Gaming Ubuntu Windows Dual Boot

[Deleted User]

Gotcha, because Wubi is essentially emulating Linux within windows it suffers from structural erosion based on the hard-drive file architecture/format. In addition, because Wubi is essentially an image file, it's essentially mounting itself on windows itself, meaning that the image data is more prone to danger.

I'll look into Linux Mint, I can't really say that I really fully-comprehend all of the features that different distributions pride themselves in, so I would appreciate occasional input senpai =P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Mint

Wikipedia

 

[gisel213]

Well on my laptop i have ubuntu 10.04 booting from a 4gb sdhc card and i have some space leftover plus
i can access my 250 gb vista hdd to also save stuff to and install stuff to aswell without battling dual
boot on the same hdd pretty cool OS linux is .....

 

[Urza]

Gotcha, because Wubi is essentially emulating Linux within windows it suffers from structural erosion based on the hard-drive file architecture/format. In addition, because Wubi is essentially an image file, it's essentially mounting itself on windows itself, meaning that the image data is more prone to danger.

There's no emulation involved. It simply reads from the section of the file system which houses the disk image. The term "structural erosion" isn't really applicable either; mainly the issue is that both file systems must be functional for the loader to boot Ubuntu, so if Windows crashes, you're not going to be able to access it until Windows' next clean mount (and if Windows isn't functional, your virtual partition is fucked).

 

[Deleted User]

Gotcha, because Wubi is essentially emulating Linux within windows it suffers from structural erosion based on the hard-drive file architecture/format. In addition, because Wubi is essentially an image file, it's essentially mounting itself on windows itself, meaning that the image data is more prone to danger.

There's no emulation involved. It simply reads from the section of the file system which houses the disk image. The term "structural erosion" isn't really applicable either; mainly the issue is that both file systems must be functional for the loader to boot Ubuntu, so if Windows crashes, you're not going to be able to access it until Windows' next clean mount (and if Windows isn't functional, your virtual partition is fucked).

thanks for clearing that up.

 

[steve-p]

the simle thing to do,
is when you install windows, create one partition - for windows.
leave a big space after for linux.

then when you install linux tell it to use the free space - it will auto-create it's partitions in the free space.


if your ready for some hardcore Linux check this site!
http://distrowatch.com/

 

[Am0s]

the simle thing to do,
is when you install windows, create one partition - for windows.
leave a big space after for linux.

then when you install linux tell it to use the free space - it will auto-create it's partitions in the free space.


if your ready for some hardcore Linux check this site!
http://distrowatch.com/

that is the easiest incase for linux mint if you did that it would create 3 partitions or 2 cant remember resulting in the rest of the drive used

I used ubuntu first and while I liked it, for me it suffered from alot of bugs, from random freezing to my number one (1) key not working and random crashes, I found mint had more driver support than ubuntu does that why I chose it.

in the order the distro's come in when it comes to ubuntu and mint is as follows

debian
ubuntu is debian based
mint is ubuntu based

each distro has its advantage and disadvantage and there are around 2000 distro's to look at, for me I chose mint and arch linux, I have them on a dual boot arch is for more advanced users, and runs very fast much faster than mint and ubuntu on many things, its your choice which distro you choose, just remember to do some research first on them.

 

[KDH]

So everything aside, what Linux Distributions to you guys like and why?

I use Arch mostly myself, though in the past I've used Mandriva, Vector Linux, FOX Linux, and Debian. I also recently installed Slackware on an extra laptop I had lying around, and maintain a few Ubuntu Installs for friends and family while I teach them how to do it themselves. The ones I like, from least to most are: Vector, Slackware, Debian, and Arch.

Vector because it runs well on a few older machines I have lying around.
Slackware because... Well, I'll get back to you on that once I've used it more, but first impressions are good.
Debian (sid specifically) and Arch because their rolling release model ensures I've always got the latest (bleeding-edge) software on my desktop/laptop machines.

I made it a point to never use another "newbie-friendly" distribution on my own computers after about a month of Mandriva, partly because the automatic stuff they do breaks user settings nine times out of ten, but mostly because I actually wanted to learn the command line.



If you want to compare various Linux distributions, go to distrowatch like steve-p said, or click here to get side-by-side feature comparisons of a few popular ones.

 

[Am0s]

I like arch mainly lxde desktop but I find its still alot of fiddling for me, I will leave it there until I am ready to move on from linux mint

 

[nutella]

I assume you're using Windows 7, right? If so, installing Linux is easy, and all you need is the Live CD, or if you want to use a USB, you can download UNetBootin.

First thing you want to do is right-click Computer => Manage => Dick Management. From there, right click a partition and click shrink volume (Set to whatever you want, say, 20GB). Then you want to open up your BIOS settings and set the boot priority to your disk drive (DVD or CD, whatever you use). Insert your Live CD and boot your computer then follow the instructions. When it asks what partition to install to, just click the one that says something like "Use largest continuous free space".

Or, if you don't have a Live CD or if you don't have a disk drive (netbook users), you could use a USB and use UNetBootin. Just get a USB (at least 1GB) and use UNetBootin to setup up your USB using your favourite Linux distro. Fire up your BIOS settings and set your boot priority to USB. Boot your computer with your USB inserted and select default when UNetBootin screen pops up. From there, you can install as above.

I prefer installing from a USB, because I don't have to waste CD's or DVD's. My favourite Distro? Linux Mint 9, since I suck at life and don't know much about Linux yet.

There are actually quite a lot of reasons not to use Wubi. A common misconception is that Windows fragments easily, which is not the case, as you know. You also can't use Suspend or Hibernation, which might suck for you.

 

[Urza]

A common misconception is that Windows fragments easily, which is not the case.

You're absolutely incorrect. NTFS is the only file system used by a major OS that still implements the archaic allocation algorithms which make fragmentation an actual problem.

 

[nutella]

A common misconception is that Windows fragments easily, which is not the case.

You're absolutely incorrect. NTFS is the only file system used by a major OS that still implements the archaic allocation algorithms which make fragmentation an actual problem.

Sorry, I didn't phrase myself correctly. I seem to have deleted the part that said its the NTFS filesystem that fragments, rather than Windows itself. If you installed Linux on this same filesystem, it will also fragment since fragmentation is dependent on the filesystem, not the OS. Also, if something happens to Windows and you can't boot it up, you can't boot up Linux either.

 

[Urza]

A common misconception is that Windows fragments easily, which is not the case.

You're absolutely incorrect. NTFS is the only file system used by a major OS that still implements the archaic allocation algorithms which make fragmentation an actual problem.

Sorry, I didn't phrase myself correctly. I seem to have deleted the part that said its the NTFS filesystem that fragments, rather than Windows itself. If you installed Linux on this same filesystem, it will also fragment since fragmentation is dependent on the filesystem, not the OS. Also, if something happens to Windows and you can't boot it up, you can't boot up Linux either.

Then in that case let me post this instead.

Spoiler

 

[nutella]

Then in that case let me post this instead.

Spoiler

Obvious to you, but maybe not to someone who had to reinstall Windows twice.

 

[Urza]

Then in that case let me post this instead.

Spoiler

Obvious to you, but maybe not to someone who had to reinstall Windows twice.

Obvious to anyone who read this thread, as I stated both things in posts prior to yours.

 

[nutella]

Then in that case let me post this instead.

Spoiler

Obvious to you, but maybe not to someone who had to reinstall Windows twice.

Obvious to anyone who read this thread, as I stated both things in posts prior to yours.

Point taken. I somehow missed that before. My bad.