Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Denholm on July 29, 2009, 10:31:24 PM
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Hello everyone.
I'm expecting to receive a new computer in the next few days and figured it might be interesting to play around with Linux's dual-boot capabilities. The computer will be a laptop (for reason of travel) containing an Intel T4200 2.00 GHz (Yes I know, terrible processor), 2GB DDR2 800MHz memory, and a 250GB 5400RPM SATA HD.
My intention will be to partition the hard-drive into two or three sectors. Partition 1 will be for Windows 7, Partition 2 for Linux, and if I decide to make a third partition, it will be designated for storage. I'm hoping to use a dual-boot method so that I can switch between Windows 7 and Linux. However, I'm stuck in a bind. My knowledge of Linux's pros and cons are limited.
I would like to know which version of Linux you recommend, why, and how you would configure it to run a dual-boot setup.
Thanks in advance for all the assistance.
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Give Ubuntu a shot I'm pretty much average on the old computer side but found it very easy to use.
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You can allways try ubuntu first without installing it. Just boot from CD. :aok
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD
Works fine in my desktop.
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Yes, I was looking into it for a while. Will definitely give it a shot.
I do have another question. One of my more technical friends told me a story about one of his friends. He mentioned that he setup his computer to run Linux and XP. However, he would boot into Linux then run XP. If XP gave him trouble he would hit a key combination and it would switch back to Linux.
That's my interpretation of what he told me. I was wondering if that's a Dual-Boot or if that's some other form of software? Whichever it is, I was hoping to set up something similar so that I can quickly switch between Windows and Linux. Do any of you know what is required for such a setup?
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On my laptop, I have a partition containing the original Windows XP partition resized down to make room for everything else, a Linux partition (Fedora) that is my "primary" OS, 2 additional partitions (one EXT3 and one NTFS formatted), and I can "dual boot" using GRUB into either.
I've left the original XP partition virtually untouched, and I generally boot into Linux, where I've installed Sun VirtualBox. Under VirtualBox, I have 3 VM's configured - the XP installation I normally use when I need Windows, a Fedora install in a VM so that I don't have to worry about crashing the whole system if I want to dink around with trying stuff out, and a Vista installation so that I can see what Vista users see when I need to help someone with a Vista issue.
It's a bit "techy" getting a Grub dual boot set up, but it's way do-able. The biggest problem in fact was getting WIFI working under Linux. The USB Verizon EVDO connection which I figured was probably no way, no how - turned out to be no problem at all.
I should probably find time to mess with Ubuntu one of these days, as that seems to be the (disclaimer, in own reserved opinion - don't crucify me if you feel otherwise!!!) distro that is percolating to the surface as the most popular these days - but other things have been taking my time. (Not an endorsement or judgement on which is better - Fedora, Ubuntu or any other!)
<S>
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Thank you very much Ghastly, that's the information I was after. I will be tinkering around with those options remembering to keep you guys updated.
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The installer for the latest couple of versions of Ubuntu makes dual booting with Windows pretty easy. It's also done a pretty good job of auto recognizing and installing drivers for all the hardware I've thrown at it recently.
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The latest version of Ubuntu comes with "Wubi." Wubi installs Linux into a "linux partition file" that is installed into a Windows NTFS partition, and then adds a Linux entry into WINDOWS' own boot loader. In other words, no GRUB or Lilo to worry about. And you can cleanly uninstall Linux from Windows. Speed is just as good as a native install - only Hybernation doesn't work in this way.
This is an even better way to "check out" ubuntu without repartitioning.
-Llama
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Well, it took three hours but I finally got Linux installed (Partition nightmares). I went ahead and installed Sun VirtualBox then easily figured out the definition of your word, "techy."Any pointers on getting the virtual system set up?
Another question. Is there an administrative account for Linux? I made a user account via the Ubuntu Installer which automatically grants me administrative privileges. Yet for some reason the, "root" directory is locked claiming I do not have permission to view the it.
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Ghastly, did you manage to setup Sun VirtualBox to run an already-installed OS inside the Virtual Machine or did you setup the virtual machine then installed the OS into the virtual machine? Just curious since right now the only way I know how to make this setup work is by installing the OS into the virtual machine.
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One of the security features of Ubuntu is that you can never run as administrator. You need to elevate yourself manually each time you want to do stuff (a bit like in Vista) which can be a pain in the butt.
I circumvent this by doing stuff in a shell (actually I run Ubuntu only in a non-graphical server installation).
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Ah. I noticed the Vista-like, "Security" with the constant password prompts. Which type of Linux do you feel is more effective/stable?
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Ah. I noticed the Vista-like, "Security" with the constant password prompts. Which type of Linux do you feel is more effective/stable?
I'm afraid all of the linuxes will work pretty much the same. Ubuntu does have an artificial limitation to elevating your rights though.
