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I want to ask you guys, what is the best way I can get my hands on LINUX as a beginner? What version of LINUX should I start with?

LINUX Installation Help Required

I also had problems installing Ubuntu 12.04 using a Flash Drive. Is there anyone who can help me regarding this?

Error was, "No root file system is defined". Please help me

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Not nearly enough information. For example, why would you need to install from a USB flash drive, as opposed to using a CD? We might infer it is because you are using a device without an optical drive, but we shouldn't have to infer anything, because you should supply all relevant information. Make and model of the computer, current Operating System, current status of that system (like, if it has a broken optical drive, etc). Unubtu is popular, but there are more than 150 different distributions of Linux, some easier to install depending on your equipment. – Bon Gart Jun 25 '12 at 19:28
@Bon Gart Sorry for that. Yes, I don't have an optical drive. Can't I install it using a flash drive? Is there any other way to do so? Currently, I'm running windows 7 and need to dual boot it with Ubuntu. Which version will be preferable. Can you please suggest it? Please help me. Thanks for replying. – Raj Wadhwa Jun 26 '12 at 5:41
How did you load the ubuntu installer into the flashdrive? – Journeyman Geek Jun 26 '12 at 5:44
@JourneymanGeek I used two options. 1. Using wubi, I loaded ISO into it to load Ubuntu by keeping its priority high during booting. 2. Used the Universal USB installer. Same error is coming. – Raj Wadhwa Jun 26 '12 at 5:55
wubi does not do that - unetbootin should work tho – Journeyman Geek Jun 26 '12 at 5:59
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2 Answers

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The easiest way is usually a live-cd, you can demo or install next to your current OS.

You may get better results for specifically-Ubuntu questions at http://askubuntu.com/, or http://ubuntuforums.org/

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I was trying the live-cd option only. While it booted from the flash drive, and was checking for various parameters, the said error came. Error was, "No root file system is defined". What should I do in this case? – Raj Wadhwa Jun 26 '12 at 5:44
You booted from a cd which ran fine, then selected to install to a usb hard drive? Not sure I understand. – NoBugs Jun 26 '12 at 5:47
I used the .iso file to load Ubuntu installation files into flash drive. – Raj Wadhwa Jun 26 '12 at 5:56
Not sure if extracting an iso to usb would work. I think if you start up Ubuntu from CD there may be a bootable USB creator app, did you try that? – NoBugs Jun 26 '12 at 6:09
I don't have an Optical Drive right now. That is why I was using the USB option. @Journeyman Geek suggested me to use unetbootin. I will try it and get back to you you. If there is any other better alternative, please tell me. – Raj Wadhwa Jun 26 '12 at 6:29
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If this is during the install process (still in the GUI), and you are manually partitioning the drive, then the you need to specify a / or root drive. You can set this in the partition editor by setting a particular partition's mount point as /.

Probably you chose to format a particular partition as ext3/ext4 ... the installer needs to know where to install the system to.

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