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I have an unused partition and want to install Ubuntu Dapper on it. On reading through the docs it seems possible to install it from an existing linux/unix box.

1. My current partition looks like below, of which "/dev/hda2" primary partition is unused:
   

   /dev/hda1               1        1044     8385898+   7  HPFS/NTFS
   /dev/hda2            1045        4699    29358787+  83  Linux LVM
   /dev/hda3            4700        4712      104422+  83  Linux
   /dev/hda4            4713        7296    20755980    5  Extended
   /dev/hda5            4713        7296    20755948+  8e  Linux LVM
   

   Note:
   1st partition is Windows, 2nd partition is unused, 3rd is "/boot".
   The 5th logical partition holds the Fedora install.

   Below is the logical volumes on "/dev/hda5":

     --- Logical volume ---
     LV Name                /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
     VG Name                VolGroup00
     LV UUID                lW0nA8-FisJ-DJO1-QpGW-LcMS-4832-U5Huaa
     LV Write Access        read/write
     LV Status              available
     # open                 1
     LV Size                17.81 GB
     Current LE             570
     Segments               1
     Allocation             inherit
     Read ahead sectors     0
     Block device           253:0
   
     --- Logical volume ---
     LV Name                /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
     VG Name                VolGroup00
     LV UUID                gXOO57-GnZE-C4Vq-ncHf-yfGx-lZLV-Mb8QWf
     LV Write Access        read/write
     LV Status              available
     # open                 1
     LV Size                1.94 GB
     Current LE             62
     Segments               1
     Allocation             inherit
     Read ahead sectors     0
     Block device           253:1
   

   "/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00" is where Fedora Core 5 is installed.
   "/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01" is used as the swap partition.

2. I will be creating a 4GB logical volume on "/dev/hda2" to use for the ubuntu install.
   

   # pvcreate /dev/hda2
   # vgcreate vg00 /dev/hda2
   # lvcreate -L 4G -n lv00 vg00
   

3. Create the ext3 file-system:

   # mke2fs -j /dev/vg00/lv00
   

4. Lets mount the newly created file-system on "/mnt/ubuntu":

   # mkdir /mnt/ubuntu
   # mount -t ext3 /dev/vg00/lv00 /mnt/ubuntu
   

   Now I am ready to take on the Ubuntu Dapper Install, which I'll be doing from the DVD install media.

5. Install "debootstrap":

   # mkdir /tmp/debootstrap
   # cd /tmp/debootstrap
   # ar -x /media/dvdrom/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap_0.3.3.0ubuntu2_all.deb
   # tar -C / -xvzf data.tar.gz
   

   Alternately, you could also download the debootstrap.

6. Run "debootstrap":

   # debootstrap --arch i386 dapper /mnt/ubuntu file:/media/dvdrom/ubuntu
   

   If you are following this, you may need to replace "i386" with your architecture which could be any of -- amd64, hppa, i386, ia64, powerpc, or sparc.

   The file can be substituted with a URL, "http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu", if doing the install over the internet.

   You should get "Base system installed successfully" at the end of the run.

7. Install LVM2

   Since I am installing on lvm, install the lvm2 package as well as it does not come with the base system.
   This step can be skipped if installing on a standard partition.

   # apt-get install lvm2
   

8. Configure Base System

   Once the base system is ready, lets chroot in and configure it:

   # cp /etc/fstab /mnt/ubuntu/etc/fstab
   # LANG= chroot /mnt/ubuntu /bin/bash
   

9. Mount Partitions

   I edited the copied fstab over to reflect my current file-system.

   # /dev/hda2 LVM
   /dev/vg00/lv00          /                       ext3    defaults        1 1
   /dev/hda3               /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
   proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
   sys                     /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
   # /dev/hda5 LVM
   /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol01 swap            swap    defaults        0 0
   /dev/hdc              /media/cdrom            iso9660 noauto,ro,user,exec 0 0
   

   Mount all partitions specified in "/etc/fstab":

   # mount -a
   # mount -t proc proc /proc
   # mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
   

   Be sure to mount proc and sysfs before continuing.

   The command `ls /proc` should now show a non-empty directory. Should this fail, you may be able to mount proc from outside the chroot:

   # mount -t proc proc /mnt/ubuntu/proc
   

10. Configure Keyboard

    To configure your keyboard:

    # dpkg-reconfigure console-data
    

    Note that the keyboard cannot be set while in the chroot, but will be configured for the next reboot.

11. Configure Network

    To configure networking edit -- "/etc/hostname", "/etc/resolv.conf" and "/etc/network/interfaces".

    # echo ubuntuHost > /etc/hostname
    # echo "nameserver 192.168.2.1" > /etc/resolv.conf
    # cat <<EOF > /etc/network/interfaces
    # We always want the loopback interface.
    #
    auto lo
    iface lo inet loopback
    
    # To use dhcp:
    #
    auto eth0
    iface eth0 inet dhcp
    
    # Wireless ipw2200
    auto eth1
    iface eth1 inet dhcp
    wireless_essid LinuxWebLog
    wireless_key ***********
    wireless_mode managed
    wireless_keymode open
    
    EOF
    

12. Install kernel

    Identify available pre-packaged kernels and install it:

    # apt-cache search linux-image
    # apt-get install linux-image-2.X.X-arch
    

13. Set up the Boot Loader

    I use grub, so this is what I have added to the fedora core grub file - "/boot/grub/grub.conf":

    title Ubuntu Dapper
            root (hd0,2)
            kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-23-386 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg00-lv00
            initrd /initrd.img-2.6.15-23-686
    

    Exit out of the chroot and copy over the kernel and initrd image file to the "/boot" mounted boot partition which is on a standard partition (non lvm else grub will not boot).

    # exit
    # cp /mnt/ubuntu/boot/{vmlinuz-2.6.15-23-386,initrd.img-2.6.15-23-386} /boot
    

    At this point, reboot into your new Ubuntu system to make sure it all works.

14. Install the Ubuntu Desktop

    # aptitude -y install ubuntu-standard ubuntu-desktop
    

    This will take a while. Once finished the installation is complete.
    The only thing that needs to be done is change the "/etc/inittab" file for booting into Graphical mode.
    Change the default runlevel from 2 to 5 and and then reboot.

    # The default runlevel.
    id:5:initdefault: