Dual Booting and Other Questions

Hey all,

I plan to download the latest copy of KDE or just plain 'ol Ubuntu this week, since I've got more time to mess around over winter break. I've got some questions regarding partitions. I use a lot of Windows programs and play some games, so I'll need to have both OSs on my computer.

1) How do I install Windows one my second partition? I plan to have a 10 gig Linux, 1 gig cross-over or whatever it's called, and a 100 gig Windows. Would this work? (I assume that all I do is choose which directory to install it to.)

2) After I install it, how do I determine which OS to run on startup? Under boot menu?

3) How well does VMWare work?

4) What's a good site to lear how to run/install programs on Linux?

5) I have Windows XP MCE. Should I get Kubuntu, Ubuntu, or Ubuntu MCE?


Thanks in advance.

 

2) A package called startup manager will let you do that easily.
4) Look here for many links: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=187152
5) You could try Ubuntu. What about Mint? www.linuxmint.com

 

Also, how do external hard drives work with Linux/Windows combination? I assume they wouldn't be plug-and-play. Do I also have to partition my external and install the systems again on each partition?


EDIT: Mint seems nice. How far have they gotten with out-of-the-box hardware support?

 

With Xubuntu, I plugged in a USB flash drive and thunar file manager popped right up showing me what was on it. I haven't tried to get on my networked drives yet.

 

aysiu has spent a lot of time writing things up better than I ever could.
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/

There's a lot of info on dual-booting, etc.

Your question #1: If you're going to dual-boot in the "traditional" method, you really should install Windows first. In Vista, you can install to the entire drive, then shrink the partition.
Or you can set the partition size during installation with any of the Windows products but it's a bit confusing if you haven't done it a few times.
Or you can use a great open source partitioner, GParted LiveCD, to set up your partitions before installing anything. You download the latest package, burn to CD as an image, then boot from GPLCD. If you've never used the program it'll be somewhat awkward at first but worth it to learn.
If you're going to go with virtualization, then I'm pretty sure you want to install Linux first because the free virtualization programs work better from Linux than from Windows. Some of the paid programs will run from Windows, so then it'd be back to Windows installed first.
Question #2: This one goes back to dual-booting. Windows sets a small, but crucial, bit of data at the lead-in of your HDD called the Master Boot Record (MBR). Without the MBR, or with a corrupted MBR, Windows won't start. When you dual boot in the traditional method, you allow the Linux bootloader (GRUB is the most popular, LILO is second) to CAREFULLY tweak the MBR so that it adds an option to boot Linux. Without breaking the MBR so that Windows can't boot of course.
Instead of the PC going straight to Windows after the BIOS, you get a DOS-looking screen that shows you a list. The first choice will be your Linux installation. The last choice will be Windows. If you do not change the choice, the PC will wait several seconds then start Linux. You can with little difficulty change the default to Windows and change the wait time too.
#3: Don't have any personal experience with VMWare, sorry. Virtualization puts a load on your machine. With lots of RAM and a fast CPU you'll be OK, but older machinery might be annoyingly slow.
#4: There are lots of websites, but tell you what, there's no substitute for just doing it. You can read and read but not much will sink in because there are so many foreign terms.
#5: Good question but the only thing that matters is your hardware. Once you boot into Ubuntu you don't care any more about the Windows software. All you care about is whether Kubuntu can run your sound card, video capture, etc. I didn't know there was any such thing as Ubuntu MCE?? You might want to check out Ubuntu Studio if you spend lots of time doing multimedia stuff.