So I've got a new computer... haven't had a PC for a while so I'm being a bit of a n00b, well I use one daily at work but at home I've had my macbook for a few years (cos I head from a poster on here that it was 3* faster) and PS3 for the odd occasion when I've got time for games... so basically not much time to faff about with PCs aside from setting up a few VMs on my work laptop

Anyway I needed a new computer regardless + could do with windows for a few applications (will save me taking my work laptop home when working from home) but linux would be useful for a few other applications and probably would be my day to day OS for things aside from work. So I've now got the hardware and am going to get it mostly set up this weekend.

I've got a widows 7 pro OEM disk coming in the post and was also looking at either mint cinnamon or ubuntu for the other OS...

In terms of tips advice - any opinions on which variety of linux to go for? I've got ubuntu on an old PC which has been sat idle for a while but have heard good things about mint.

Any tips on setup - I don't have my windows 7 disk yet though could create some partitions and install ubuntu or mint this weekend - is there any reason to install one OS before another or should I just create the partitions and install linux?

How big should the partitions be for each OS - in particular windows 7? Was thinking one partition for each OS + a third for files etc... or possibly keeping a 4th for movies etc.. which I'd share across a network to my PS3 in the lounge, macbook etc... Any tips on this would be welcome.

I prob will do that actually, good shout

incidentally - this was rattling round inside the case - not quite sure what it is/was - any ideas? Can't see anything missing from the motherboard...





and these two black loose wires are coming out of jfp2 - may be related to the above...

Looks like a small speaker or beeper.   Install windows first and then ubuntu which will give you choice of how much space each should use and when done gives a choice screen at start to select os to use (ubuntu will be default if you do not select). I would get the newest LTS edition of ubuntu not the latest but with  long time suport.

Looks like a small speaker or beeper.   Install windows first and then ubuntu which will give you choice of how much space each should use and when done gives a choice screen at start to select os to use (ubuntu will be default if you do not select). I would get the newest LTS edition of ubuntu not the latest but with  long time suport.

thanks that is a good point re: installing windows first

One thing though, I could run ubuntu from a usb or cd initially and partition the HD prior to installing windows - would this perhaps be a good approach?