And I try, and I try, and I try

I can’t get no satisfaction!

No, definitively there’s no satisfaction in using *your* laptop and *your* operating system with a usb key or inside a virtual machine.
So, after some time mumbling about installing ubuntu side-by-side to – cough cough – win $even, I searched the internet for some article on this.

I didn’t find nothing like a step-by-step guide so I thought it could be a good idea to write here what I did, using info from forums, blogs, articles.

My laptop is a Sony Vaio VPCZ11Z9E with a SSD Storage RAID 0 array (4 x 64GB).
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Since I had Win7 installed on the whole space (plus a couple of small “recovery” partitions), I first had to make room for the new kid on the block.
What I did was to delete all the unnecessary applications, delete old stuff, docs, pictures, temporary internet files, disabled the restore, the hibernation, the page file. Finally I defragmented the storage and shrinked the win7 partition to create as much contiguous unallocated space as possible.
I was then ready to reduce the size of the Win partition to create one for Ubuntu. To do it, I used the free MiniTool Partition Wizard (Home Edition). It went like a charm and I freed up about 200 GB for Ubuntu. Cool.

I tried to use the Ubuntu normal installer but it didn’t recognize the RAID 0 storage, so I had to use the alternate installer. It was not possible to use this release on a usb stick because the installation kept on asking for a CD to go on!!! So I had to burn a CD. FAIL!

Finally, inserted the CD and rebooted the system.
The following are the screenshots I shooted from the restart of the system until the end of the installation.
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The first of the last 2 black screens is the grub option list at the reboot.
Since the touchpad will not work (eheheh!), you have 2 options here:

connect a mouse;
solve the above issue.

The first is intuitive or at least it should be.

To solve the problem, press “e” key, as it is suggested below the screen and append the following text, at the end of the line ending with “quiet splash”:

i8042.nopnp

Now ctrl-x and reboot the laptop.

Well, the laptop doesn’t work, right? The boot procedure goes on but you end up with a black screen, right?

Unfortunately it’s like this.

Two options again, to solve this:

use a usb key to boot the laptop with an Ubuntu release having the kernel older than 2.6.30 (I used Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope and it worked), then restart using the right one;
unlock the BIOS advanced options, as described here.

Well, to be honest, the first option is a (boring) work around. The second one is really a solution.

For now I’m sticking to the first one, happily typing this post, now.

Let me know what your findings are.

Reference:

Gianf:)

Just another WordPress site

And I try, and I try, and I try

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