Book on dual booting
April 14, 2007 12:08 PM Subscribe
Please, can somebody recommend book(s) about Dual booting for Windows XP and Linux ?
I have XP installed and i need to make a gradual transition to Linux.
There are many, many helpful websites out there. In fact, I would forgo the book and just find some good instructions online. The ubuntu forums are a great place to start.
posted by chrisamiller at 12:39 PM on April 14, 2007
posted by chrisamiller at 12:39 PM on April 14, 2007
There are a bunch of live-boot CDs that boot you into linux directly without changing your hard drive. This can be a great way to get your feet wet without actually comitting to significant changes.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Linux_For_Newbies looks like a decent place to start.
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:04 PM on April 14, 2007
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Linux_For_Newbies looks like a decent place to start.
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:04 PM on April 14, 2007
Beginning Ubuntu Linux has a complete illustrated chapter on installing Linux. It also includes preparatory notes. It's probably the best guide I've seen, both offline and on.
I'd definitely go with Ubuntu if you're new to Linux. It's the easiest to use, while remaining powerful, and it has a very strong, numerous and helpful community.
posted by humblepigeon at 1:14 PM on April 14, 2007
I'd definitely go with Ubuntu if you're new to Linux. It's the easiest to use, while remaining powerful, and it has a very strong, numerous and helpful community.
posted by humblepigeon at 1:14 PM on April 14, 2007
Why is it you need to transition to Linux? What're your goals here? What's the functionality of your Windows environment you need to duplicate?
I don't know of any books on dual-booting, per se. I think that's because it'd be pretty thin as a topic -- probably every Linux distro has documentation on how to do it; any number of books on Linux include info on dual-booting while talking about installation.
The table of equivalent software gives lots of pointers to Linux apps in terms of Windows apps in the same domain.
The new Ubuntu comes out in a week, and it's really easy to install. Before you repartition, I encourage backing up essential data from your Windows environment somewhere external to the machine (CD, external hard drive, flash drive). Then run chkdsk and de-frag. (I'm being hyper-conservative here. Most instructions won't tell you to do these things; most people don't, and don't have problems. At least I left out turning off virtual memory...)
Then just boot an Ubuntu CD and follow its directions. You might like to make a small partition with the ext2 filesystem -- you can install ext2 drivers for Windows in XP, and it's about the easiest way to move info from one to the other (or store info you want both OSes to be able to get to.) (Linux can read NTFS filesystems OK, the software to write to it is still considered beta.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 1:21 PM on April 14, 2007 [1 favorite]
I don't know of any books on dual-booting, per se. I think that's because it'd be pretty thin as a topic -- probably every Linux distro has documentation on how to do it; any number of books on Linux include info on dual-booting while talking about installation.
The table of equivalent software gives lots of pointers to Linux apps in terms of Windows apps in the same domain.
The new Ubuntu comes out in a week, and it's really easy to install. Before you repartition, I encourage backing up essential data from your Windows environment somewhere external to the machine (CD, external hard drive, flash drive). Then run chkdsk and de-frag. (I'm being hyper-conservative here. Most instructions won't tell you to do these things; most people don't, and don't have problems. At least I left out turning off virtual memory...)
Then just boot an Ubuntu CD and follow its directions. You might like to make a small partition with the ext2 filesystem -- you can install ext2 drivers for Windows in XP, and it's about the easiest way to move info from one to the other (or store info you want both OSes to be able to get to.) (Linux can read NTFS filesystems OK, the software to write to it is still considered beta.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 1:21 PM on April 14, 2007 [1 favorite]
In addition to the above... IIRC, turn off your XP swapfile, boot into Safe-Mode and run the defrag utility. Your goal is to get all of the XP data into the smallest space at the very front of your current partition. After that, I think most install disks will let you 'shrink' your XP disk partition, then you create a new partition in the newly freed space to install Linux. You'll end up using 'gpartd' to create the new partition.
It's hard to explain (even though I've done it many times...), maybe some graphics...
F = files on the disk.
S = virtual memory swap space.
. = free space.
[] = partition boundry.
You have:
[FFF....F..F.....FFFF....SSSSS....FF..F.] end of disk.
so you turn off XP swap...
[FFF....F..F.....FFFF.............FF..F.] end of disk.
then you defrag....
[FFFFFFFFFFFF...........................] end of disk.
then you run gpartd, you leave a bit of extra space for your current XP and use the rest to create a new partition...
[FFFFFFFFFFFF........][...................] end of disk.
then you install Linux in the new partiton....
[FFFFFFFFFFFF........][LLLL...............] end of disk.
then you install a boot loader that lets you choose which partition you want to run...
