Athlon XP
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Sep 28, 2006, 10:59 AM
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How to dual-boot Windows and Linux.
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Athrin posted his guide on installing OS X on a Pentium 4 PC, so I might as well make available a Linux guide without forcing people to use Google (and we all know how much people hate doing that). I'm not going to go on about why Linux is an excellent OS to use; read this and leave me alone. Anyway, on to the requirements list:
1. A computer (preferably one that doesn't, you know, suck)
2. Partitioning software
3. A Linux live/install CD/DVD
PowerQuest PartitionMagic apparently has a Linux setup option or something on it, but I've never used it so I won't try to cover it. This method works without the $60 I'd have to pay for PartitionMagic. I use GParted (Download here). It works as a Live CD and is pretty fast. We'll be using this first.
As far as distros go, you can use just about anything. In this guide I'll be referring to PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu, but I've had good installation experiences with others like Zenwalk and Puppy (you do partitioning and installation through the command line; great learning experience). You will need to download the partitioner and distro as ISO images, then burn them to CD (I prefer to do this with a cracked copy of MagicISO). Do this, make sure that your CD drive is first in the boot menu (go into BIOS), then insert the GParted CD and reboot.
Example of the main screen.
Once in the GParted environment, your hard drive partitions will be displayed. Most likely you will have one massive Windows partition (they're color coded), but sometimes you have an extra "Recovery" partition. Click on the large Windows one, then click "Resize/Move." Take it down to whatever size you want. Click the empty unpartitioned space, click "New," and set it to twice the amount of your RAM (512MB for 256MB of RAM, etc). Label it "linux-swap" in the drop-down box and press OK.
Example picture of what this box will look like:
Create two more partitions, but label them "ext2" and set one to just a few GB and the last one will take up the rest of the space. The larger one will act like My Documents (music/docs/child porn), and the smaller one will hold your system files.
Just to ensure that everything goes right, it is in good taste to go into Windows after repartitioning (click "Apply" and then reboot) and let it do a disk check. Then reboot with your Linux CD in the tray. If it's a Live CD, boot into the environment and go from there.
If you're going to install PCLOS, you can forego Gparted and use the built-in partitioner (it's solid, but format those ext2 partitions as ext3 instead). Ubuntu has one too, but the Gparted CD at least lets you go back when you're done. In Setup you will have to specify which partition to use for what, so make sure you set your biggest one as "/home," the smallest one as "linux-swap," and the remaining one as "/".
The last thing to do (usually after installation) is configure the bootloader. All 'buntus use GRUB, while PCLOS/Zenwalk/a zillion others use LILO, which I prefer. Make sure it's installed to the Master Boot Record (MBR) so it shows up first thing when you turn on your computer.
And that's that. Remember that if you ever change your videocard after installing Linux, you will not be able to boot into the graphical environment right away. Login as root in the commandline, then type "XFdrake" and change your videocard/resolution settings there. PCLOS mounts NTFS partitions automatically so you can access your Windows files, and Google "ext2 IFS" to get a program that will allow you to do vice versa.
Distro Websites:
PCLinuxOS
Ubuntu
Mounting NTFS Drives
PCLOS automatically mounts your Windows partition(s) and lets you read all of your files. If it's FAT32 you can modify them as well. I don't think Ubuntu does, so here's how to do it yourself:
1. View the partition table by opening the Terminal and typing "fdisk /dev/hda". hda1 will probably be the location/name of the Windows partition, and the mount folder might be named /media/win_c or something like that.
2. Mount it by tying "sudo mkdir /media/win_c" then "sudo mount /dev/hda1 /media/win_c/ -t ntfs -o umask=0222"
To mount on bootup, use these commands in order:
-sudo mkdir /media/win_c
-sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab_backup
-sudo gedit /etc/fstab
Append this line at the end:
-/dev/hda1 /media/win_c ntfs umask=0222 0 0
Resources/Links:
LinuxQuestions
-Best Linux community evah. You ever have ANY question, go to this forum. They have all kinds of distro downloads too.
DistroWatch
-The hub for Linux distros in general. Go here for news on the lastest versions, reviews, etc.
Linux.com
-Lots of tips and interesting Linux stuff here. Reminds me of Maximum PC's web site.
Lord I was born a shamblin' man
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(This post was edited by Athlon XP on Oct 1, 2006, 10:01 AM)
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