Thinking about Linux

Hey guys,
So I am buying a clevo p151-hm1 from malibal in less than a month and I am thinking about the OS for it. I know I will probably be buying the windows 7 hp license mainly because it is a laptop needed for college courses that use windows OS and I will need to follow what they do on my own computer, and because I pre-ordered Skyrim for PC and I want to play it. (I'm assuming it is for windows PC's only).

However, I have been looking at the idea of dual-loading or dual-booting (whichever you call it...) linux. The idea of having windows and linux on the same laptop is really appealing. I could do most of my browsing and basic playing around with stuff on Linux and then use the windows part for playing my windows games and keeping up in class (when needed. I would probably end up running linux for classwork if there isn't a complex list of steps to follow).

I do have questions though.
Does having two operating systems really slow down my computer?
Do they interfere with each other?
How does having the two work?

Is my hard drive split in half?​

Will I need double the space?​

Will my desktop on Windows be mirrored on Linux in terms of shortcuts?

If I do not like it, how easy is it to erase all traces of having Linux on there and will that mess up my Windows half?

 

Congrats, i'm a HUGE fan of Linux Mint. I'd suggest that as it's the closest thing next to Windows with out of the box functionality. Main Page - Linux Mint

No, dual booting will NOT slow down your computer. During the installation process you can partition the hard drive BUT it's much, much easier to install Linux right besides Windows in the Windows partition and it's super easy to uninstall it if you so choose. Be warned though, once you try Mint it's tough to go back to Windows.

edit: my suggestion is to creative a Live CD and boot into Linux to see if you'll like it as nothing gets installed on your hard drive.

 

Ok. That sounds good. If I don't partition my hard drive then how does using programs work? If I download FOSS programs for my Linux distributor will they show up on my start menu in windows? And of course, If I download stuff for windows will it show up on Linux?

And what about for web browsing? Does Linux use the general IE/Firefox/Chrome options for web browsing or does it have it's own browser?

 

No you will be prompted with a dual boot screen i.e. Linux Grub which is to Linux what the bootloader is to Windows. You will pick from that screen whether you want to boot into Windows or Linux. Linux will be your first option as it's set by default when Grub gets created. So basically you will either boot into Windows or into Linux. Linux by default uses ext4 file system whereas Windows uses NTFS.

Wrt Web browsers, sorry no IE but there's FF/Opera/Chrome and several others to choose from. I did not list them as it sounds like you are interested in using a browser you use in Windows.

 

No the browser I use doesn't matter too much. I actually hate IE and Chrome doesn't seem to be good enough yet, a great start though. I mostly use FF 4.0 and the reason I asked is because I was wondering if my bookmarks, favorites, passwords, and history from FF on windows will be the same as the ones from FF on Linux?

 

The answer is YES !

 

Nice! That makes things easier!

So I'm guessing pictures, songs, movies, and documents can all be shared across the Os too, right?

 

Yup, all of the above and Linux Mint has built in .mkv support out of the box.

 

How does having two OS's affect startup time?

 

No effect on startup unless you are running out of disk space.

 

Sweet sound good! When I get my new laptop I will definitely be giving that a shot!

 

No.

They shouldn't, unless Win7 overwrites the MBR. In that case, you can reinstall GRUB.

If you decide to install Linux to your hard drive, your existing Windows partition will be repartitioned to a smaller size. Some installers do this automatically. Others let you do this step manually. Then a Linux partition (or several if you decide you want a swap partition and separate partitions for your home or other directories) will be created out of the newly freed up space.

This depends on what desktop environment / window manager you decide to use. Generally speaking, Windows applications do not run in Linux without an emulator such as WINE, so even if you did have a shortcut to a Windows app, there's no easy way for you to run it.

Not hard at all. GParted can take care of erasing the Linux partition(s) created during install and resizing the Windows partition to take up the new free space.

Linux Mint User Guide

GParted - Gnome Partition Editor

 

NO, the answer is NO.

Partitioning a hard drive is just like partitions in an office space - each is it's own enclosed area, cut off from the outside world. Just like partitions in an office space, it is much like having multiple hard drives. Imagine it this way - one partition is New York and the other is Low Angeles. However, linux distributions CAN read windows partitions - so you'll have access to all of that data that way.

As far as startup times - in a partitioned office space the smaller size doesn't necessarily affect the productivity of each office worker.

 

Awesome sounds good! And since it is so easy to delete if I don't like it, I will definitely try it when I get my new laptop!
I'm going to start a thread about which distributor to use now.
Thanks for the help everyone!

 

Be sure to remember that you'll have to use a Windows restore disc, to restore the windows bootloader(very trivial process, don't worry).

 

Alright. Although if I have any issues I'll probably just come back here and get it all explained in better detail.

 

When starting out I always suggest using something like Wubi as it makes the process painless. Isn't there a Wubi version for Linux Mint as well? Or you could first give VirtualBox a go for a less invasive procedure.

Both options are worth considering if you are just starting out.

 

That is very true. Wubi is a nice option(even if it can be slower than a regular installed experience).

 

Seems to be necessary
Linux is NOT Windows