I want to dual boot with linux and windows xp.

ETSA

ETSA

New Member
Can someone please walk me through partitioning/burning/setup/installation of a user friendly linux OS. I have been eyeballing freespire/opensuse/unbuntu. Should I choose any of these for any specific reason? I plan on using it to educate myself or at least familiarize myself with a version of linux. I currently use windows xp. I want to dual boot with windows xp.
 
ok first off i'll advise u to use openSuSE or ubuntu.Not Freespire because its just click and download!! believe me with CNR u get everything but u dont learn anything..Anyways a good start is ubuntu/opensuse (whichever or even FC6) ok.U can get suse or ubuntu thru torrent which is not a problem.When your ISo is done downloading burn is to disc.ubuntu is a Cd while opensuse is a DVD.ok i'll go for suse first.Partition your Hard drive and leave at least a good amount of space for linux.You can also leave it unformatted. When you get to the point of HD partitioning in suse you have to specify the partition to install on.Be very carefull there make sure u choose the right partition. Its really str8 forward though.Dont worry about MBR as grub will automatically put suse right under xp (if u didn't choose grub as boot laoder)ok.
When u done installing suse go to "http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/254"
.It requires reading but once you've done it you'll be up and running your first linux desktop.
 
ok for ubuntu its also really simple.Once you've booted the live cd just click the icon on the desktop which says 'install'. And ubuntu will guide u thru the setup process.Also there u have to choose which partition to install on.Again dn't worry about MBR linux takes very good care of that.You can let ubuntu partition the spaces automatically for you or u can specify the spaces yourself.First u must have a root partition of at least 2GB then a swap partition which at least 512MB (well my swap is 2GB,like root..lol).Depends on amount of physical memory.Then free space remaining will be your Home Folder (my documents to be precise) and it has to be much bigger.For further info on ubuntu go to "https://help.ubuntu.com/community/".(without the quotes). hope you have a good time with linux and post back to let us know how you're going....hope it works out for you.
 
So do I need to partition my HD prior to installing it, because as of now I only have one partition. When I install it does it give me the option of dual booting and creating a partition? Thanks for the info.


edit:

http://en.opensuse.org/Released_Version

or using ubuntu, which version etc, links please...

also what architecture and how do I go about downloading it so installation is easiest....
 
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Be really careful though, defrag your hard drive first and make sure you don't resize you partition too much or you'll corrupt to XP partition..... I would back-up any valuable material too on you XP partition......
 
ubuntu is 6.06 LTS or version 6.10 (new)
OpensuSE 10.2 is the latest but you can fiddle with 10.1 though.
just torrent it dude. i cant remember the link.
 
Hm... I've used too many Linux distros :P

A distro I just installed and have found very nice is Sabayon Linux. It's very easy to use (not very popular for some reason) and very nice with a large package selection and comes with 3D desktop effects built in if your video card is supported. It's also got a (on the install CD) a Quake 4 demo, full desktop mode (so you can give it a go before installing) and a partition editor.
Assuming you are using Sabayon:
*Download it from http://sabayonlinux.org/
*Burn the ISO to a CD
*Boot into it (choose desktop mode or install..) You can enable the 3D effects on the live cd/dvd if you want, but it slows things down
*Open the Partition Editor (if there is no icon, press Alt+F2, type 'gparted' in the box that opens, and press 'Run')
*Resize your current partition and then create a new one (at least 10 GB) in the free space (see the help menu) and consider making a swap partition (sort of like virtual RAM, should be around the same size as your RAM, larger if you have the space)
*Open the installer, and in the partition selection screen, your new partition should be sda2 (for SATA disks) or hda2 (for IDE disks) and read the help if you need to. You can reformat the new partition if you want but if won't get you very far.
*Boot into your new Linux system :)

But as a warning, don't install any graphics drivers (ATI didn't work for me). I did and the display is messed up :(

But if you don't want to get Sabayon, I use OpenSuSE as my main system and I find it very nice. But the installer isn't the best for new users. And yet another great distro is PCLinuxOS (pclinuxos.com). It's the best distro I've seen for new users and is even good for advanced users.
I can advise you against Ubuntu because you won't get very far with it. I had it installed for a while but it made everything more difficult. It came with hardly any programs and the package installer has a very clunky interface (plus it took me ages to find and figure out. It doesn't categorize apps very well) so you can't easily accomadate for the missing packages.It's doesn't even come with basic GNU tools...
 
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