On Tue, Feb 12, 2008 at 11:39:38PM +0000, kazman1914 wrote: > Hi folks, > > So far my experience with Linux has been a misadventure, but I'm > stubborn and I'm not giving up. I have to remind myself that in the > early days of Windows I became frustrated often enough enough then, too.
Heh, happens to all of us at some point. > > My first question: For those who want to eventually throw their > Windows programs in the dumpster, is there some way to run Windows > programs in Linux? I have a number of software programs that I really > don't want to loose, and their aren't Linux versions available, yet. Yes. There is Wine, and its commercial variety (about $60 and you do get a free trial), crossover office. These allow *some* programs to run. However, my usual recommendation to people is to run VirtualBox. It's an emulator that runs at pretty decent speed. It's easy to install and you can install Windows on it--it's what's known as a virtual machine. There are other products and programs that do the same thing, but I've found it to be superior (for my needs) to the also free VMWare server. (Also, VMWare server's new 2.0 beta has a number of features that I dislike). You'll probably get other recommendations to use qemu, VMWare or KVM, but I prefer VirtualBox. It's just been bought by Sun. I have no idea whether that will lead to it becoming even better or becoming worse, but at present, it suits my needs. > > My second question: Is there an easy way to format a hard drive to > dual boot without having nightmares? Again yes. This was simply due to your inexperience and soon you'll probably be an old hand at it, believe it or not. The canonical (as in standard, not the company making Ubuntu) :) way is to first install Windows. As you were told, Windows will overwrite the boot sector, so if you install Linux first, then install Windows, you'll have to reinstall your boot loader. (It's actually usually not necessary to reinstall the whole system.) There's an overview of it in the list faq at http://home.nyc.rr.com/computertaijutsu/linfaq.html though that is a bit dated--it covers RedHat if I remember. I fear that I no longer maintain the faq because it seems no one reads it. <shrug>. The Ubuntu book I have is for the previous > version, and the screens have completely changed. Most distros, and I'm sure that Ubuntu does as well, have step by step installation instructions somewhere on their website. It's always good to check that, though your decision to use the book was certainly reasonable. If you install Windows first, almost all distros will now see it and give you an option to include it in your boot menu--they will then install their boot program (usually grub) and you should be able to continue to boot Windows. However, if you install Windows after installing Linux, because Windows overwrites the boot sector, you'll no longer be able to boot Linux. There are ways around this--as I said, the FAQ mentions some, but it's much simpler, if you have the option, to install Windows first. > So that's where I am now. I'm going to reformat again and start from > scratch, but I am no pro at formatting hard drives. I want to > partition one for Windows and one for Linux (or is it three for Linux, > one for the kernal, one for the swap section, and one for something > else?) Install Windows. Create a partition that will leave you room for Linux. Linux really just needs two partitions, / and swap, though you can do more--for example, many prefer having a very small /boot partition and another separate one for /home. Most distros will make intelligent partitioning suggestions for you, I think Ubuntu is one of them. > > Oh, one more question: I want to dual boot my laptop as well, but I > want to install PCLinuxOS on that computer (I'm experimenting with > distros). I downloaded the only version I found and it won't work on > my laptop because, even though I just bought the laptop 8 months ago, > it's 32 bit (no wonder it was on sale), and the latest version of > PCLinuxOS is apparently 64 bit. Ok, that doesn't sound quite right. PCLinuxOS would definitely have a 32 bit version. You probably just overlooked it or misclicked. (We've all been there, done that and gotten the T-shirt.) If you can't find it on their site, post again, and one of us will find it for you. Nothing wrong with buying a 32 bit--amazing as it is, even now, 64 bit is way behind the times in a lot of ways--flash still has trouble on 64 bit machines, etc. etc. 32bit is, by no means, over. (I just bought a 32 bit laptop myself, quite deliberately. For example, my laptop has a wireless card that, at present, is only supported in Linux in 32 bit, not 64.) > > Any help ya'll can provide would be appreciated. Well, hopefully, my answers have helped a bit. It sounds like you have the right attitude, so I suspect you'll be successful soon--it might not be this time (though there's a good chance it will be) and sometimes we have to try two or three times. I remember messing up when partitioning, years ago, and managing to delete 5 different operating systems in one shot. It was depressing. Sooo, to simplify, I'd say start by reinstalling Windows and making sure you leave some space for Linux. (Also, although Linux does need more than one partition, it can actually work completely within what are called logical partitions, so you don't need 2 extra primary partitions. The FAQ has a link to a partitioning guide that might be of some help.) > -- Scott Robbins PGP keyID EB3467D6 ( 1B48 077D 66F6 9DB0 FDC2 A409 FA54 EB34 67D6 ) gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys EB3467D6 Giles: Since Angel lost his soul, he's regained his sense of whimsy. To unsubscribe from this list, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] & you will be removed. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/join (Yahoo! 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