A christmas present for my son...

[n1x1n]

Hello everyone,

First of all I would like to say you all have an outstanding reputation on the internet!! Thank you so much ubuntuforums, you are amazing.

That being said, I really hope you can help me with a little problem :)
I was told that the members in this site can EASILY help me. So here goes...

I purchased a laptop for my son since he will be going to College this January.
I got him an HP Pavillon DV6T (http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11495724&whse=BC&Ne=5000136%204000000&eCat=BC%7C84%7C56670&N=4017745%204294967277%204294899773&Mo=0&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price%7C1%7C%7CP_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&topnav=).

Specs are:

Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.2GHz)
2MB L2 cache
800MHz front side bus
4GB DDR3 SDRAM (shared)
500GB (5,400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Lightscribe SuperMulti 8x DVD±RW double layer drive
15.6″ diagonal HD High Definition HP LED BrightView widescreen display; 1366 x 768 native resolution
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (shared)


Now, I do know for a fact that my son loves Ubuntu, he talks about Ubuntu all the time and how much better than every other operating system it is etc.. etc..
And as a father, I would like to surprise him and have Ubuntu installed into his laptop. I just want my son to be happy, as a father that is my main goal :)

Now, the problem is the laptop comes with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Unfortunately, I am not very computer savvy and I have absolutely no idea how to dual boot Ubuntu with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

I just want to surprise him so that when he receives his laptop, he will have the choice between Windows 7 and Ubuntu.

Can you help please make my son happy? :)

[Alex Libman]

The easiest thing of all would probably be to use the Wubi installer (http://wubi-installer.org/) and create a virtual Linux partition inside a Windows drive.

If you do want real partitions, it might be easier to use a Windows tool like Free EaseUs Partition Manager (http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm) to shrink the NTFS partition prior to installing Ubuntu.

[n1x1n]

Thank you for your response.

I actually do want real partition, because I want my son to be able to choose which operating system to load up when he starts up his laptop. :)

So what are the proper steps in order to do so?

[Mze]

Follow this guide (http://lifehacker.com/5403100/dual+boot-windows-7-and-ubuntu-in-perfect-harmony)

Still, best to try a Live CD to make sure all components are detected and working prior to install.

The laptop will run a 64 bit version of Ubuntu just fine.

[Marvin666]

-Nevermind somebody posted a guide right before I posted

[Bartender]

Make the recovery discs before you do anything else!!

[river226]

the thing i recommend is shrink the partition in windows, using any windows native tool you can, cause windows isn't huge on losing hard drive space all of a sudden. then boot into the live cd take the free space format and install, most dual boot guides can get you through that, but overall it should be pretty straight forward.

[n1x1n]

the thing i recommend is shrink the partition in windows, using any windows native tool you can, cause windows isn't huge on losing hard drive space all of a sudden. then boot into the live cd take the free space format and install, most dual boot guides can get you through that, but overall it should be pretty straight forward.

I will be trying very shortly... I hope I don't run into any problems :(

[chillicampari]

This might sound weird and isn't really an answer to the OP's question, but I'd probably give him the laptop as it is, and let him install it (since it sounds like he's already really familiar with Ubuntu).