In this post, here is an account of the Ubuntu 10 install on the new Asus Bamboo U43J.
First some specs:
.64 Bit Intel i5 duo core processor
.4GB of RAM
.500 GB Hard Disk
.NVIDIA Optimus video card
.Intel 802.11 b+g+n wireless
OS - Ubuntu 10.04 LTS 64 Bit (on dvd)
Note: The laptop comes with a Default Windows 7 Home Edition factory installed. I want Ubuntu to be installed alongside Windows & dual boot.
First repartition the Hard drive. Very easy to do:
1-Pop Ubuntu install disc in the optic drive & reboot
2-On Bios choose - "Boot from Optical Disc"
3-On the initial Ubuntu screen, choose "Test Ubuntu without Install" (we will do so in the subsequent steps, right now only repartition disk)
4-Once inside Ubuntu, choose : System > Administration > GParted
5-On the GParted screen, resize the existing Windows partition to a smaller size. This is where we will install Ubuntu. In my case I reduced the Windows partition from 500GB to 200GB, freeing up 300GB for Ubuntu.
Thats it, once all the above are completed, you can reboot from the DVD to actually install Ubuntu in the newly created free space.
Note: In the step 5 above, dont forget to "Apply the changes" after resizing the partitions.
Actual Ubuntu Install:
1-Reboot using the Ubuntu Install disc.
2-On the initial Ubuntu screen, choose "Install Ubuntu". Click next.
3-Follow onscreen instructions until you reach the "Disk Configuration" screen. Here select the partition that you freed up in GParted (see step #5 above). This is where Ubuntu will be installed.
4-On the following screens, specify other details like default username, root password, timezone, etc.
5-Finally on the "Start Install Ubuntu" screen, review the configuration and click "Start Install"
And Thats it. The install is self driven and in 15-20 minutes, it is completed. It prompts to remove the install disc from optic drive and reboot.
After the reboot, the Grub Bootloader screen shows up that allows you to choose between the Operating Systems to boot (in my case Windows or Ubuntu). Ubuntu is the default.
Extra notes:
The install process is fairly simple. The folks at Canonical have made the Ubuntu Linux install very simple and quick. Kudos.
All of my features and functionalities of my Asus Bamboo work well with Ubuntu. Some extra software like Flashplayer or the GNU equivalents might need to be installed. This will allow you to view proprietary format videos on YouTube etc. Other than that everything works normally.
I installed Skype and tested it out. In next post, we will see the quick way to install Skype on Ubuntu 10.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI find your article very interesting, and got the same laptop yesterday. However, with ubuntu 10.10 I only get 2 hours battery life, due to the lack of nvidia optimus support. Haven't you got this issue? If yes, could you explain to me how you solved it? I took a look at:
http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/2010/07/using-acpicall-module-to-switch-onoff.html
but even after following the steps, the battery life is ridiculously small.
Hi Cbrunos
ReplyDeleteTo reply to your specific question about the battery standby time, two things--first, I tried it out with 10.04 first (not 10.10). Secondly, the lack of NVIDIA drivers is a peeve and causes some websites to look funny font, some videos to not look so sharp as I would want to but thats ok. I can live with that.
However, back to the Battery time question, in my case, the advertized time is 10 hours but to be realistic in my experience I have not seen any laptop of this size and power scaling that value. I must say, I do get about 4 hours of battery time not 2 hours. So it is possible that your Factory installed battery may be faulty & it would be a good idea to get it replaced. Also recently I upgraded to 10.10 and I get the same results... Hope this helps...