Try Sidux or Mint.
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Alright. Thanks for the information. I'll continue to tinker with it.
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To be fair once everything in ubuntu is up and running there is are very few password prompts.
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I wasn't dissing Ubuntu. It's nothing as annoying as Vista. Still burning it in, though.
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I wonder how a PS3 would run Aces High? :lol
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Well, I managed to successfully install Windows Pro SP3 into the virtual machine (Yes, it's on its own partition). I must say, this is great. Although the virtual machine has two minor problems, I like it more than regular Windows. Thanks for the information Ghastly. So far so good.
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Cool - glad you were able to work through it - we were away this weekend and I didn't see the questions until just now. And yes, installing it as a VM under VB is what I did. I do as little as possible in the "host" Linux installation - if I goober up the VM install, it's as easy as restoring the VM file from an earlier version to undo everything I just goofed up.
<S>
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Another question for those who have ventured down this road. For some reason the VM seems to be messing with the Internet Connection. Whenever I'm using XP installed into the VM I get a 1 KB/s connection to microsoft's download center. I'm trying to download some updates for Microsoft Office which is nearly impossible since the connection continually times out. Any hints on what to do to possibly resolve this issue?
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Hi,
Denholm, I know that some folks have had a ton of trouble using the "pass-thru" networking mode, (where each VM gets it's own IP). For my purposes, NAT was necessary, and I've had no such trouble. If you've not done so, try the "NAT" mode.
<S>!
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He he he.... That's actually what I was using.
Yet another question. I've been trying to get a USB device to work with the virtual machine. For some reason VirtualBox won't report the USB device to the virtual machine. I've tried setting up USB filters yet so far have been unsuccessful. I will continue tinkering with it yet wanted to know if you already have an answer that that question.
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That I've not even tried. Sorry.
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Drat. I'll keep playing with it. Thanks so far.
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Well, for those of you who might be interested. I managed to get it working when I added myself to the vboxusers group using the following terminal command:
sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username
Of course you replace, "username" with your Ubuntu user name. I believe a restart is required for the changes to take effect. Also, don't use specific USB filters. Instead, make a blank filter for each USB port available on your system.
After using the method I was able to plug in anything from a mouse to a camera. XP was able to see them all.
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Another question. Is there an administrative account for Linux? I made a user account via the Ubuntu Installer which automatically grants me administrative privileges. Yet for some reason the, "root" directory is locked claiming I do not have permission to view the it.
Ubuntu - like all Debian based distro's - wants you to use sudo i.e. run an individual command as root rather than switch to root completely. This is a security measure - it basically avoids you forgetting you're logged in as root and doing something unfortunate.
You can switch this off if you really want and then use the more traditional su command, but in two years of daily use, I've yet to find a reason for doing so.
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Alright, the revival of this thread is to ask another simple question.
I installed GRUB onto the system as the boot-agent. How would I go about removing or replacing it so that I can remove Ubuntu and replace it with Mint?
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Alright, the revival of this thread is to ask another simple question.
I installed GRUB onto the system as the boot-agent. How would I go about removing or replacing it so that I can remove Ubuntu and replace it with Mint?
Cant say for sure since I havent tried it but I would try just launching the mint setup. You can then choose the same partition where you installed Ubuntu, reformat it and start fresh.
Of course if you cant format then it's a bit more tricky.
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Alright. I was going to try that since I always did that with Ubuntu and it immediately replaced GRUB.
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Wow, this is super-duper frustrating. I really think I just lost my Windows virtual machine by attempting to migrate it. Restore points were removed in an attempt to, "debug" the situation, Any ideas on restoring it? So far my attempts have been met by the Microsoft trademark known as the Blue Screen of Death?
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Wow, this is super-duper frustrating. I really think I just lost my Windows virtual machine by attempting to migrate it. Restore points were removed in an attempt to, "debug" the situation, Any ideas on restoring it? So far my attempts have been met by the Microsoft trademark known as the Blue Screen of Death?
Do a reinstall in the virtual machine like you would with any computer.
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I found the problem. Placed the virtual hard-drive on a sata port when it was supposed to be on the IDE Primary Master slot.
Here is how I disabled GRUB:
First I downloaded EasyBCD. Afterward I opened it up and entered the, "Manage Bootloader" tab. Here I selected, "reinstall Vista bootloader." Then I clicked on, "Write MBR."
That overwrites GRUB and placed the Vista loader in its place. If you want to add Linux to the boot-list, you will have to go to the, "Add/Remove Entries" tab within EasyBCD. From here you will select the tab of the OS you want to add to the boot-list. Afterward select the, "type," "name," and the "drive" on which the selected OS resides. After pressing, "Add Entry" the OS will be added to the boot-list.