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(What's this page all about? See home page for Purpose and Scenario.)
www.geocities.com/dt2pc ~ Last updated: July 2004
So right now the computer is just a plain Windows XP machine. The goal is to make it a dual-boot machine, so I can choose either Windows XP Professional SP1 or MandrakeLinux 10.0 Official at startup. I'll be putting Linux on a separate hard drive altogether (my old 6GB IDE drive, in fact), although of course it's possible to put both Windows and Linux on the same physical hard disk (such tutorials are available elsewhere on the Web).
I have already burned my MandrakeLinux 10.0 Official CDs. See the Getting Linux page for details on how I did that.
Before we jump right into it, though, I want to start with a laundry list of wonderful Linux-related websites.
These have all been very helpful. They are in no particular order.
Like everything else here, these guides/e-books/tutorials are free. I like them so much, I've printed and bound them.
I have found the following very helpful for learning how to dual-boot
(particularly the first one from devhood). I'll walk you through what I
did, which is largely based on these tutorials:
Using NTLDR, which is the boot manager that comes with Windows XP (and
NT):
Using GRUB or LILO (GRUB is newer), which are boot managers that comes with Linux distributions (even though I didn't do it this way):
I don't like this article much, but I'll include it for completeness, as it did form a part of my research:
This is one of several articles on the Web about sharing partitions between operating systems. The take-home from this is that the file system needs to be something that both operating systems will understand (that's why my data is on a FAT32, i.e. vfat, partition).
Why did I choose NTLDR over GRUB/LILO?
I'm extremely comfortable with Windows. I have only this year gotten familiar with Linux, and that's just as a user, not as an administrator. I would rather use Windows technology for the time being, as that's the mindset that I'm currently more comfortable with. Of course, that is subject to change as my experience with Linux grows.
Windows is very territorial. Linux plays nice. Sadly (as is often true in life) the nice guy gets the raw deal. Windows likes to have the Master Boot Record (MBR) set up the way it likes; Linux is somewhat more accommodating. In particular, if I were ever to uninstall Linux (or even just remove the 6GB hard disk from the computer), Windows would be perfectly content to continue using NTLDR. But if I remove Linux while GRUB/LILO is my boot manager, I will need to go in and restore the MBR. That just seems like more hassle than is necessary.
Of course, I'm being very pessimistic by even suggesting that I would ever uninstall Linux. But I depend on my computer to get work done, and for better or for worse I know and understand Windows better than Linux. I'm extremely eager to learn Linux (note that I've obviously invested quite a lot of time to learn Linux for no other reason than just because I believe in it), but I need it to travel at a pace that is consistent with my continuing to get necessary work accomplished. Perhaps you'll forgive me, then, if I sound like I'm not giving Linux an honest chance. I truly want to. I'm merely not counting my chickens before they've hatched.
You are, of course, more than welcome to make up your own mind. If you choose GRUB/LILO, not only will you not offend me, but you will make plenty of friends in the Linux forums. And that is why there are links for how to do this with GRUB/LILO above. But I chose NTLDR, so that's all I can speak from experience about.
Coming soon.