Changing To Linux on dual boot

Anthony1uk · 02-19-2005, 04:48 PM

Hi, i was wondering if some kind soul could give me some advice and possibly point me in the right direction i am currently i windows xp home user with, i would say, slightly below moderate knowlege of computers. I am wishing to start a career in computer mantanence which i plan on starting the educational course in the summer to achieve this. I have read around and the course requires as a prerequisite some respectable capability and understanding of the linux operating system (something that i dio not have). So i was possibly planning on installing linux as a dual boot on my machine (atholon xp 2200 with 30gb hard drive master and 80 gb hard drive slave).

Now i was hoping if someone could point me in the direction of achieving this. Would i install on a separate partition on the master drive. And if so how do i achieve this (i currenly have no knowlege of partitions unfortionantly but i have just purchased symentec partition magic, is this the right application to achieve these results of a dual boot partition?). So if so would i use this application to create a separate partition on the C drive and how would i go about allowing this as a dual boot partition.

Would i need to make this dual bootable would I just need to install the linux software and it will become bootable in this new partition or is the process more complex that this. Furthermore once installed how would i choose which operating system was to be booted up do i need a special dual booting piece of software installled on my machine and if so which partition do i install it.

Furthermore can i ask is there just one type of linux operating system or are there different types of linux. If so which is the most popular/highly recommended. Finally once installed how much disk space would the OS and software take up.

Thank You
Anthony

batty_professor · 02-19-2005, 06:02 PM

I'm so glad you asked... Here is a link http://www.linuxiso.org/ This gets you some very helpful information. Be sure to check out the Helpful Stuff menu Introduction to Linux. And there's also articles for downloading a free distribution of your choice and also instructions for making your own bootable ISO CD(s). These are FREE! If you get real comfortable with Linux you may someday wonder why windoze is still so popular. Picking a distro, I myself am a Mandrake user, it is very user-friendly as far as beginners go. I haven't tried it myself yet but I understand that SUSE is a;lso a good choice, as well as Debian. SUSE personal fits on one CD, Mandrake is three, and I think there's more than that for Debian. There are also "live" versions like Knoppix, and a new one I recently came across called beatrIX. beatrIX is a small distro that is under 200MB on CD. The live versions might be a good place to start, they run much like the installed versions, but don't involve any changes to your hard drive. But because of that, they rum much slower. Hope this helps.

**LoneWolf071** · 02-23-2005, 02:28 PM

This is why i love linux...When you install linux, it installs a boot manager called GRUB. This will pop-up at the beginning of the boot and Ask which to start-up. patitioning you drive should be easy, go to download.com and download partition software. BEWARE, you must defragment your hard drive before you partition, becuase if you don't, you could partition some part of you Hard drive that contains windows and F-up you entire computer(happened to me 3 times!!!!!). i would say have 15 - 20 gigs for linux, it's about 6 gig for a full installation. but the GRUB will allow you to boot dual and it's free and easy. well... i have had some trouble with it, but it's not hard to repair/modify.

Ballistic · 02-25-2005, 10:16 AM

Just got the time a little while ago(a week?) to start playing around with Linux...

Had a friend of mine help me through the install, and went with Fedora Core 3....It's been pretty easy to learn so far, but it doesn't hurt to be familiar with command lines a bit...What I noticed you really need to know, is what the Packages are...(linux package = winblows program)...there are a LOT of the frickin' things....

I've only got one hardrive on here yet, so its split 3 ways...one for winblows, one for linux, and the other just everything else...

I managed to botch my Linux one just recently, so I wouldn't recommend getting rid of winblows until youre sure of yourself....

