Acemagic RX16 (AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX) : dual boot Ubuntu 24.04 + Windows 11

[GRTN]

First step is to download the .iso file of Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS .
I visited URL https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop and clicked on button ‘Download 24.04.1 LTS’ .
Given that .iso file weighs 5.8GB , it is likely an interrupt during downloading. So I selected from download tab in the browser the file ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso and with right button on it I chose option ‘Copy Download Link’ . Then I interrupted download .
Then I opened a terminal where I wrote wget <space> <Paste from right mouse button activated popup menu> .
Example :
wget https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubunt ... -amd64.iso
This shell command starts downloading of file in current directory . In case downloading stops before completion , I started a new shell command wget --continue <Download Link> .
Example :
wget --continue https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubunt ... -amd64.iso
I don’t know whether there is something similar to ‘wget --continue’ to avoid restarting download from scratch every time on Windows 11 .

Second step is to create a USB bootable stick from .iso file (ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso in this case) .
First insert a fresh USB stick in a USB port on computer .
On Linux I did it by shell command on terminal using program ddrescue .
to obtain <USB stick path> :
sudo fdisk -l
to create USB bootable stick :
sudo ddrescue --force -D <path .iso file> <USB stick path>
Once again , I didn’t use Windows 11 , but in case someone is interested to create a USB bootable stick on Windows 11 , these URLs provide relevant information on how to do it :
https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-u ... 1-overview
https://etcher.balena.io/

Third step is to provide an empty volume on a disk in our Acemagic RX16 .
One possibility is to resize volume occupied by Windows 11 on 512 GB SSD :
Start --> Settings --> System --> Storage --> Advanced storage settings --> Disks & volumes
on volume "Windows (C:)" push button "Properties" and then push button "Change Size"
assign on right of "New (MB)" value 65536 and then push button "OK"
Remark : in this case Windows 11 is shrinked to only 64 GB of storage , if you want more room for Windows 11 change numeric value in kilobytes accordingly
Another possibility is to install a fresh NVMe SSD on second slot of Acemagic RX16 .
After a fresh NVMe SSD has been installed in second NVMe slot , let’s initialize it from Windows 11 :
from Start icon on Windows desktop press right button of mouse and select ‘Disk Management’ from popup menu.
on popup window there is ‘Disk 1’ marked as ‘Unallocated’
on ‘Unallocated’ press right button of mouse and select ‘GPT (GUID Partition Table)’ , the other one ‘MBR (Master Boot Record)’ doesn’t work in case of a NVMe SSD of 4 TB
on ‘Unallocated’ press right button of mouse and select ‘New Simple Volume…’ , all defaults of ‘Wizard’ are fine but presumably name of new volume where is preferably ‘Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS Volume’ instead of ‘New Volume’

Fourth step is to activate this USB bootable stick on our Acemagic RX16 .
Insert relevant USB bootable stick with ubuntu-24.04.1 in a USB port on computer .
From Windows 11 (at this moment our Acemagic RX16 has only Windows 11) :
Start --> Settings --> System --> Recovery --> Advanced Startup
then push button ‘Restart Now’
At this moment we aren’t anymore interacting with Windows 11 but with UEFI , modern version of BIOS well known to administrator of PCs , this is operating system released by hardware manufacturer that in our case is AMD :
‘Choose an option‘ appears and move to button ‘Use a device’ using arrow keys and then press Return key
Use a device’ appears and move to button ‘UEFI:Removable Device’ or ‘UEFI: ...’ using arrow keys and then press Return key
now move to button ‘Ubuntu (safe graphics)’ using arrow keys and then press Return key
At this point we have switched from UEFI/BIOS executed at ‘close to hardware’ to ubuntu-24.04.1 desktop launched from USB bootable stick , but not yet installed on Acemagic RX16 .
From Ubuntu desktop choose icon ‘Install Ubuntu’ to start installation of Ubuntu , choose standard default installation where ‘dual boot’ option is already active (pay attention : if ‘dual boot’ option is not active then Windows 11 will be wiped out from Acemagic RX16) .
when volume to install is requested , let’s provide the empty volume after Windows 11 storage shrinking or volume ‘Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS Volume’ / ‘New Volume’ initialized on our second SSD slot of Acemagic RX16
don’t choose Ubuntu Pro and don’t choose to allow computer to send information to Ubuntu provider
installation takes a while and will split provided empty volume in three volume whose capacities are reported

Fifth step is to configure from UEFI to start from GRUB instead of Windows 11 : at this moment USB bootable stick can be removed , but restarting computer only Windows 11 will boot up and we can reach Ubuntu only from ‘Start --> Settings --> System --> Recovery --> Advanced Startup’ and then push button ‘Restart Now’ .
GRUB is text only program that allows to choose , after turning up computer , which operating system to boot : Ubuntu (by default) , Windows 11 , UEFI/BIOS .

