installing ubuntu on my acer aspire e1-531 pc which is already dual boot with windows 7 and 8

[iAmaNoobAss]

i have been reading a lot of forums and browsing a lot of websites for information so that i can make it right the first time without screwing everything up.
the dual boot system in my computer was made possible by my geeky friend and i had no idea how he did it. as i'm a noob , i had got it done without knowing the process, i am not exactly sure about doing it.

i have 1 TB hard drive and 4 GB ram.
win 7 and win 8 are installed in two different partition of each 60 GB approx.
should i create a new partition before hand of about 20-30 GB for installing Ubuntu or is there some other way , a better way to do it..!
plz reply as me and my geeky friend are no more in touch..guess is hould have never let him go..

 

[stillblue]

It doesn't hurt to create the new partition ahead, probably easier in fact. No need to format it though, just shrink something to create the space. When you install Ubuntu and it asks for how to partition select other. Select the empty space and add the new partition with 1 or 2gb free after it. You should also select "/" as the mount point and yes to format. In the other small space select "swap". On your way.

 

[iAmaNoobAss]

It doesn't hurt to create the new partition ahead, probably easier in fact. No need to format it though, just shrink something to create the space. When you install Ubuntu and it asks for how to partition select other. Select the empty space and add the new partition with 1 or 2gb free after it. You should also select "/" as the mount point and yes to format. In the other small space select "swap". On your way.

should i format a drive as NTFS or FAT 32? I have read that linux doesn't support NTFS file distribution system..also will the computer ask for the drive which i want to install the Ubuntu o.s? so that i can select the new free partition i have had just created.. and sorry if the question is really silly coz really i have very little practical idea on installing operating systems.!

 

[stillblue]

It doesn't hurt to create the new partition ahead, probably easier in fact. No need to format it though, just shrink something to create the space. When you install Ubuntu and it asks for how to partition select other. Select the empty space and add the new partition with 1 or 2gb free after it. You should also select "/" as the mount point and yes to format. In the other small space select "swap". On your way.

should i format a drive as NTFS or FAT 32? I have read that linux doesn't support NTFS file distribution system..also will the computer ask for the drive which i want to install the Ubuntu o.s? so that i can select the new free partition i have had just created.. and sorry if the question is really silly coz really i have very little practical idea on installing operating systems.!

You leave it empty, unformated. When you install Ubuntu it will format the drive as ext4.
If your computer is UEFI (did you have win8 or 7 first?) follow these instructions
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

Otherwise
During the install it will ask you do you want to install side by side windows or...the bottom option is Something else Choose that and Select the empty space and add the new partition with 1 or 2gb free after it. You should also select "/" as the mount point and yes to format. In the other small space select "swap". On your way.

 

[iAmaNoobAss]

i had windows 8 first..and I checked the UEFI setting the secure boot is disabled so i guess it won't be a problem, which I sense from other forum discussions, would have been a problem apparently, in installing linux o.s.
however thanks for your reply and i will respond as soon as i give it a try, probably tomorrow..playing safe trying to gather as much info as I can, in order to not screw things up

 

[Alabalcho]

When adding partitions - make your new partiotion extended, and place Linux partitions (root, swap) there. Most probably you already have three partitions (Win7, Win8, Data), and Linux needs two, so there won't be room if your disk is partitioned the old-fashioned-way.

 

[iAmaNoobAss]

It doesn't hurt to create the new partition ahead, probably easier in fact. No need to format it though, just shrink something to create the space. When you install Ubuntu and it asks for how to partition select other. Select the empty space and add the new partition with 1 or 2gb free after it. You should also select "/" as the mount point and yes to format. In the other small space select "swap". On your way.

should i format a drive as NTFS or FAT 32? I have read that linux doesn't support NTFS file distribution system..also will the computer ask for the drive which i want to install the Ubuntu o.s? so that i can select the new free partition i have had just created.. and sorry if the question is really silly coz really i have very little practical idea on installing operating systems.!

You leave it empty, unformated. When you install Ubuntu it will format the drive as ext4.
If your computer is UEFI (did you have win8 or 7 first?) follow these instructions
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

Otherwise
During the install it will ask you do you want to install side by side windows or...the bottom option is Something else Choose that and Select the empty space and add the new partition with 1 or 2gb free after it. You should also select "/" as the mount point and yes to format. In the other small space select "swap". On your way.

I removed windows 7 and then followed your advice and was able to dual boot ubuntu 12.04 with windows 8.
the reason I removed win 7 was because I read somewhere that since I already had two primary partitions it would have been difficult as ubuntu will also require two primary partitions. and then there was some complicated stuff I didn't get.
beside there was no point in keeping both win 8 and win 7.
thanks for your reply..!

 

[stillblue]

It doesn't hurt to create the new partition ahead, probably easier in fact. No need to format it though, just shrink something to create the space. When you install Ubuntu and it asks for how to partition select other. Select the empty space and add the new partition with 1 or 2gb free after it. You should also select "/" as the mount point and yes to format. In the other small space select "swap". On your way.

should i format a drive as NTFS or FAT 32? I have read that linux doesn't support NTFS file distribution system..also will the computer ask for the drive which i want to install the Ubuntu o.s? so that i can select the new free partition i have had just created.. and sorry if the question is really silly coz really i have very little practical idea on installing operating systems.!

You leave it empty, unformated. When you install Ubuntu it will format the drive as ext4.
If your computer is UEFI (did you have win8 or 7 first?) follow these instructions
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

Otherwise
During the install it will ask you do you want to install side by side windows or...the bottom option is Something else Choose that and Select the empty space and add the new partition with 1 or 2gb free after it. You should also select "/" as the mount point and yes to format. In the other small space select "swap". On your way.

I removed windows 7 and then followed your advice and was able to dual boot ubuntu 12.04 with windows 8.
the reason I removed win 7 was because I read somewhere that since I already had two primary partitions it would have been difficult as ubuntu will also require two primary partitions. and then there was some complicated stuff I didn't get.
beside there was no point in keeping both win 8 and win 7.
thanks for your reply..!

For future reference. You did not have to remove win7. As Alabacho rightly suggested you could have created an extended partition in the 4th spot and placed the Ubuntu partitions inside that one. You could place a dozen in there if so inclined and they'd work. In a side by side install Ubuntu does that automatically. With the extended partition you could have your two windows and Ubuntu and Mint and Red Hat and more and they'd all work and show up in GRUB.