Dual Booting - the quick and dirty way (Part 1)

Why quick-and-dirty?

Firstly, lets get something straight. I am not a Linux guru. Nor am I a Linux techie, Nor even a Linux knowledgeable. I am just a Joe in the street who want to use his PC to do everyday things. But in the dual-booting world, you have to dabble in Black Magic to make things work! I don't have days or weeks or months to start to understand this mysterious and arcane art. BUT I have got it to work on all four of my diverse machines; one way or another, trial and error, brute force and ignorance, beginner's luck or whatever. So it's quick-and-dirty.

Partition, partition

When installing an Operating System (OS), a lot of unseen processes happen. Most OS's seems to hide what is really happening and give you little clue of the "under the hood" events. They all vary in how they grab the space they need on your hard disk and some happily wipe any existing OS that you might want to keep. So it is important to first partition your hard disk(s) first so that the new OS has less of a chance of grabbing all your gigabytes for itself. There are many partitioning software for Windows, but one I found easiest to use is by Paragon who does paid and free versions (you have to look hard to find their free version, but it's there, honest!). In Linux, almost everybody used GParted, so do I. So for the Linux install, it is best to have two partitions; the main one (denoted by "/") and a "swap" partition. This is the minimum but as you get more experienced, you might want more separate sections. With MS Windows, one partition will suffice, but I would recommend two as well; one for the OS and another for your data (you can call them "System" and "Data". This allows you to re-install Windows without loosing your data.Because you might end up with many partitions, I suggest you create an Extended partition for your Linux as supposed to only having only Primary partitions. Here are possible schemes:

This might be the usual layout as a Windows user might want to have the safety of having a fallback plan if an essential app is only available on the Microsoft platform. Most Linux distros can read NTSF partitions, so the data partition could be in NTSF (Windows cannot read Linux EXT partitions). Please note that the size of the Windows partition is purposely LARGE. Windows system size expands tremendously as it updates itself and so does System Restore backups  - this catches out many people. Take it from me that it is a PIG to re-size the partition Windows system is on afterwards so make sure it's big enough now!

So this second scheme is an all Linux one where two different Linux distros sit on the same machine. This is how my Toshiba notebook is configured at the moment. It works well as long as the GRUB is set up properly. This will be described in Part 2, under the heading of "Battle for the MBR".

This post is the first part of Dual Booting. Check out Part 2 when it's written - use this  button to keep an eye on updates to the blog.

"best Linux distro" Part Two

Ok, Ubuntu Then

Right, first-off you are hit by a strange "African sounding" name. Then version of the distro have stranger terms ...... alliteration of adjective and rare creatures I guess. Anyway when I downloaded Precise Pangolin, I decided to install it on a different machine. Just to recap, here's the hardware that I own/use:

1. "Desktop" or tower, home made with 4-cores and loads 'o' ram
2. Toshiba notebook, 2-cores, 2GB ram
3. Compaq notebook 1-core, 2GB ram
4. Dell netbook with 1GB ram (no DVD/CD drive)

Machine no. 2 (Toshiba) was chosen mainly because it is a little more powerful than the Compaq I tried putting Zorin distro on (reasoning: Zorin is a derivative of Ubuntu hence will need more computing power than the Compaq has - see Part One). Now to make it a little more challenging, I wanted to dual boot Ubuntu with an existing Windows 7 already on the Tosh. Warning (newbies): Hey if you want to dual boot, be ready to re-install existing or new OS a few times! Or at least you might need to "repair" the OS's bits that boot it up. I'll have a future post on dual booting.

There are tons and tons of Ubuntu reviews so I'm not going to add to it. It runs Unity as a windows/desktop manager or at least the Precise Pangolin does. Let me digress. Linux in the past was obsessively Open-Source oriented. So much so that it would not run on any hardware! Unless you can find a .... say graphics or sound card that has an open-source driver. Or other essential hardware would also need open-source support. If you moaned about this, the Linux geeks would tell you "go and write a driver instead of moaning". Jees, I just wanna run a PC - not go and get a degree in coding!! NOW, things are a-changing. Slowly these snotty old geeks are fading away (but not gone,unfortunately) and suddenly Ubuntu bursts on the scene supporting hardware straight out of the box (to cut a long story short). Not being precious about open-source means non-geeks can use it.

So what happened next? Well Ubuntu runs quite nicely on the Tosh, but no faster than Win 7! Perception is a funny thing, but I might have been expecting too much of this Linux distro. The Unity desktop was different, but I quite liked it. But don't forget, I've been spoilt by a Quad-core Intel with 16G ram and Win 7 on it is very quick. Anyway my mind wandered to the little Dell netbook and started Googling to see what would be go better on it than the installed Win XP that's very sluggish on it.

So, Part Three will look at whether Peppermint Linux is fast enough on machine no.4 - the Dell netbook.

"best Linux distro" Part One

Beside the insatiable and mindless search for celebs, the Google search box must have quite a few "best Linux distro" typed into it. No? I am guessing that many Windows users have recently started to look for more options. The jury is definitely out for Windows 8 and its dumbTablet™ user interface. And the other alternative of an Apple (sueThePantsOfThem™) might not appeal, especially for the budget conscious. Many big corporations must be also looking for areas of saving in the spirit of the recession.

I, of course, did the same six months ago and what a journey it has been! [Disclosure: six years ago, I did a similar thing and ended up trying out the SuSe variant. What happened? After trying to do simple things, like installing a new browser, etc., on it unsuccessfully for a month (off and on with lots of swearing) I gave up and returned to Windows - very gladly I might add.]

