A few questions about Dual Boot

[Tommyd]

I am considering dual-booting my Win 7 Pro laptop with Linux, but have a few questions.

1)Which distro would be the best? The laptops specs are: 2GHz T5750 C2D, 3GB RAM, GMA x3100.

2)How hard is dual boot to set up? I know I would need to install Linux on a seperate partition, do I just need to create a partition and insert the CD to install, or is there something else?

 

[GEWB]

Dual booting isn't difficult as long as you start out correctly. That is, partition your hard drive leaving a sizable area as unallocated (for Linux to use). Install Windows first, then install Linux. Install the boot loader to the MBR.

As to what distibution of Linux to use - it depends on what you want to so. There are many Internet site that discuss Linux distributions.

Regards,
GEWB

 

[unifex]

That's it, create a partition and use the install disk. Nowadays the Linux distros do a good job installing themselves. You seem to have a decent laptop, any distro would run just fine.

The issue that I found when I did this some time ago, was that Linux would install Grub by default as a boot manager. Now, there can be only one boot manager on the system, so it effectively replaces the Windows boot manager by Grub. It all works fine, however, should you later on decide to uninstall Linux, you will still be stuck with Grub - I found no easy way to remove it. There are of course various ways to restore the Windows boot manager - but it's annoying and hard.

So, I would recommend researching which boot manager will your distro use and decide for yourself, which one do you want on your laptop.

 

[Tommyd]

Thank you for the answers. From what I can see and have heard, Ubuntu appears to be the most recommended distro, a good choice?

 

[GEWB]

What do you want to do in Linux? There are many distros for many purposes. If just to "try" a different OS, Ubuntu is a good starter as is Suse, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, etc. I suggest a search and then read about different distributions - pick one and try it. Don't like it, pick another and overwrite!

Regards,
GEWB

 

[iseeuu]

Thank you for the answers. From what I can see and have heard, Ubuntu appears to be the most recommended distro, a good choice?

I have Ubuntu 9.10 running on several boxes. It is a good one to start with.

Actually, restoring the Windows 7 bootmgr is quite easy and only takes a few minutes.

As for the amount of space to make for Ubuntu, it is only using 5.5GB on my system. So 10GB or more is ample space to start with. Just create the empty space at the end of your hard drive and then tell Ubuntu to install itself in the empty space. It will do the rest.



I would be happy to walk you through the install steps if you like.

Here is the tutorial for restoring the Windows 7 bootmgr: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

Cheers!
Robert

 

[gaz]

Thank you for the answers. From what I can see and have heard, Ubuntu appears to be the most recommended distro, a good choice?

I have Ubuntu 9.10 running on several boxes. It is a good one to start with.

Actually, restoring the Windows 7 bootmgr is quite easy and only takes a few minutes.

As for the amount of space to make for Ubuntu, it is only using 5.5GB on my system. So 10GB or more is ample space to start with. Just create the empty space at the end of your hard drive and then tell Ubuntu to install itself in the empty space. It will do the rest.

View attachment 53567

I would be happy to walk you through the install steps if you like.

Here is the tutorial for restoring the Windows 7 bootmgr: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

Cheers!
Robert

I,m sure you,ll probably know this but If you want to upgrade your Ubuntu 9.10 desktop( Give" Ubuntu" ,Windows AERO type theme) then press Alt + F2 and then type "update-manager -d" (without quotes). It will show you that a new version of Ubuntu is available. Click on Upgrade to upgrade your current Ubuntu.

 

[Frostmourne]

It would be easier to virtualize the OS, you have enough memory.