Switching between OSs

[West_ray]

Currently using XP, I wish to try Linux on my laptop, but i'm a computer-dunno-how person. I'm thinking of having XP n Linux together, and switch between them for some other uses.

Any online instructions on the web teaching us how to re-parition? And can I still keep my current doc as it is on both XP n Linux?

TIA!

 

[waisj]

Currently using XP, I wish to try Linux on my laptop, but i'm a computer-dunno-how person. I'm thinking of having XP n Linux together, and switch between them for some other uses.

Any online instructions on the web teaching us how to re-parition? And can I still keep my current doc as it is on both XP n Linux?

TIA!

I might be able to shed some light on this issue, Since i am doin' that for my company's Test servers/laptops.

If you are attending the Anniversary Celebration, look for me.
In the mean time, will look for online resources for you to refer to.

p/s you will most probably need partition magic if you do not wish to re-install, partition your hard drive the conventional way.

Hope that helped.
cheers

 

[West_ray]

oh kkk ~~

oh yah there are many kinds of Linux version right ???? Which one should i go for ??? and i can't find any d/ls at their website. So where can i find the d/ls??

 

[West_ray]

i think i found the site for d/ls, http://www.linux.org/dist/list.html but ..... wah cowz ... so many ........

 

[waisj]

Hi there West_ray

Here are some web resources that might prove useful for the First-timer

http://www.linuxbeginner.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/history/143578
http://linux.highsphere.net/howtos/dualboot.php
http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html
http://www.computing.net/howto/advanced/linuxnt/
http://rtfm.dyndns.info/tips/2002/11/13/51.shtml
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pclim/help-desk/dual-boot/dual-boot.html

d/ls???? care to elaborate??

I have used Mandrake and Red hat so far... so for ease of install i would rate mandrake, none the less, neither; nor all are hard to install/configure.

Except FreeBSD/SCO Unix :sweat:

 

[West_ray]

waH cOolz !!! hey thanks waisj, i will take my time to read !

d/ls = i mean Downloads ....

 

[waisj]

Glad to have helped.

If you still have problem, and if you need help; if you are attending the celebration look for me there lar.

 

[igpenguin]

If you kancheong to try you can buy or download Mandrake 9.2 from a local site and burn to the installation discs... try www.lugs.org.sg for the list of download mirrors. Downloading the first two discs should be enough I think... not sure what's on the third disc. Documentation?

It's one of the easiest distribution I have used. During installation it can help you partition your harddisk - though not always foolproof as I had problems with some installation where the NTFS partition of the existing WinXP setup failed to be resized (but no worries, your HDD won't be wiped out provided you didn't do anything wrong)

If you run a win95/98/me installation and have quite a bit of free space, you can try WinLinux.

Or try Knoppix, which is essentially a live Linux demo CD... but can be pretty slow as everything runs off the CD!

 

[rncw]

Currently using XP, I wish to try Linux on my laptop, but i'm a computer-dunno-how person. I'm thinking of having XP n Linux together, and switch between them for some other uses.

Any online instructions on the web teaching us how to re-parition? And can I still keep my current doc as it is on both XP n Linux?

TIA!

actually, i would suggest getting another standalone PC/notebook to install linux...if you just wish to try..

what capacity is your HDD? nowadays, newer versions of linux can occupy alot of HD space...

 

[junyang]

Im doing that too.

Using Lilo to boot.

Pm me for more information.

 

[espn]

Min 2GB of HDD space for a basic setup of RedHat v8 and v9, Mandrake I've not calculated the space so I'm not sure.

You can just install Linux into a spare partition you have on your HDD, when it reaches the boot loader (recommended is GRUB), just make sure that the options to load either WinXP or Linux is present. After installation, reboot, you should be presented with a menu on which OS to load.

Pretty simple & easy setup

 

[West_ray]

actually, i would suggest getting another standalone PC/notebook to install linux...if you just wish to try..

what capacity is your HDD? nowadays, newer versions of linux can occupy alot of HD space...

hmmm ... i have two harddisks. my C drive (NTFS) has 5GB left, while my D drive (FAT32) has 226mb left lehz .... i have not touch my D drive before, as it is used for backup purpose (as wat the sales guy told me) ....

 

[willyfoo]

Here's a few other options..
1 - Removable/Swappable hard disks... notebook users can buy additional hard disk housings to do that if you wish
2 - Use VMware (though it's a commercial software). It's perfect for testing due to the snapshot/revert feature..
3 - Try MandrakeMove it's a Mandrake distribution that can run directly off the CD... volatile files can be stored on a USB disk/thumbdrive

1st option is expensive and will require you to totally get out of the system, notebook harddisk 40GB is just over $200, housing can cost about $15-$40. Desktop harddisks & casing are cheaper

2nd option is more for companies who need to do a lot of testing. Vmware is about US$299 list price, though selling price in SG is about S$400
http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/ws_features.html. It's perfect with a powerful computer with 2 screens... I just love it.. run windows on 1 screen & linux on the other... mouse moves between them.. can even share clipboard. I can run all different OSes.

3rd option seems promising... downloading it at the moment.
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/mandrakemove

 

[sriram]

There's a free tool called ntfsresize (google it) which can repartition your hard disk. I still recommend partition magic for those not familiar with ntfsresize as you can really mess up your partitions if you aren't careful.

I use Debian Linux which at its minimal functionality takes up less than 200megs of space. Of course I have a compiler, java, X-windows and emacs which brings it up by another couple of hundred megs. If you use Gnome or KDE there's going to be a lot of bloat. Rathead Fedora (www.redhat.com) and Mandrake can go much beyond 1GB for a fully functional install. However you really need to have worked with Linux before installing Debian - it helps to know the ins and outs of it.

 

[espn]

2 - Use VMware (though it's a commercial software). It's perfect for testing due to the snapshot/revert feature..
3 - Try MandrakeMove it's a Mandrake distribution that can run directly off the CD... volatile files can be stored on a USB disk/thumbdrive

Tried option 2, quite versatile and convenient without having to dual boot whenever you want to use the other OS, can even run in full screen. :thumbsup:

There's a FreeBSD version of MandrakeMove I believe, the CD's not with me now.

 

[Acieed]

Min 2GB of HDD space for a basic setup of RedHat v8 and v9, Mandrake I've not calculated the space so I'm not sure.

You can just install Linux into a spare partition you have on your HDD, when it reaches the boot loader (recommended is GRUB), just make sure that the options to load either WinXP or Linux is present. After installation, reboot, you should be presented with a menu on which OS to load.

Pretty simple & easy setup

Unlike Windows, a Linux distro usually allows you to customize the programs to be installed down to the very minor details. A minimal installation can be as small as <500mb.

For a desktop workstation, Install just _one_ X desktop of your choice e.g. gnome desktop, and not all of them would save you some space. If you don't use any of the development tools (i.e. to compile applications from source, etc.), you may uncheck them during installation too, and stick to the binary RPMs. Server applications which you won't need on a workstation, don't install them. Bulk of docs, man pages etc. if you are already familiar with Linux commands or intend to use the GUI 99% of the time, hardly you'd need them.

You can install additional features anytime later over FTP or CDROM, so its very flexible.

You may also leave a FAT32 partition for sharing data between the two. NTFS is recommended read-only in Linux.

Have fun.