Time to settle on a new theme for the New Year. But, nothing seems to come to mind. Maybe a good place to start is to think about how I did with last year’s theme: “Finding Balance in a Crazy World!”

What was out of balance this time last year, and what is more in balance now?

Entering 2012, I had a tendency not to put much value in who I was. I gave much more value and attention to others’ needs, neglecting my own worth. Yet, I agreed to co-lead a women’s study group at my church. Probably one of the most worthwhile leaps of faith I’ve made in a long time! We started off learning about Finding Balance – a gentle reminder for starting off the year that we are not built to be all things to all people all alone. We instead were built to be all we are meant to be by staying focused on our Rock. Just as the tightrope walker completes her journey by fixing her gaze on a point in front of her. We maintain our balance by maintaining our focus.

This study helped awaken a sense that maybe there is something more to me than what I had previously allowed myself to believe. We dived deeper into our souls by exploring Ruby Slippers. Maybe, just maybe, I really am OK as I am. That is to say, the real me – not the for-public-consumption me, but the deep down original me before the suffocating girdle-straps were tightened by society, culture, and life in general. Yet, what do I do with this newly developed self-confidence and sense of self-worth?

We concluded 2012 and initiated 2013 with a study of Boundaries. This has been and is being a real game-changer in my life. Once I’ve determined that I am valuable because I am me, I needed to learn how to cherish and protect my worth and that which I value. By drawing a mental boundary around my God-given rights, talents, and self, I am learning how to defend what is mine while not trespassing across others’ boundaries.

Imagine if we all taught our little girls that their thoughts, opinions, dreams, and bodies are theirs to care for, cherish, and above all guard as their very own precious gifts from a loving God? Imagine if we gave them the courage, skill, and confidence to defend their precious selves(the essence of their being) from attack? What a revolution this would be!

So, as I embrace 2013, I find myself balancing on the edge of a new victory. I’m learning who I am, the real me buried deep inside my soul. I’m learning to cherish and defend as MINE my thoughts and opinions. Now, its time to rediscover my dreams, expose them to the light, and maybe even chase them to wherever they will fly!

I think I now have my theme: Know thyself, cherish thy gifts, and pursue thy dreams!

Introduction

Yes, the moment has finally arrived when it is time to retire the old Compaq Evo n610c laptop. And, the moment is fast approaching when the Dell Dimension E310 will also pass to its next dimension. All-in-all, both computers have served us long and well. To keep then going this long, however, we had to abandon their Windows (XP) operating system in favor of something a little lighter and less prone to attack. So, back in 2008, we began our migration from Windows-only to Ubuntu a free Linux-based operating system.

Eager to take full advantage of the newest version of Ubuntu, I decided to take a giant leap and go for a new laptop (rather than attempt to resurrect an old one). Little did I know what I was getting into when I discovered that my new laptop also sported the new Windows 8 OS!

Now, I must say, I’m no stranger to the Windows platform. I use it daily at work. But, I was not prepared for the radically different Windows 8 version. When the guy in the computer store suggests that “you’ve got to read the book…or watch the Youtube video” to understand it, I have to wonder. But, I’ll save my opinion for after I’ve spent some time getting to know it.

In the meantime, I was eager to move on to dual-booting into my beloved and more familiar Ubuntu. This is when I discovered a new little security feature for managing the laptop start-up process – “UEFI” which is short for “though shalt not install secondary operating systems”     OK, actually UEFI stands for “Unified Extensible Firmware Interface” and is not strictly a Windows-thing. Never-the-less, it seriously impeded what had been previously a rather simple process to install Ubuntu along-side an existing operating system.

After spending my weekend researching and trouble-shooting until finally achieving success, I’d like to add my experience to the many discussions on the topic that are bouncing around the inter-web.

Preparing Windows

Assumptions: you are starting with a new machine, before you’ve loaded lots of software and files. You plan to spend most of your time in Ubuntu rather than Windows. You’ve created a recovery DVD or USB should something go terribly wrong and you need to restore Windows. There are several descriptions for how to do this. Here’s one tutorial. [full disclosure: I took the riskier approach and proceeded without a recovery disk/usb. This is NOT recommended!]

1. If you are starting your new computer for the first time, plan for the initializing process to take some time (read “hours”). You may want to skip the screen that asked you to set up a new Microsoft account if you don’t already have one. It is not required. You may want to choose a generic and temporary login name like “Default” so that you can change the settings later. The reason for this will be discussed in Step 3.
2. If the assumptions above apply to you, your next step once your Windows setup is fully functional and up-to-date (because you’ve already downloaded and installed all of the software/security updates) is to shrink your C-drive and D-drive to free up space for Ubuntu. Personally, I allocated ~60 GB for the C-drive and ~40 GB for the D-drive.
3. Now, by default all of your personal folders are mapped to the C-drive (such as the Documents, Music, and Pictures folders). I would rather maintain only my operating system files on the C-drive and keep all of my personal data files on the D-drive. The way to make the switch is explained in a great tutorial by Joe Knaggs. I won’t say more here since I found his instructions easy to follow.
4. Now, the fun begins! Download the latest version of the Ubuntu-Secure-Remix version of Ubuntu. This is not the standard version available from the Ubuntu homepage, but a slightly modified version that addresses some of the issues with dual-booting alongside Windows 7 and 8. “Burn” the image file to a USB that you will use to boot computer and bypass the existing operating system (2.0 GB minimum for the USB, 4.0GB is better). The cool thing about creating a “LiveUSB” is that you can test out Ubuntu without changing your computer at all! Follow the steps here to create the LiveUSB. Instead of choosing an operating system from the pull-down list, browse to the Ubuntu-Secure-Remix iso file that you just downloaded.
5. Now, determine how to access the BIOS screen when booting your computer. Some computers briefly display the function-key number that you need to press within the first few seconds after starting your machine. Mine doesn’t, so I had to search the web. Despite what the manual says, I can only access the BIOS by pressing the “delete” key during a restart. You’ll know it works when you get what typically looks like a blue DOS screen.
6. With your LiveUSB plugged into the computer, restart and access the BIOS screen. Arrow over to the Boot tab. Follow the instructions on the screen for changing the boot order so that the USB-drive is accessed before the hard drive. Save and Exit. Your computer should restart using the USB-drive to boot.
7. After a few moments, you should have the option to either test-drive or install Ubuntu. Go ahead and give it a test drive! I’ll wait here    Depending upon the size and type of your USB, your user experience may be a little slow. This is because that little thumb drive is doing the work instead of your mega hard drive. Things will be much faster once Ubuntu is installed on the hard drive should you decide to proceed.

