Dual booting success with Linux

[gr8fl4porsche]

Over the weekend I tried to dual boot Vista Ultimate and XP Pro SP2. Unfortunately I do not have an Ultimate disc so I was doomed from the start. The 2 windows OS's fight over the NT loader and boot manager so I could only boot the XP not the Vista. Vista was installed first.


So, I decided to take the plunge. I installed Ubuntu. Went smooth once I figured out how to install. I like it so far. It runs very fast and the dual boot works perfect. Works great for surfing and it networked with my Vista Desktop just fine after I installed 164 updates.

As a newbie to Linux - feel free to let go with the tips and tweaks. Anything really cool I need to know about?

[Mule]

Can you tell much difference browsing?

[id10t]

Turned on desktop effects yet? Always worth the eye candy... if thats what you are into

For functionality, be sure you install your browser plugins, java, etc. http://medibuntu.org/ for plugins, media types, codecs, dvd playback, etc.


(For those wondering, there are some legal issues to media playback... )

[gr8fl4porsche]

Originally Posted by Mule

Can you tell much difference browsing?

No

Using Firefox on all machines gives me the same results. Slow sites are slow, fast ones are fast. I ran XP for a while this weekend and noticed no difference with that either.

I am playing with Linux as a hobby, not to solve any issues. So far Vista is my favorite although that may change as I get into Ubuntu a little more. I have become very used to vista and when I get on a XP machine I sort of miss it.
Vista does have some nice little features for the average home user.

One thing I did notice was fast file transfer speeds over my home network between Linux and Vista. The test file I copied and pasted was small but the transfer speed was lightning fast. Faster than I have ever seen working through a router. I copied a file from my desktop and pasted it to my notebook, when I hit paste it was instantly there

[Neilk]

Did you notice a big speed increase running XP in place of Vista. You can dual boot XP and Vista, but it takes some skill (and a Vista bootcd) to re-enable the Vista boot manager.

Didn't your laptop come with a Vista cd/dvd boot disc creator?

[gr8fl4porsche]

No speed increase with XP over Vista that I noticed. Vista runs fast on my machines except for file transfer speeds - they seem slower compared to XP. Vista SP1 is supposed to address this issue. I have installed SP1 RC on my desktop and did not notice any changes in regard to file transfers.

My notebook was purchased used and came with Ultimate installed - no disc though. The recovery discs are XP MC with a Home Premium Express Upgrade CD. I tried to re-enable the boot manager with a Home Premium Full CD I have, but it did not recognize the Ultimate install. Thats when I gave up. I could have fixed the issue with a floppy drive possibly but modern notebooks don't have them.

[djmcmath]

Good for you. Dual booting is always a hassle for me; trying to persuade operating systems to live happily in the same little case is just a small nightmare. Oddly enough, Windows is the worst of them. I've dual booted 2 different version of OS-2 with 3 different versions of *nix or BSD with no difficulty. It's when I need to add a Windows partition to the mess that it gets complicated. Blech.

Unfortunately, I'm getting ready to set up another machine for dual boot. My "slow" computer is not fast enough to play rFactor, so I'm going to have to install Windows on my "fast" computer, in hopes of wasting time playing a video game.

Tragic, isn't it?

Dan

[Mule]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

No

Using Firefox on all machines gives me the same results. Slow sites are slow, fast ones are fast. I ran XP for a while this weekend and noticed no difference with that either.

I am playing with Linux as a hobby, not to solve any issues. So far Vista is my favorite although that may change as I get into Ubuntu a little more. I have become very used to vista and when I get on a XP machine I sort of miss it.
Vista does have some nice little features for the average home user.

One thing I did notice was fast file transfer speeds over my home network between Linux and Vista. The test file I copied and pasted was small but the transfer speed was lightning fast. Faster than I have ever seen working through a router. I copied a file from my desktop and pasted it to my notebook, when I hit paste it was instantly there

If you had a Mac, it would figure out where you wanted to put it & put it there before you clicked.