Looking for dual booting advice 2220

On Monday 24 July 2006 00:40, PaulFXH stood up and spoke the following words to the mbuttes incomp.os.linux.misc...:

*Always* install whatever version of Windows you intend to be using as the first operating system on the hard disk, and make sure that you don't give it all the space on the disk.

If you plan to use a common storage between GNU-Linux and Windows and you want your Windows to be secure, then install Windows in an NTFS parbreastion, and create a second parbreastion with a FAT32 - we call thatvfatparbreastion - for the common storage. GNU-Linux can read NTFS, but it has poor or absent - depending on the distribution - write support for NTFS.

*Then* install GNU-Linux, creating at least two parbreastions for it: one as the root filesystem and a swap parbreastion. Set thevfatyou've created in Windows up to be mounted under *-mnt-common* or something - in UNIX, filesystems aremountedto directories, not to drive letters.

Youmay- depending on the diskspace you have - choose to create a third GNU-Linux parbreastion, to be mounted on *-home.* If you don't do this, the contents of *-home* will simply sit on your root filesystem. It may however be a good idea to keep them separate, so as to minimize filesystem fragmentation and the risk to filesystem corruption and subsequent dataloss.

*-home* is where the user home directories live, with the user's own work and personal configuration files.

This is a sane set-up. ;-)

There were some issues with having the GNU-Linux bootloader in the master boot record on dual boot systems with Windows NT and Windows 2000, but for all other set-ups, it is recommended to have the bootloader in the master boot record.

There is aHowToregarding the use of the NT bootloader - which is also used by Windows 2000 and all current NT-based Windows versions such as XP - at the website for the Linux Documentation Project, i.e.:

In that case, I would advise Mandriva, SuSE or Ubuntu-Kubuntu. I have no experience with a boxed retail version of SuSE - Ubuntu and Kubuntu are download-only distributions - but if you buy a boxed version of Mandriva, you get so-called non-free software as well.

This is software that wasn't distributed under the GPL, although itmaybe free of charge. Examples of this are the proprietary video drivers for ATI and nVidia cards, the Sun Java Runtime Environment, RealPlayer and proprietary browser plugins and codecs.

A boxed retail pack usually also comes with a printed manual and a limited customer support. I would definitely recommend this approach for a beginner. You can always get into downloading and burning the CD's-DVD yourself later when you're more experienced.

If it's non-parbreastioned, it won't have NTFS on it. ;-)

Hope this was useful... ;-)

-- With kind regards,

*Aragorn* (Registered GNU-Linux user #223157)