B[FFFFFFFFFFFF........][LLLL...............] end of disk.
then you boot back to windows and re-enable the virtual memory swap space....
B[FFFFFFFFFFFF.....SSS][LLLL...............] end of disk.
then you boot to Linux and create some swap space....
B[FFFFFFFFFFFF.....SSS][LLLL......SSS......] end of disk.
and now you're set to dual boot.
Most automated installers will do most of this work for you, the important part is to turn off the XP virtual memory swap space, and then to defrag the disk before you start. You want to consolidate all of the real data on the disk to the very front of the partition. XP virtual memory swap space can not be moved, that's why you need to disable it before you defrag.
Then the automatic installer will tell you that you have a 100G disk, but all of the data is in the first 10G of the partition. So it can shrink the partition down to 30G, and give you 70G to install Linux. If you don't turn off the XP virtual memory swap, and don't defrag the disk, then the installer will tell you that you have a 100G disk, and the data fills the first 70G of the disk so it can only free up 30G for your Linux install.
Maybe the automatic install tools have gotten better in the past few years, but it probably wouldn't hurt to let Windows compact all of your data into the smallest place.
If you just want to play around first, VMWare Player is now free. You can download the player and a Linux distro image and play to your hearts content.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:07 PM on April 14, 2007
It's hard to explain (even though I've done it many times...), maybe some graphics...
F = files on the disk.
S = virtual memory swap space.
. = free space.
[] = partition boundry.
You have:
[FFF....F..F.....FFFF....SSSSS....FF..F.] end of disk.
so you turn off XP swap...
[FFF....F..F.....FFFF.............FF..F.] end of disk.
then you defrag....
[FFFFFFFFFFFF...........................] end of disk.
then you run gpartd, you leave a bit of extra space for your current XP and use the rest to create a new partition...
[FFFFFFFFFFFF........][...................] end of disk.
then you install Linux in the new partiton....
[FFFFFFFFFFFF........][LLLL...............] end of disk.
then you install a boot loader that lets you choose which partition you want to run...
B[FFFFFFFFFFFF........][LLLL...............] end of disk.
then you boot back to windows and re-enable the virtual memory swap space....
B[FFFFFFFFFFFF.....SSS][LLLL...............] end of disk.
then you boot to Linux and create some swap space....
B[FFFFFFFFFFFF.....SSS][LLLL......SSS......] end of disk.
and now you're set to dual boot.
Most automated installers will do most of this work for you, the important part is to turn off the XP virtual memory swap space, and then to defrag the disk before you start. You want to consolidate all of the real data on the disk to the very front of the partition. XP virtual memory swap space can not be moved, that's why you need to disable it before you defrag.
Then the automatic installer will tell you that you have a 100G disk, but all of the data is in the first 10G of the partition. So it can shrink the partition down to 30G, and give you 70G to install Linux. If you don't turn off the XP virtual memory swap, and don't defrag the disk, then the installer will tell you that you have a 100G disk, and the data fills the first 70G of the disk so it can only free up 30G for your Linux install.
Maybe the automatic install tools have gotten better in the past few years, but it probably wouldn't hurt to let Windows compact all of your data into the smallest place.
If you just want to play around first, VMWare Player is now free. You can download the player and a Linux distro image and play to your hearts content.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:07 PM on April 14, 2007
Don't bother with VMWare Workstation or Player. Use "VMWare Server", which offers all the features they do, and is entirely free. It'll also work over a network and other cool stuff, most of which you can entirely ignore. :)
Running through VMWare is not as fast as running natively, but it's usually pretty good. You need to have a lot of RAM in the computer, though, because you're supporting two operating systems at the same time. 2gb is about ideal, so you can devote 1gb to each OS. You can get along okay on 1gb, but if you have less than that, it'll be very sluggish.
A dual boot will run faster and require less RAM, but there's more chances to blow it and screw up your Windows installation, forcing you to do a complete reinstall.
Unless you're REALLY SERIOUS about this, I'd play first with VMWare and get comfortable, and then jump to a true dual-boot. And note that VMWare runs under Linux as well, so once you're ready to make the jump, you can emulate Windows under Linux instead of the other way around.
posted by Malor at 8:43 PM on April 14, 2007
Running through VMWare is not as fast as running natively, but it's usually pretty good. You need to have a lot of RAM in the computer, though, because you're supporting two operating systems at the same time. 2gb is about ideal, so you can devote 1gb to each OS. You can get along okay on 1gb, but if you have less than that, it'll be very sluggish.
A dual boot will run faster and require less RAM, but there's more chances to blow it and screw up your Windows installation, forcing you to do a complete reinstall.
