Righty, so having given up games I am no longer trapped like a monkey in a zoo on this platform we call windows. Well, I'm mostly free at least. I still need to be able to boot into an MS OS to be able to use apps that I can't on linux, and also to be able to play games when I goto LANs which I still intend on doing. So firstly: How do I set up a dual boot? I know there exists a bootloader named grub, and that's all I know. Should I install linux, then windows, or windows, then linux? Also, how much annoyance is it to leave a chunk on the OS disk unpartitioned and then add a third or even fourth OS as time goes by? (I'm interested in playing with various nix distros) Secondly: Which Mircosoft OS should I go with? Currently I'm on XP SP2 and as far as Microsoft OS's go I'm pretty happy with it. It works, it's stable, it has most of the stuff I want. Is there any reason to move to Vista besides a little bit more eye-candy (which is needless anyway because my day-to-day OS is going to be linux)? I know DX10 is on Vista, but so far that's proved to be a big nothing, and for a while at least I don't think it really matters at all. Lastly: Linux distro. This is the most important question really. My system is a powerfull system modern system - so there are no worries there. I'm inclined towards debian or ubuntu. I know Gentoo is super-awesome but I'm not interested, after speaking to folks who explain how much time it takes them to maintain it (and that's smart folks, I'm an idiot). Dunno why I'm naturally inclined to debian, but I always have been. I do rather like APT, but that's available on Ubuntu (which would be the smart choice, but I loathe the thought of being another Ubuntu user and many people seem to think it's a bit more...restricted than other distros). So what distros should I look into or get? Cheers all.
Well, you know all you need... Grub will give you a menu in which you can select what OS to boot. Most distro installers will set that up without any problems. On the ones that don't set it up automatically (I'm thinking of Gentoo minimal install and the likes), it's just 3 lines in the grub config. The only thing you need to do is install Windows first, because MS products don't have the intelligence to detect another OS, and will overwrite all the important stuff. If you like XP, go for XP Maintaining a Gentoo system is as easy as a Debian one. On Debian you have apt, on Gentoo you have portage. It's the install that's a bit more challenging, mainly kernel configuration and installing the needed apps. But Gentoo has a great (I dare say perfect) manual. But distros are like girls/boys, you need to find one that suits you. If you are inclined to take Debian, go ahead and download the Netinstall or Buisnesscard install CD. These will give you a working (altough CLI) system in under 20 minutes. And a working X environment in 30minutes. Gentoo takes 2 days or something And because most distros are free, if you don't like one, you can take an other...
So Grub will come with the nix OS, but I only install Grub, then switch to windows, then install the proper nix OS. Gotcha. As for XP, I mean sure I like it but I can't compare - just after people who can's rational opinions To be honest, at my level of noobyness a CLI system can barely be classified as a working one - I'm getting there, but only slowly. I guess I can try debian and see how I get along with it, with a fallback to Ubuntu since I know it takes away most problems with drivers and suchlike. Cheers
If you want to start easy and gradually get harder: Install Microsoft OS Install Ubuntu Tailor Ubuntu to your needs, changing the Window Manager, use a Cli as much or as little as you want and so on.
Yes, grub comes with linux, but no need to install it first (Windows will overwrite the MBR nonetheless). Just do a regular XP install, and then boot from the install CD, grub will be installed and set up correctly Don't fear the terminal "apt-get install xserver-xorg" and you'll have X up in 10 minutes
Right - that all sounds nice and easy. Cheers dude. I've used Xandros on my Eee PC for the last few weeks, and have been trying to get a little deeper with it - but I still wouldn't feel confident to do as you suggest Glider and then go from there (sure, I can install things with APT, but use them, configure them? Not so sure). Think I'll give debian a go, spend a day with it, and if I feel like it's going to be an uphill battle for every little thing just switch to Ubuntu which I know skips the frustrating stuff and lets me get on with learning the CLI etc.
At the end of the apt install, apt itself will configure the application, or use generic configs. But I agree, Ubuntu does this by default. It's all up to your own choice.
