Sun Nov 13, 2005 19:50 EST (UTC -5)
Regarding my last post, I want to thank to Eric, Luke, and Daniel for recommending Ubuntu Linux. Hopefully I'll get around to trying it soon. I want to partition my hard drive first, and then maybe get rid of Windows completely (but I'll probably still need it, so maybe I won't). For those of you who might know, how would I move Firefox and Thunderbird from Windows to Ubuntu with my settings, bookmarks, messages, etc. intact? I assume it's possible. Well, it better be, because I have a lot of bookmarks in Firefox and a lot of messages in Thunderbird, and I don't want to have to get rid of them. Oh yeah, and all the files, too. I have a lot of files. I'd like it if someone could enlighten me.
This Ask Jordon references my last post as well:
Yellow Chicken: Speaking of Elvis...do you think he faked his death?
Nah. Who's faked their own death and gotten away with it, anyway?
See the ancestry of U.S. political figures. Many of them are rich WASPs, which is why it's possible to trace back their history oodles of generations.
Who just blogged? Forty Faces is a site that keeps track of the 40 latest posts from the blogs it watches (103 as I write this; they include J-Walk and probably some others you've heard of). Each post is signified by a picture of its author. In other words, you see photos of people who have just posted on their blogs. I decided to add my site, but for the occasion, I would first take a new picture of myself for the About Me page. After I did that, I sent in the new picture and my link and got a reply within 20 minutes saying that I had been added. So hopefully when I post this, I'll be another face in the crowd.
. PGP key ID:
Both Firefox and Thunderbird have options for exporting bookmarks and contacts (respectively). However, you are seeking to copy your messages as well. This will be no problem if you have IMAP, but I suspect you use POP. It might be worth trying to copy your settings folder from wherever it is in Windows to ~/.thunderbird. This is not guaranteed to work, and you may want to look at the Mozilla Wiki for more information. Good luck, cheers, etc.
Luke — Sun Nov 13, 2005 20:56 EST
In firefox, the bookmarks are kept in a bookmarks.html file in the profile directory. This is usually in application data on Windows. You can, as Luke says, also export to a seperate file. And, what do you mean by "files"? If you mean data files, like .mp3's .doc's and the like, then yeah. You can just mount your Windows partition. And it's not as hard as it sounds, Linux has been automounting for years. It might automount your Windows partition the first time you boot into Ubuntu. I don't know since I don't have a Windows partition on that machine.
As for a partitioner, if you don't have one that will run off of a floppy, I would recommend http://www.ranish.com/part/ It worked for me when I weaned myself off of Windows. It should also have a link to a .pdf file on instructions for setting up a dual-boot machine.
Also, if your XP box is using the NTFS file system, partitioning will be a real pain. I cannot explain how much of a pain it will be. I didn't even attempt it. I've heard it's possible. The reason is Linux must be run off of a FAT hard drive.
Also, I do think that if you transfered the thunderbird profile folder to the appropriate folder on the Linux partition it would work. But make sure you just transfer the contents of the folder, and not the folder itself.
Daniel — Mon Nov 14, 2005 16:50 EST
I checked; it uses NTFS. Should I partition at all? Could I just put in another hard drive and have it run off that? Would that work? Do I ask too many stupid questions?
Jordon — Mon Nov 14, 2005 18:42 EST
I just called a friend of mine who is a computer repair/builder/programmer for a living, and he says that you can format a partition as fat and one as ntfs on the same drive. If you have the funds for another drive, that would be the easiest. If (when) you switch to full time Linux, you won't have to worry about getting rid of the Windows partition. But, if not, partitioning it should work. Make sure you defrag before you partition, though. And leave some room on the Windows partition for more apps and files.
Some distros will automatically resize the Windows partition, but Ubuntu I think doesn't.
Ther is no such thing as a stupid question, my friend. If you want to email instead of using this comment thread, I'd be happy to email. My address is jdharms at gmail.com
Good luck!
Daniel — Mon Nov 14, 2005 22:41 EST
Ahh.. One more thing. Before your final defrag before partitioning, turn off Windows' swap file. This can be in a very random place, often the very end of the drive.
Daniel — Mon Nov 14, 2005 23:21 EST
Hmmm... this has been dead for a while. Thought I check back...
Daniel — Thu Nov 17, 2005 19:01 EST
Well, thanks for your advice and concern. Tomorrow I'm probably going to post an update detailing the current situation. Nothing's really happened yet, though.
Jordon — Thu Nov 17, 2005 20:24 EST