Dual Boot vs Virtual - Linux/Win7

[Concordedly]

I've been wanting to get back into the Linux game as I'm about to sell the only computer I had Linux on. I was wondering which setup would be better or recommended by users that have it here. If you could also support your reason why, I'd appreciate it. I have no plans to argue with you, just curious, that's all.

Virtual Box (VMware)
Windows on Hard Drive - Linux Virtual
Linux on Hard Drive - Windows Virtual

or

Dual-boot Linux & Windows

Note: The main reason I do not want dual boot is because there are programs and games that Linux simply will not run whether I use Wine to try to configure them or not. I do not want to have to change OS via booting due to that. For that reason, I've been leaning towards doing Linux in a virtual environment, but I do not know if Linux runs well in Virtual. I know that Windows does from my experiences at work.

I'm running Windows 7 64-bit currently. Anyone have particular thoughts on a Gnome distro that's possibly better for a newer linux user? Thoughts and suggestions please. Thanks

 

[wolfeking]

dual boot. VMware doesnt support the Graphics necessary to run Gnome 3 or Unity.

The easiest Gnome (based) os for new users is Ubuntu. I personaly dont like it because its trying to be OSX when it is not and hides everything behind wizards (like windows/OSX). I do believe that a Linux user could use it their whole life without ever using terminal (like CMD).

 

[Concordedly]

Well it's good to know that Linux virtual won't be a real option. I was looking at Ubuntu to be honest. I just wish dual booting was more sophisticated. If there was a way to freeze the Linux or Windows session it would be a much more viable option. I know Win7 did that originally but when I reinstalled it last time, it no longer has that ability to start where you left off. Is there any feature like this on Linux. And what would be reasons not to run Windows on a virtual box on Linux?

 

[wolfeking]

are you using anything that is Graphic dependant or games under windows? If not, then it would run under Vbox, but if its graphic dependent, then you are locked to dual boot.

As for the feature your talking about... The only thing that may work, Assuming it still works, would be to put the computer into hibernate mode and then select Ubuntu or windows from the Grub when you push the power button. This has only worked a couple of times for me with an Acer laptop, so I wouldnt hold too much hope for it.

 

[Concordedly]

Yes several computer games. Well I'll just have to go with a dual boot and try to find a convenient way to switch back and forth. I'm up to the challenge! Thanks for the advice. I'm a stubborn breed and would have tried all three methods. Saved me a lot of time and hassle.

 

[Dngrsone]

Lubuntu looks a lot like Win2K, if you'd find that helpful.

I have tried running Win XP in Virtualbox on Ubuntu, and a lot depends on the version of VBox you run-- don't download the VirtualBox OSE you find in the Software download center, instead, download it from here.

At any rate, for the older games that really run better on XP or 98, I had mixed success-- mostly it's an issue with screen resolution-- the lower resolution games like C&C were crap no matter how I tried to run them-- I really need a Win98 machine with old-school graphics and monitor.

I haven't tried Diablo on a virtual machine, yet...

 

[strollin]

I personally haven't bothered with dual boot in quite a few years. I have Win 7 on my drive and have VMs for a bunch of other OSes. I have 5-6 Linux distros as well as VMs for all Win versions as far back as Win 3.1.

If you want to play games (I'm not a gamer) you won't be happy with the graphics performance of a VM. Most Linux distros don't have heavy graphics demands and run fine in a VM.

It is possible to get Ubuntu's Unity interface working in a VM with a little tweaking but not worth the effort IMO.

 

[salvage-this]

Yes several computer games. Well I'll just have to go with a dual boot and try to find a convenient way to switch back and forth. I'm up to the challenge! Thanks for the advice. I'm a stubborn breed and would have tried all three methods. Saved me a lot of time and hassle.

I use Windows7 for gaming and Ubuntu for everything else. It is annoying to boot back and forth but I did make a few changes to make it a it a bit easier.

1. Edit /etc/default/grub and set GRUB_TIMEOUT=10 to something lower. I have mine set to 5 or 3 usually.

2. In Windows enable multi core booting.

3. Disable the boot screen for Windows boot. This will not show the lights floating together to the windows logo. It saved me 5-7 seconds on my boot.

Ubuntu seems to be hit or miss with hibernation but you can set it to remember what programs you have running when you shut it down. They will be re opened when you boot to Ubuntu.

EDIT: you can get better graphical performance in virtual box by installing the guest additions. I can get compiz running smoothly in Ubuntu after I installed it in virtual box.

 

[spirit]

I have Ubuntu 11 in VMware Workstation and I got it to run the Unity effects, just do a bit of Google searching and you should find it?

I haven't bothered with dual-booting in a while to be honest it's quite a lot of hassle and can cause some problems, so if you a good enough CPU and enough RAM, I would opt for the virtual machine route. Of course, there are freeware alternatives to VMware Workstation, such as VirtualBox or VMware Player, VirtualBox runs Unity so I would recommend that.

 

[2048Megabytes]

With Dual-booting using Linux 10.10 and Windows I prefer to use two separate hard drives. Just switch the boot priority in BIOS and you have two separate hard drives with one operating system on each. There are lot of problems solved doing it that way in my experience.

 

[NyxCharon]

dual boot. VMware doesnt support the Graphics necessary to run Gnome 3 or Unity.

The easiest Gnome (based) os for new users is Ubuntu. I personaly dont like it because its trying to be OSX when it is not and hides everything behind wizards (like windows/OSX). I do believe that a Linux user could use it their whole life without ever using terminal (like CMD).

VirtualBox supports it. Just install the extension pack and it'll work fine. As far as starter distro's, i say go Mint. Otherwise, use the old version of Ubuntu (10.04?) as the current version is way too buggy.

I can't really give you a answer though, because I have no idea what you plan on doing in each OS. Anything that involves heavy graphic or CPU work has to be installed to HDD, virtual machines suffer in these areas. If you just want to experiment with linux, go VM. If you want to do some writing of code, go VM. If you want to do a lot of work with different window managers and such, go VM. So it just kinda comes down to what OS you will want to use more. I have winodws and linux VM's setup on my hdd, on a separate storage partion. That way, i can share them on which ever OS I'm in. If I'm in linux and need something windows real quick, boot up the VM, etc. So I dual boot, but i still use VM's (though mine is for verifying code compatibility across platforms)