : intel centrino core 2 duo T6400 @ 2.00GHz ( i will be doing programming on this machine so needed a core 2 duo processor)
ram: 3GB
hdd: 320GB
screen: 13.3"WXGA
battery: 6 cell li-ion batteries ( on power saver mode with wifi turned off i get about 3.5-4hrs battery life)
dvd slot drive ( took some getting used to but seems to work fine)
2 usb ports
headset and mic in ports ( this is in addition to the built in sound and mic which have excellent performance)
BT/wifi/ CR
vga connector

I purchased the laptop for little under Rs. 100K from TechnoCity Unity Plaza, Colombo, Sri Lanka. I checked the online reviews for this product before purchasing and found them pretty compelling.

The vendor installed Windows Vista Ultimate for me and some additional programs as well. I'm just about to install Ubuntu and set it up for dual booting. Before that i plan to use the One Key Recovery program of lenovo to backup my current system. Will give details of this in another post:)

Google wave looks to be the centre of all communication on the internet..

After spending hours online to watch the official video on Google Wave (http://wave.google.com) i've gotta admit it was fully worth it. Google Wave unveils the miraculous possibilities for (internet) communication for the next few years.

I can't wait for Google Wave to replace Gmail and GoogleApps. Read more here..

Google Wave - will it replace Gmail?

http://venturebeat.com/2009/05/28/does-google-wave-mean-the-death-of-gmail-and-google-docs/

Google Wave features

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10250742-2.html

If you are a techy i will definitely advice watching the official video. Its 1.5hrs long but worth it!