Installing Ubuntu

This is where the fun (i.e. trial-and-error) part comes in and the reason I started this post in the first place. The following steps document my experience. They are being offered here to help others who are also trouble-shooting the dual-boot experience with Windows 8. With the help of other sources (such as this one) I have successfully installed Ubuntu alongside Windows 8 on two different ASUS R503U. The first time was using the WUBI installer with the Ubuntu-Secure-Remix iso followed by Boot Repair. The second time, is the more customized approach described in this post (I still needed to use boot repair). If you too run into problems and are at a loss, uninstalling Ubuntu should make things right and you can start again…that’s what I did

1. Click on the Ubuntu icon in the upper left corner to access the search screen and type “gparted”, for the drive partitioner. Double-click on the gparted icon to launch it. If you shrunk your C-drive and your D-drive you should have two sizable undefined partitions. Following the instructions in gparted, move the D-drive to the left so that it is immediately after the C-drive. All off your free space should now be together. Exit gparted.
2. Now double-click the Install Ubuntu icon on the desktop to launch it and follow the prompts. When asked to install Ubuntu alongside Windows, replace Windows, or Something else, choose Something else. Now is a good time to review this link if you’ve not already done so.
3. Personally, I like to have my Ubuntu operating system on one drive and my files on another drive (just like I did for my Windows set-up). To do this, you will want to create a new partition in the unallocated space. The new partition is to be “EXT4″ with “/” as the mount point located at the start of the unallocated space with a size of~40 GB (mine is ~42 GB). This will be the Ubuntu equivalent to your Windows C-drive.
4. Next, create a swap space at the end of the remaining unallocated space. The size should be about double your RAM memory size. I have 2 GB of RAM, so I created a new 4 GB partition, mounted as “SWAP” at the END of the unallocated space.
5. Lastly, create a new partition for the remaining unallocated space also as “EXT4″ and mounted as “/home”. This is your Ubuntu equivalent to the D-drive. Your documents, pictures, and music files will go here.
6. By default, the boot drive  (noted at the bottom of the window) is probably designated as “sda”. For my laptop, the Windows boot drive is actually sda1. So, I changed this setting to sda1 also. [this is one of those trial-and-error decision points]
7. Now proceed with the screen prompts to finish the installation process. Make sure you have an Internet connection to keep the process running smoothly. Go ahead and include the fluendo add-ons. You will appreciated this later!
8. Restart your machine. If all went well, you should have a purple screen that gives you a list of options. Ubuntu being first on the list. Also on the list should be the option to start Windows. You have about 8 seconds to make a decision before Ubuntu launches automatically. Go ahead and give ‘er a spin! You can disconnect the USB now.
9. After playing around in Ubuntu for a bit, it is time to see if Windows is still working. Restart your computer. This time, select the Windows option (preferably one that includes UEFI). Hold your breath and press the Enter key.
10. Did it work? Congratulations!

Trouble-shooting

1. Plug the LiveUSB back in and enter your BIOS screen by restarting, or doing a shutdown-reboot. If you have nothing but a blank screen like I did, try the CTRL-ALT-DEL combo to simulate a restart and continue to hold just the delete key to get to the BIOS screen.
2. Reset the boot order so that the USB is first. Save and Exit.
3. You should now be back into Ubuntu from the LiveUSB.
4. Toward the bottom of the left app list is “Boot Repair”, click it and follow the prompts.
5. Be sure to WRITE down the website link that is given in the last window. You may need this later for further trouble-shooting.
6. Now restart and try to launch into Windows (still preferring the UEFI option).
7. Did it work? Yeah!
8. No? Now’s a good time to send that http://paste.ubuntu.com/### url that you wrote down earlier to boot.repair@gmail.com for help.
9. You may want to uninstall the Ubuntu OS. Go back to step 1, above to boot from the LiveUSB, if necessary. Look for and launch the OS Uninstaller from the app list on the left.
10. You should now be able to access Windows.
11. Still want to try Ubuntu? Still having trouble? Check out the Ubuntu community for more experienced help…AskUbuntu.com or Ubuntu Community Support.
12. Good luck!

Have comments, suggestions, recommended improvements to offer? Please provide your helpful and thoughtful comments below.