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HP Compaq TC4400 Tablet PC – setting up Vista and Ubuntu (hardy heron 8.04.1) for Dual Boot

Section A – Vista Install, Preparing for Ubuntu
Section B – Ubuntu Setup, Config
Section C – Boot Manager Config

Section A – Vista Install, Preparing for Ubuntu

Start by getting Vista just right – apps, settings.  No data yet.
Disable unnecessary services and visual effects.
Install ProtectTools security manager to get fingerprint login capability (very useful when tc4400 is in tablet mode, and keyboard is covered by display)

Do disk cleanup, defrag.
Full Image Backup (used Acronis)
Tested that Full Backup is restorable.

In Disk Manager, shrink partition.  Leaving 80G for Vista, 27G for Ubuntu.  The 27G is unpartitioned space

Do a checkdisk, to check that drive is fine.
All is now ready to do the Ubuntu Installation.

Section B – Ubuntu Setup, Config:

Step 1:  Install
Boot from Ubuntu CD, select second option (Install)

When asked where to install, select “largest unpartitioned space”.
This is the only dangerous part – where you could potentially overwrite your Vista install.  But if you’ve got a good, working disk image as backup, even this problem is not a big deal.  Just a waste of time.

Step 2:  Get on LAN (wired) and do first round of updates

When Ubuntu comes up, plug into wired LAN, check it’s working by browing to a favourite page.
Do this at a site where you have a direct connectino to the Internet.  Going through proxies may or may not give you problems with the updates and Add/Remove programs.

Accept updates.   There will be lots, and it’ll take a while.  But let this finish before you try do anything else like Run the Synaptic Package Manager (System/Add and Remove)

You’ll need to reboot after the updates are done.

Step 3:  Get wireless working

After a bit of waiting (perhaps click on Add/Remove programs, and accept updates to Synaptic Package Manager to pass the time, or help bring the notification up), a notification icon appears in the system task bar (next to bluetooth) saying “New Dsrivers Avail” and looks like an NIC.

Click on that, and you get a dialog box titled “Hardware Drivers”  It lists the Broadcom B43 wireless driver – exactly what I need.  I check the “enabled” box, and get a dialog box asking if I want to enable driver.  There’s something about proprietary firmware that cannot be shipped with the OS.  I click on the button labelled “Enable”

The package downloads and installs.  There’s another box, labelled “Configuring b43-fwcutter” – and I have to check “Fetch adn extract firmware?” and click “Forward” button.  Installation continues.  Then Configuration.  There’s a note that it could take some time, and to please wait.  Good thing it says so, because it really does take a while, with no movement of the progress bar.  Clicking on the details arrow helps – lots of HTTP requests going out, files being downloaded and progress is slow, but happening.

After completion, I click close, then click on the network icon on the top right task bar.

Now, it shows me a list of networks it’s detected, with signal strength indicators.  Brilliant!

I select my network, and key in my encryption key.

And it worked.  Just like that!!!

Step 4:  Get Java installed.

In Add/Remove Applications, select SHOW “All available applications”
Search for SUN
Look for Sun Java 6 Runtime, Sun Java 6.0 Plugin.
Click checkbox to indicate you want this.  There’s a message (something about copyright by Sun), and then let it install.

Step 5:  Get Flash installed

Again, go to Add/Remove Applications.  Make sure that the SHOW box has “All available applications”.  Search for “flash”.  Click the checkbox for Macromedia Flash plugin, and install.
Open Firefox, go to the youtube site, and test by watching a few videos.

Step 6:  Add Ubuntu Restricted Extras

This install package is going to provide you with commonly used packages in teh Ubuntu multiverse repository.  Meaning you’ll get access to software that should really be in the core OS, but is’nt for various copyright reasons.  For eg, the common Microsoft TrueType fonts.  Or MP3 and DVD playback.

There will be a message about using MS Corefonts with Xwindows – you can ignore that if you’re going to use the default graphics.

The MS CoreFonts install will take quite a while.   Be patient.

At a later time, you may have other MS TrueType fonts to add.  The instructions to do this are well documented at this page:
http://learninglinuxos.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-to-install-open-type-fonts-in.html

However, note that although you can use the same process for OpenType fonts (used on Mac and Vista), you’ll not see OpenType appearing in OpenOffice font lists.

Step 7:  Install Google Toolbar

Before you do this, you need to install a library, or else the bookmarks will never display.  And the bookmarks is one of the main reasons you want toolbar, so you can easily share links between your browsers in Vista and those in Ubuntu.

To solve the Google Toolbar bookmarks problem, open Terminal and then paste in this command:

sudo apt-get install libxul-dev libstdc++5 gcc-4.1 libstdc++6

It’ll take a while to run.  Once it’s done, open Firefox, then navigate to http://toolbar.google.com
and click on the “Download Google Toolbar” button.

While at it, you might as well setup Firefox’s default start page.
I’m using www.google.com/ig
Makes a good companion to Google Toolbar, and easy access to Gmail and Google Docs.

Step 8:  Improve Appearance

Click on System/Preferences/Appearance.
Click on the Fonts tab.
Select the radio button for “subpixel smoothing (LCDs)”.  Presume this must be like Cleartype on Microsoft XP and Vista.

This really does improve the appearance of text on the LCD screen.

Step 9:  Setup Printers

Install HP Device Manager for Printer setup, config – HPLIP Toolbox
Do this from Applications/AddRemove

Section C – Boot Manager Config

You will want to edit the bootmanager so that your choice of default (vista or ubuntu) can happen.  The easiest way is to stay with GRUB.  The other way is to use Vista’s boot manager.  The instructions for the latter are here:

Grub – how to change default OS:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto/ChangeDefaultOS

Should you want to use the Microsoft Vista bootloader:
http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first.htm?page=4

Another article on having Vista/Ubuntu dual boot:
http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first.htm?page=1