WinXP and Linux

[yongbeng]

I don't know if this will affect my dad system. I wish to install on his P3 a linux..and slowly face out the XP..however...my dad still needs the XP which is the reason till date..I'm having that PC as an XP..SO....to really let me dad compromise..he decided he's ready to test out the linux..but he wants to keep the XP..just in case..what should i do now? will it slow down my P3?

[serz]

No, it won't make it slowly.

If you want to keep your Windows XP you will need to use a tool to resize its partition.

[nothingbutlinux]

If you can afford it, and you know your way around computers, I'd HIGHLY recommend installing Linux on a 2nd hard drive, that way you don't need to worry about repartitioning the XP volume.

[yongbeng]

actually, I would also like to take this opportunity to learn some new things also..I don't mind fomatting my whole HDD and re-do everything all over again..but..which do I install first? the XP? or the linux? any website for me to read things up?

[jojoG]

bothways will work actually. I used to install winxp first then linux. but some ppl suggested install linux first.

[mrBen]

It is usually simpler to install WinXP first, as it will not ask you before overwriting your master boot record, and will not give you the option to use other OS's on the system. Thus you would have to do a bit of recovery if you had installed Linux first, as it would not boot to Linux once XP was installed.

Easier to install XP first, and then let Linux set up LILO/GRUB to allow you to choose between XP and Linux

[Digit0]

Hey yongbeng,

Before you decide to format anything I would suggest you stop by this page (http://www.knoppix.net) and download Knoppix. It runs from cdrom so it will not make any changes to your current system.

Also should there be any hard-ware issues it would be detected then. BTW make sure you have the drivers available for windowze as well!!!! Nothing like reinstalling only to find out that you don't have drivers with you (and no network or modem either :( ).

That said,

Have fun :D

[infiniphunk]

If you wanna install a LINUX distro of your choice alongside your XP, try to get your hands on PARTITION MAGIC8.0, use it in windows to make a 50MB FAT partition before C:
Then you need to install BOOTMAGIC to the FAT partition. Once you've done that you can use PMAGIC again and use the "install another OS" tool to set up the partitions you need to install LINUX. The whole process is half an hour, tops. Then you're ready to pop your LINUX boot disc into there, set your BIOS to boot from CD>HDD0>FLOPPY>WHATEVER>>>, this will work no problem if you follow the easy to follow instrcts. This is what I've done several times now to install mandrakeLINUX10.0, I tried without doing this process and lost windows altogether(which isnt really too too bad I guess), but if you want to keep windows on there to go back to once in a while for whatever, this process WORKS!!!!:cool:

[dysharmonic]

Well, I could suggest that you install WinXP first. You could have either LILO/GRUB or XP's ntloader as for the bootloader. My system boots right into XP loader and from there I could choose any OS to load.

But I guess you'll still need to install either LILO or GRUB on root or on a separate /boot partition if you choose so.

[DMR]

Best/safest practices out of the options mentioned already:

1. Get a "live" version of Linux such as Knoppix that runs entirely off a CD. Your dad can learn Linux with the absolute minimum chance of messing up the XP installlation on the hard drive. Yes, a version of Linux run off a CD will be slower than one installed on a hard drive, but it's a great way to get familiar with Linux without having to make (possibly damaging) modifications to your existing setup.

2. Get a second hard drive and install Linux there; you won't need a large/expensive drive (10Gigs will do). The Linux installation should detect your existing XP installation and ask you if you want to configure the Linux bootloader (lilo or Grub) to boot both operating systems.

3. It's usually best to install (or already have installed) the Windows version first, especially if you want to use the Linux bootloader (recommended, in my opinion) to boot the operating systems.


4. The Linux installlation will run fine on your P-III, and will certainly have no effect on performance whatsoever when you're booted into XP. Obviously though- in terms of the general performance of any modern OS on machines that old: don't install any programs/services you don't need, and the more RAM the better.


I have two P-III machines both running multiple Win/Linux operating systems (on multiple drives). Both have 256M RAM, I use Grub as the bootloader for both, and they both perform perfectly well for systems of that age.

[Homer119]

screw that kopex crap,

1. partiton magic
2. install red hat 9 with grub
3. duel boot no issue

talk to me on AIM at Homer119 if u have questions