Present & Future

The 80G Hard disk of my Macbook is nearly run out. So I bought a 200G SATA II Seagate disk to replace it.

I installed the new 200G disk this morning. And then, I managed to install Mac, Vista and Linux on Macbook. What is more, I successfully made a triple boot and partitioned the 200G disk into more than 4 partitions.

Last night, I found that a lot guys want to make more than four partitions on Macbook but failed. So, help this blog can help.^_^ The brief process is as follows.

1. Install Mac
   Install Mac OX Leopard 10.5 as usually, no need special setting.

2. Partition Disk with Bootcamp
   Please kindly be reminded that, the "windows" Partition partitioned from the whole disk is not only for Windows Vista, but also for Linux and any other partitions. So, the "windows" Partition should be large enough for Vista + Linux + Other else.

3. Install rEFIT
   rEFIT is a third-party boot loader. It's beautiful and useful.
   TIP: (1) it's better to install linux drive support when install rEFIT.
        (2) after installation, it's better to run "cd /efi/refit" in a terminal, and run a script by the common line "./enable.sh" or "./enable-always.sh" to enable rEFIT.

4. Install Linux (I choose Ubuntu Linux, I like it.)
   After the installation of rEFIT, reboot Macbook from Ubuntu install disk.
   Notice, We should choose "Manual Partition" and delete the first 200M EFI partition (Sex!! Be care! The 2nd partition is Mac Leopard) to enable more than 4 partitions, and delete the 3rd partition (Windows Partition, Created by Bootcam2) to make space for Linux, Windows and any other partitions. For me, I create a 20G Linux partition for Ubuntu (I choose Ext3 filesystem), a 25G NTFS partition for Windows Vista, a 50G NTFS partition for personal data, a 50G NTFS partition for Public data.
    PS, I found this useful article when I'v install Ubuntu on Macbook.

5. Install Windows (XP or Vista)
   When installing Windows, maybe the said Personal partition and said Public partition will be displayed as a free space (Because there're some difference between GPT partition table and MBR partition table) . If So, You can recreate the Personal partition and Public partition.

This is a small screen snapshot in Ubuntu Linux, showing that I have more than four partitions on Macbook.

早上醒来，用手机浏览了一下Google Reader，发现不少人在谈论升级到Wordpress 2.5的事情，弄得我心里痒痒的。于是，起床之后，我也开始了升级之旅。

不过，我的升级过程是极为简单的，登录Dreamhost的后台，进入DreamHost提供的“One-Click Installer”，点击“Upgrade to 2.5”就OK了。从这点而言，我觉得Dreamhost在做很有意义的事情。Dreamhost提供的一小段脚本，帮助无数人节省了下载新版本（download）、备份旧版本（backup）、解压缩新版本（tar/unzip）、文件替换（replace）、数据库升级（upgrade）等步骤。如果DreamHost没有提供这个脚本，将会导致N多的人在千篇一律地重复这种机械性的程序工作，白白耗费了人类的时间与精力。

从这方面来说，很多免费的软件例如Linux、Firefox都是值得诟病的。Linux系统经常需要无数的人重复相同的设置工作，——因此，经常出现“快速设置指南”之类的总结性文章。再例如，Firefox中，总是要用户手动地将最小字体设置为12px才能获得较为完美的显示效果。我觉得，这些事情，应该在产品发布时设定好，不应该留给用户。

可喜的是，有一些免费软件意识到了这一点并因此脱颖而出。Ubuntu Linux就是一个极佳的例子。Ubuntu Linux提倡的是人性化、傻瓜化，Ubuntu Linux的用户已经逐渐地不需要手动汉化、不需要手动安装中文输入法、不需要手动美化、不需要手动安装显卡程序、不需要手动设置屏幕分辨率、不需要手动地激活网卡……而这一切，在Ubuntu Linux之前的其他Linux版本中，是不可想象的，尤其是对于Linxu newbie。

不过，即使是Ubuntu Linux的最新版hardy 8.04，也依然存在需要改进之处。例如，系统自带的音频播放器、视频播放器相当于摆设，几乎是无法播放任何一种类型的媒体文件。对于Desktop用户而言，媒体播放，应该是一个最常用、最基础、最优先的功能，然

wubi是一个很有趣的东东，能够将Ubuntu Linux安装在windows的分区中。

这是官方主页上提供的截图：
  

上面的截图是安装wubi时的界面，这个界面中可以选择界面语言、将ubuntu linux安装在哪个分区、分配多大的空间、安装哪种ubuntu等。选完之后，wubi就会从internet上下载ubuntu linux的安装文件（一般有700M）。如果网速不是很快的话，也可以先用迅雷、flashget等工具下载ubuntu linux的安装文件（.iso格式），将iso文件放在wubi的安装文件夹中。wubi会自动检测到iso的存在，并使用该iso文件安装系统。

与vmware、virtualpc之类的虚拟软件不太相同的是，wubi所安装的ubuntu，相当于原生的，可以在电脑启动时选择进入windows或者是Linux。

另，如果想卸载这个linux，直接在windows中卸载wubi即可。