I run all my Linux systems in VMware Player or from the stick. I hate double booting. It is such a mess with the Grub and difficult to backup.
For the virtual systems, I just copy the VMware folder and in 2 minutes I have an 'image'. And for the sticks I have a little imaging program running in Windows 7 that works well.
Have a look at my series of tutorials for running systems side by side in VMware Player.
I won't dual boot Windows and Linux either - chalk and cheese and can sometimes lead to serious issues later. I do like to play with Linux systems though, and using Grub4DOS as boot manager I can simply park a live CD ISO on a stick or somewhere on my hard disk and boot it straight from the Grub4DOS boot menu, no installation or CDs required. Of course if I ever decided to take Linux really seriously I would, as whs does, do so in a VM or fully install it on its own, i.e. not in a Windows dual boot.
Am I right in the assumption that Grub4DOS does not give you a persistent system - meaning that settings you made (e.g. screensize or desktop background picture) are not being kept.
Persistence depends on the chosen distro, Grub4DOS merely boots the ISO. Puppy Linux for instance creates and maintains a secondary file containing all updates and customisation and looks for it on each boot. You can also remaster the ISO to include the file's contents. I'm hoping to find the time to look at how other distros handle this.
Useful information. Thanks.
well I have window 7 home on the two computers I built from bottom up and just learning about win 7 how. thinking about adding win pro just to see what the difference is I'm learning what I can about win 7 home I'm new at this and don't know the difference between the 2. upgrading one of them to see difference is ? Maybe I should learn more about win 7 home first before doing anything ????
I went with Ultimate before I learned Professional also includes 'XP Mode'. XP Mode wasn't all I hoped it to be, but I've stuck with 'Professional'. I am unsure how the Professional version stacks up to the Home version. There's a comparison chart around somewhere ... Just saw it here on the forums somewhere.
whs, thanks for the link. I will certainly check out that resource.
Ahhh, gregrocker's link earlier in this very thread:
Compare Windows 7 Editions
I would definitely go with win 7. I have gone with win 7 ultimate for my system and so far i like it. Windows 7 i feel is much better than 8 as like one of the others mentioned earlier in this thread; it is optimized much more so for the newer touch screen systems.
I haven't had that experience. I actually found learning the Linux distros to be much quicker and significantly less infuriating than trying to learn windows 8.x and find things, get rid of the crApps (as gregroker so eloquently put it).
I installed over a dozen Windows 8 machines and almost tore my hair out. The list of frustrations is longer than my knee-high boots. With Linux, there was very little that didn't work first time, and if it didn't, I found no lack of support for resolving the matters.
Nope. As far as I'm, concerned, stay clear of Windows 8.x. If you have to upgrade, at least use an OS that ain't gonna let you down and drive you mad.
And those who like Windows 8 must already be mad.
(That's intended to be humor - so don't get upset).
Tanya
If you pick the right Linux distro (e.g. Mint Mate), it can be relatively easy. But if you pick the wrong one (e.g. Fedora), you are in for a lot of learning.
But the first challenge is to find a distro that suits you. There are by far to many for the uninitiated to digest. So many newcomers default to Ubuntu which (since Unity) is a dog.
The main problem is that there are many things that you are used to do easily with Windows programs becomes a challenge. Very often you don't find suitable programs or they are rather difficult to use - example Gimp.
I am still trying to install VMware Player on my big stick Mint and was unseccessful up to now. In Windows that takes 5 minutes. Also the choices of media players is rather reduced and video editing programs are also rare. So the Linux world is not that bright.
If you have simple requirements (mail, web and office), it is easy. But as soon as you want to do more advanced stuff, it gets rather difficult and you are quickly in Terminal which I dread.
Last edited by whs; 15 Apr 2014 at 10:39. Reason: typo
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