And it's a good idea to tinker with something like Knoppix first...It gives you an idea what it looks like, but like Batty_professor said:
[/QUOTE=batty_professor] The live versions might be a good place to start, they run much like the installed versions, but don't involve any changes to your hard drive. But because of that, they rum much slower.[/quote]

02-19-2005, 04:48 PM	#1 (permalink)
Anthony1uk Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 139 OS: W7 x64 - Backup PC: XP-SP3	Changing To Linux on dual boot Hi, i was wondering if some kind soul could give me some advice and possibly point me in the right direction i am currently i windows xp home user with, i would say, slightly below moderate knowlege of computers. I am wishing to start a career in computer mantanence which i plan on starting the educational course in the summer to achieve this. I have read around and the course requires as a prerequisite some respectable capability and understanding of the linux operating system (something that i dio not have). So i was possibly planning on installing linux as a dual boot on my machine (atholon xp 2200 with 30gb hard drive master and 80 gb hard drive slave). Now i was hoping if someone could point me in the direction of achieving this. Would i install on a separate partition on the master drive. And if so how do i achieve this (i currenly have no knowlege of partitions unfortionantly but i have just purchased symentec partition magic, is this the right application to achieve these results of a dual boot partition?). So if so would i use this application to create a separate partition on the C drive and how would i go about allowing this as a dual boot partition. Would i need to make this dual bootable would I just need to install the linux software and it will become bootable in this new partition or is the process more complex that this. Furthermore once installed how would i choose which operating system was to be booted up do i need a special dual booting piece of software installled on my machine and if so which partition do i install it. Furthermore can i ask is there just one type of linux operating system or are there different types of linux. If so which is the most popular/highly recommended. Finally once installed how much disk space would the OS and software take up. Thank You Anthony

02-19-2005, 06:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
batty_professor Asst. Manager, Alternative Computing Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hooterville Il 45 mi. east of St. Louis mo Posts: 2,608 OS: Fedora Core 5 for now	I'm so glad you asked... Here is a link http://www.linuxiso.org/ This gets you some very helpful information. Be sure to check out the Helpful Stuff menu Introduction to Linux. And there's also articles for downloading a free distribution of your choice and also instructions for making your own bootable ISO CD(s). These are FREE! If you get real comfortable with Linux you may someday wonder why windoze is still so popular. Picking a distro, I myself am a Mandrake user, it is very user-friendly as far as beginners go. I haven't tried it myself yet but I understand that SUSE is a;lso a good choice, as well as Debian. SUSE personal fits on one CD, Mandrake is three, and I think there's more than that for Debian. There are also "live" versions like Knoppix, and a new one I recently came across called beatrIX. beatrIX is a small distro that is under 200MB on CD. The live versions might be a good place to start, they run much like the installed versions, but don't involve any changes to your hard drive. But because of that, they rum much slower. Hope this helps. __________________ It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me. B. While users are never under any obligation, if you feel the urge please feel free to visit our donation page. Every little bit helps. And we thank you for your support. Microsoft free Registered Linux user 397458

02-25-2005, 10:16 AM	#4 (permalink)
Ballistic Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 117 OS: Currently Ubuntu, XP Pro...Various flavors of *Nix	I'm in the same boat... Just got the time a little while ago(a week?) to start playing around with Linux... Had a friend of mine help me through the install, and went with Fedora Core 3....It's been pretty easy to learn so far, but it doesn't hurt to be familiar with command lines a bit...What I noticed you really need to know, is what the Packages are...(linux package = winblows program)...there are a LOT of the frickin' things.... I've only got one hardrive on here yet, so its split 3 ways...one for winblows, one for linux, and the other just everything else... I managed to botch my Linux one just recently, so I wouldn't recommend getting rid of winblows until youre sure of yourself.... And it's a good idea to tinker with something like Knoppix first...It gives you an idea what it looks like, but like Batty_professor said: [/QUOTE=batty_professor] The live versions might be a good place to start, they run much like the installed versions, but don't involve any changes to your hard drive. But because of that, they rum much slower.[/quote]

02-23-2005, 02:28 PM	#3 (permalink)
LoneWolf071 Be Free Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Texas Posts: 840 OS: Windows XP, Linux	This is why i love linux...When you install linux, it installs a boot manager called GRUB. This will pop-up at the beginning of the boot and Ask which to start-up. patitioning you drive should be easy, go to download.com and download partition software. BEWARE, you must defragment your hard drive before you partition, becuase if you don't, you could partition some part of you Hard drive that contains windows and F-up you entire computer(happened to me 3 times!!!!!). i would say have 15 - 20 gigs for linux, it's about 6 gig for a full installation. but the GRUB will allow you to boot dual and it's free and easy. well... i have had some trouble with it, but it's not hard to repair/modify.