Linux dual boot?

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  • #18411
    tess
    Participant

    As I’m just a silly little girly with no knowledge of the manly world of computing, could somebody please tell me, in plain English and using step by step instructions, how I install Linux on my laptop – I need it to have a dual boot option so I can still run XP. 😀

    #69670
    xdc magicker
    Participant

    yikes

    scary stuff…

    what flavour are you going for?

    it is my understanding that ubuntu 8.x comes with an XP executable that you just run in windows and it does the rest for you..

    details here

    http://wubi-installer.org/

    Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that can bring you to the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe way. Are you curious about Linux and Ubuntu? Trying them out has never been easier!

    Wubi is Simple
    No need to burn a CD. Just run the installer, enter a password for the new account, and click "Install", go grab a coffee, and when you are back, Ubuntu will be ready for you.
    Wubi is Safe
    You keep Windows as it is, Wubi only adds an extra option to boot into Ubuntu. Wubi does not require you to modify the partitions of your PC, or to use a different bootloader, and does not install special drivers. It works just like any other application. Wubi is spyware and malware free, and being open source, anyone can verify that.
    Wubi is Discrete
    Wubi keeps most of the files in one folder, and if you do not like it, you can simply uninstall it as any other application.
    Wubi is Free
    Wubi and Ubuntu cost absolutely nothing (free as in beer), but yet provide a state of the art, fully functional, operating system that does not require any activation and does not impose any restriction on its use (free as in freedom).

    or install it using virtual PC (the free microsoft one)

    or if you really going for it..

    http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_windows_xp_and_linux_xp_installed_first.htm

    #69671
    tess
    Participant

    I need to have it on as a dual boot as I will be running perl scripts and apparently running it on an emulator like vmware or something isn’t good enough – I don’t know why, though I get the feeling that it’s just to do with resource usage. I wasn’t sure which one to go for, my supervisor uses red hat, but I want something free and I think you have to pay for red hat.

    Does wubi run as a virtual machine within widows or will my pc reboot and start in wubi? I’m really perfectly clueless!

    #69672
    xdc magicker
    Participant

    hi tess

    what are you going to be doing with it?

    cheers

    #69673
    xdc magicker
    Participant

    oh and check out this link

    http://linuxnus.org/2008/10/11/wubi-ing-ubuntu-810-intrepid-beta/

    it looks like the best of both worlds.. an easy install with all the benefits of a full installation and easy remove if something goes wrong

    i have used ubuntu and xandros on my eeepc and both work well .. not used red hat for years but the fedora http://fedoraproject.org/ is a copy of red hat and is free (but does not have the windows installer)

    #69674
    tess
    Participant

    I’m not sure of the ins and outs of what I’ll be doing, but I know I need to learn Perl to write scripts for data analysis – apparently the data sets are too large for MS applications, and Perl is the language of choice for bioinformatics. I’ve got a book which has been recommended to me to teach myself Perl, but it assumes the machine is already running Linux. I was advised to go for the dual boot rather than using a virtual machine, but from there on in I’m stuck

    #69675
    xdc magicker
    Participant

    in that case go for

    http://wubi-installer.org/

    you can easily install all you need for perl support if it is not installed by default

    #69676
    tess
    Participant

    Cheers Magicker, the laptop that I’ll be using it on is at Vic’s house so I’ll do it this evening 🙂

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