We’ll see it in second post .

[dragonpoo]

Nice write-up on prepping Ubuntu to install! It sounds like you prefer Linux over Windows.

I don’t know whether there is something similar to ‘wget --continue’ to avoid restarting download from scratch every time on Windows 11 .

Yes, browsers have an option to Resume a download. In Edge, for example, if a download fails due to a network error, there is a big Play arrow button that can be clicked to resume the download.

Rufus is a good, and free, program to copy an install ISO to a usb flash drive. It has a nice GUI, is user friendly, and simple to walk through.

[GRTN]

Thanks to dragonpoo for additional advice.
As a matter of fact most people purchasing an Acemagic RX16 don’t have on avail an old laptop with Ubuntu already installed and they should set up dual boot from Windows 11 already installed on Acemagic RX16 .

But let’s get back to fifth step : how to activate dual boot at startup , instead of reaching Ubuntu only from ‘Start --> Settings --> System --> Recovery --> Advanced Startup’ and then push button ‘Restart Now’ .
After ‘Restart Now’ option to start UEFI should be chosen .
The text only visual interface of UEFI provides a window with title ‘Aptio Setup – AMI’ (remember that UEFI is not provided by Microsoft , but by CPU hardware manufacturer AMD) .
Tabs can be chosen by left / right arrow keys on keyboard an selected by Return key.
Select tab ‘Boot’ : we have a window with title ‘FIXED BOOT ORDER priorities’ : configure boot options sequence as follows:
Boot Option #1 --> [ NVME : Ubuntu (...) ]
Boot Option #2 --> [ Hard Disk ]
Boot Option #3 --> [ USB Device ]
Boot Option #4 --> [ Network ]
Boot Option #5 --> [ CD/DVD ]
Boot Option #6 --> [ SD ]
Select each option with up/down arrow keys on keyboard , then press Return key : a popup window allows to configure each option by up / down arrow keys on keyboard and Return key once selected chosen option .
Let’s understand what configuration above actually means : UEFI boot sequence doesn’t allow to choose a boot device at startup , but only to setup priorities . For instance , if Boot Option #1 had been [ USB device ] this means that at beginning UEFI looks for a USB bootable stick and , in case no stick is on avail , UEFI looks for device of Boot Option #2 .
I configured Boot Option #1to look for relevant disk volume where Ubuntu is installed , instead of [ Hard Disk ] that means primary disk and first volume of it , where Windows 11 is installed . So apparently Windows 11 can’t ever be booted .
But what I actually told to UEFI is not ‘execute Ubuntu’ , but ‘execute boot sequence configured on bootable volume [ NVME : Ubuntu (...) ]’ . But by installing Ubuntu in dual boot I configured [ NVME : Ubuntu (...) ] bootable volume with boot sequence ‘first execute GRUB , then whatever chosen via GRUB interface by user’ .
GRUB is a program , with following simple text-only interface :
‘Ubuntu’
‘Advanced Options for Ubuntu’
‘Memory test (memtest x86+x64.efi)’
‘Memory test (memtest x86+x64.efi , serial console)’
‘Windows Boot Manager (on /dev/nvme0n1p1)’
‘UEFI System Settings’
for a few seconds user can choose an option with up/down arrow keys on keyboard and then pressing Return key on keyboard .
If no choice is done by user , after a few seconds defaulf highlighted first option (‘Ubuntu’) is chosen by UEFI .
If I want to start Windows 11 , I must highlight fifth option ‘Windows Boot Manager (on /dev/nvme0n1p1)’ .
If turning on Acemagic RX16 I want to start UEFI , I must highlight sixth option ‘UEFI System Settings’ .
If turning on Acemagic RX16 I want to start Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS , I can leave default highlighted first option ‘Ubuntu’ and simply press Return key on keyboard .
After dual boot install , any time Acemagic RX16 turns on program GRUB is executed . By interacting with program GRUB , I can choose whatever operating system to execute : UEFI , Windows 11 , Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS .
Last but not the least : Windows 11 can’t access Ubuntu file system and viceversa Ubuntu can’t access Windows 11 file system. To move files from Windows 11 file system to Ubuntu file system , I use a non bootable USB stick . If anyone wants direct interoperability among these two operating systems other solutions based on virtual machines and containers are on avail . I chose dual boot with complete separation for the sake of greater security , but anyone is free to choose a different solution from the one I described here .

Acemagic RX16 is a laptop with a powerful processor (AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX with 45 watt TDP) , extensibility with two slots of DDR5 RAM up to 2x32GB = 64GB RAM and two NVMe slots for up to 2x2TB = 4TB storage (I don’t know whether it is possible to have 2x4TB = 8TB storage) , VRAM configurable up to 8GB . Last but not the least Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS in dual boot ready .