Just to give you a better picture of hardware that I own/use:

1. "Desktop" or tower, home made with 4-cores and loads 'o' ram
2. Toshiba notebook, 2-cores, 2GB ram
3. Compaq notebook 1-core, 2GB ram
4. Dell netbook with 1GB ram (no DVD/CD drive)

On this occasion, after a lot of googling using the title of this post, I found that the lumbering majority recommended ....... wait for it ......... UBUNTU!!! Not surprising at all, it being the hero of the new Linux revival. But I am never the one to take good old sensible suggestions to heart and continued googling. This time I appended the term "review" to the search term.

Now, reading Linux reviews for a newbie like me was like an epic drive on mixed roads in a foreign country. Sometimes you make good progress on easy roads and then you hit a junction designed by someone with a PhD in "entanglement" (honest, this term does exist in Quantum physics). You have to drop these reviews quickly else you'll very quickly get brain meltdown!

Anyway, a plain talking, compelling reviewer, Dedoimedo (where on earth does this come from?!) posted an intriguing review on Zorin Linux. Anything intriguing I'm attracted to like a moth to a candle flame. So this Zorin got downloaded and installed on machine3 (Compaq - see above).

Hey! What an experience! Wobbling widows, cubic desktops, drag trails, bouncing stops and more! The eye candy was overwhelming. But problems started when i tried some simple navigation. The slowness and delay in just simple tasks was a total show stopper. Then the install crashed a few times when I tried to do anything quickly on the mouse or keyboard. My machine is not man enough for this distro ( SHOCK, HORROR, a 2GHz, 2GB machine is not good enough to run Linux!!!). Tried fiddling with the Nvidia drivers but it only made things worse. Ok, I hadn't a clue what I was doing either.

Cutting a long story short, I gave up - not surprisingly - and tail between the legs, downloaded Ubuntu. But that's a story for "best Linux distro" Part Two.

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Adventure in the Linux forums.

This is not about "how to do Linux forums", though you might pick up a few tips. It's about an innocent Windows user who, through a fit of madness, decided to explore the strange and secret world of the Penguin. And inevitably ended up in the forums.

Now, we are not trying to insult the high priests of the Distro World, but some of these people are sooo ultra sensitive ..... hurmph ...... the deed is done, TOO LATE!! ...... TAKE COVER!!

Joking aside, I had to visit lots of forums and I mean lots because I tried out quite a few different flavors of the OS (distros). And no joking, the culture of these forums can be very different. Some manned by geeks who lack social graces and comfortable only in their little distro niche, they patrol the postings looking to see who they can tell off. Perhaps they get a weird sense of power which they don't have in the real world. Poor "newbies" are so intimidated by these pompous dorks, they will start their questions very apologetically  "excuse me for the dumb question" or "I'm only a newbie, please be gentle" etc.

I thought I'd list the different types of helpers I came across:

Helpful Hands - You hit the jackpot if you get this guy! Possibly attending college or freshly graduated, he carries  his knowledge lightly and dispenses it generously. If he does not know the answer, he says so honestly. When problem is solved, moves on and possibly goes off to play baseball or see a girlfriend.

Usefulness: 9/10

Dutiful Dad - Hey, this is very good; the guy really knows what he's about and answers with depth and insight. Family guy with children, so knows to answer at a level of knowledge of the poster. The best. Take note of his forum name, "xxxxx", then at the end of your future questions, you can add "perhaps xxxxx would know the solution".

Usefulness: 10/10

Geeky Genius - Ok he knows it all and his head is full of the answers, but how to get it out? Ask what you think is a simple question but you get this back: "post your  **!?@# and switch *(#@?> to /;+{}!# . Ask him to please clarify and you get more of the same. What d'you do next?? Ask him to talk in human language?

Usefulness: 5/10 (with time you might start to understand him more)

Angry Aggro - What's up with this goon; you ask a question and he comes and bite your head off. Or he asks back "why do you want to do that for?!" Or "question answered elsewhere, google it!" Of course you googled it, that's why you're here! Or his favorite "RTFM" (read the friggin manual). If you dare answer back (nicely, of course), you will start to get to personal insults and sarcasm. This guy has psychological problems - probably bullied at work or at home or on steroids. And no life outside the forums, a real saddo.

Usefulness: 0/10

Clueless Clod - You know the type - just solved his first Linux problem by asking on the forums and thinks he's an expert. Trouble is you might not have spotted his type and followed his suggestion only to render your Linux install un-bootable! Another trait of this guy is to answer a different question to the one you asked and insist that you do what he's suggested. Or even worse, give you a totally wrong answer. Then he hangs around asking for you to report back 'cause he wants your gratitude!

Usefulness: -5/10 (might be harsh but I had one that made my Ubuntu un-bootable)

Of course your "helper" can be a hybrid of two or more of the above and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely intentional!

Fanboi
We must not leave this post without mentioning the dreaded FANBOI (or fanboy).

The diagram is fairly self-explanatory but these species exist in all areas of life, not just Linux forums. Just mentioned that you are having difficulty with xxx in the distro and they will be on to you like a ton of bricks: "don't blame our distro for your stupidity" or "you expect us to help you with your attitude" or some other heavy duty reposte.

Some newbies have been burnt by this creature so often that they start their post with: "what a fantastic distro, probably the bestest in the universe but could I mention a teensy weensy little problem I have due to my being sooo very dim......"

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