Unless you're REALLY SERIOUS about this, I'd play first with VMWare and get comfortable, and then jump to a true dual-boot. And note that VMWare runs under Linux as well, so once you're ready to make the jump, you can emulate Windows under Linux instead of the other way around.
posted by Malor at 8:43 PM on April 14, 2007
Based on my own experience, I would avoid dual-booting in favor of a cleaner solution, such as virtualization or a second machine with Linux only. Yes, I know it doesn't answer your question, but I'd hate to see you go through this.
To have dual-booting be actually useful and allow you to work & play in Linux, you need to set up a Windows partition, your Linux partitions, and a partition for your documents, formatted as FAT32, available to both operating systems. Then you need to work out a way to have your bookmarks, email, chat logs, etc. be consistent and accessible from both sides. You end up spending more time getting things working between the systems than getting to know Linux.
Alternatively, you just set up the Linux system and dual-boot, without all the document and interoperability issues, perhaps using only Gmail and Google docs to avoid hassles. Then, it quickly becomes tiresome to be rebooting 20 times a day to read something that is on the other OS when you most need it.
In both cases, what usually ends up happening is that you stop booting into Linux for the sheer inconvenience of things and get back to work on Windows.
For a successful, gradual transition to Linux, I would do this:
01. While still in Windows, switch over to the applications that you'll use in Linux: Firefox, Thunderbird, Gaim, OpenOffice, Gimp. This will minimize the impact of the change.
02. While still in Windows, create a new partition for documents only. This will allow a much easier backup and migration.
03. Learn where your valuable settings and info are stored: bookmarks, email, chat logs, if applicable. This will allow you to move everything to Linux when you finally switch.
04. Choose virtualization, as has been rightly suggested, a second machine, or LiveCDs and start exploring Linux. I strongly advise Ubuntu, for ease of use.
05. Join the user community of your particular distribution and read up as much as you can. ubuntuforums.org are good, as are most of the other communities. The Gentoo forums are fantastic, but I would not recommend Gentoo to a new user unless I wanted to subject him to cruel and unusual punishment. :)
06. Identify the programs you absolutely need and search for ways to get them working in Linux, replacements or strategies to keep using them, via virtualization, VNC or something more esoteric.
07. When you feel ready, backup EVERYTHING, reformat your machine and install Linux.
Good luck!
posted by Cobalt at 8:15 AM on April 15, 2007
To have dual-booting be actually useful and allow you to work & play in Linux, you need to set up a Windows partition, your Linux partitions, and a partition for your documents, formatted as FAT32, available to both operating systems. Then you need to work out a way to have your bookmarks, email, chat logs, etc. be consistent and accessible from both sides. You end up spending more time getting things working between the systems than getting to know Linux.
Alternatively, you just set up the Linux system and dual-boot, without all the document and interoperability issues, perhaps using only Gmail and Google docs to avoid hassles. Then, it quickly becomes tiresome to be rebooting 20 times a day to read something that is on the other OS when you most need it.
In both cases, what usually ends up happening is that you stop booting into Linux for the sheer inconvenience of things and get back to work on Windows.
For a successful, gradual transition to Linux, I would do this:
01. While still in Windows, switch over to the applications that you'll use in Linux: Firefox, Thunderbird, Gaim, OpenOffice, Gimp. This will minimize the impact of the change.
02. While still in Windows, create a new partition for documents only. This will allow a much easier backup and migration.
03. Learn where your valuable settings and info are stored: bookmarks, email, chat logs, if applicable. This will allow you to move everything to Linux when you finally switch.
04. Choose virtualization, as has been rightly suggested, a second machine, or LiveCDs and start exploring Linux. I strongly advise Ubuntu, for ease of use.
05. Join the user community of your particular distribution and read up as much as you can. ubuntuforums.org are good, as are most of the other communities. The Gentoo forums are fantastic, but I would not recommend Gentoo to a new user unless I wanted to subject him to cruel and unusual punishment. :)
06. Identify the programs you absolutely need and search for ways to get them working in Linux, replacements or strategies to keep using them, via virtualization, VNC or something more esoteric.
07. When you feel ready, backup EVERYTHING, reformat your machine and install Linux.
Good luck!
posted by Cobalt at 8:15 AM on April 15, 2007
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You'll use a bootloader--either LILO or Grub. When you install Linux (presuming you're using one of the user-friendly distros like Ubuntu), the installer will briefly explain what's going on, ask you a couple simple questions and then set everything up more or less automatically.
After you install Linux and reboot your computer, you'll be presented with a menu, and you'll be able to select whether you want to boot the Windows partition or the Linux one.
Eventually, if and when you want to ditch Windows entirely, you can delete the Windows partition and edit the bootloader menu. But you can cross that bridge when you get to it.
posted by box at 12:25 PM on April 14, 2007