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Linux Advice Appreciated

Started by scuzzy, December 14, 2007, 13:33 hrs

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scuzzy

I finally decided to give Ubuntu 7.10 a try.

The bottom line is that I've had it with Microsoft. Mostly I'm tired of MS automatically assuming that all of its customers are criminals (WGA). If televisions, or cars, or any other legally purchased product did the same thing, nobody would tolerate it. "Please wait while this software that we forced down your throat ensures that this is a real Acura. If it's not (even if we determine it isn't due to a software glitch), then your car will no longer run over 5 MPH until you purchase a real Acura."

Unless MS makes a massive change in how it conducts business and learns to put its customer first, then I will be free of all MS products as they expire.

Anyway, I figure that the easiest way for me to learn Linux is to set up a dual boot. So for those of you with the know-how, what is the best way to get a dual boot option going for a system that has WinXP pre-installed, so that I can install Ubuntu? Naturally, I don't want to disturb my current WinXP setup.
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

scuzzy

Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

Whizbang

That is an interesting article.  I had considered just putting a fat partition on a mobile-rack-mounted drive with Linux on the second partition.  I then would have no other partition that Linux could find for Grub, since Grub must either be on the MBR of the Linux partition or on a FAT partition, which is where I would install Grub.  Then, if I had any problem mounting XP, I could just switch off the mobile rack drive.  That way, XP would be the only OS that was recognized.  I have been queasy about trying it though.  I may experiment with a temporary fresh installation of both OS's on two clean drives just to verify or reject the idea.  The one thing that has made me reluctant is that Linux distros can now mount NTFS partitions, and I fear some unforeseen monster might corrupt the boot information on the XP drive. 

The other alternative would be to use Boot Magic to install a boot option.  The problem here is the same as with Linux in that Boot Magic also must be on a FAT partition.  Also, the version I have does not replace GRUB; so you would have to install  Linux on a drive without having a Windows OS drive activated during Linux installation so the GRUB splash screen would not be activated on bootup of the XP and Linux options.  If the Grub option is activated, you would then have a PM splash screen followed by a Grub splash screen.  I really had no intention of confusing you, but all this confuses me.   ???

scuzzy

I'm already confused, and there isn't much at this point that you can do to add to my confusion. At this point you can only give me more to consider, and I appreciate any thoughts and advice on this endeavor.

I also found this very helpful article at PC World: Post-Install Tips for Ubuntu 7.10
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor