Making The Switch Pt 3

I have so been lookin for something like WUBI. everytime i would install linux it would just play avoc with my MBR and i would spend the next few hours trying to regain my vista and windows 7 lol

I like your article. One thing that I suggest to a lot of people is a VMWare or VirtualBox test from their Windows Platform. They may love it or hate it but they will have seen it before taking a plunge.

Keep up the good writing :)

no offense or anything but dualbooting with vista is just as easy as dualbooting with xp. just schrink the vista partition and install ubuntu on free space and grub will pick it up when you install ubuntu. it’s been about 9 months since i started using linux and i finally deleted my windows partition aboout 3 months ago

Part of what prevents me from buying any sort of Apple product is the high-and-mighty attitudes of Mac users and Apple supporters in general. Unfortunately, it’s also what prevents quite a bit of Windows users from switching to Linux - the smarter-than-thou attitudes of most Linux geeks. Telling people “dual booting is stupid” is fine - IF someone were asking your >OPINION< on dual booting. But if the question being asked is “Can I dual boot Linux and Windows”, surely you can answer that with a “Yes, in certain circumstances”, and then explain those circumstances, can’t you?

My point? I guess I just feel that Linux can be promoted without a condescending attitude towards Windows users, or those who, for whatever reason, need to keep Windows around.

Dual-booting: I stand by my statement as it is foolish for a newbie to undertake. Speaking as someone who has converted more people over than most people own PCs, I would remind you that most people barely understand partitioning…much less how to prevent Vista from going bat-shit with the MBR. :)

And that’s a valid point. I, too, speak as someone who has converted people from Windows to Linux (personally and professionally) as well as having built computers - many, many, many computers. I agree that, yes, most run-of-the-mill Windows users (and computer users in general) don’t understand the concept of partitioning or the “essential-ness” of the MBR.

Yet, I still feel that saying that dual-booking “is foolish for a [new user] to undertake” or even something like “while dual-booting a Windows/Linux system is something that can be done, it is not recommended for the new or casual PC user” would have come across much more “professional” than simply stating that it’s “stupid.” And isn’t that what we are or try to be? Linux “professionals”?

I am a long-time computer user, having started with computers in the early ’80s (before MS Windows existed) using DOS from 3 1/2″ (and 8 1/4′, for that matter) floppies. I’ve been through Windows from 3.x through Vista (haven’t tried W7 yet, and probably won’t since I’m into Linux now) and have maintained numerous computers during the years. I have fairly extensive experience building them, loading OSes, running them, repairing them, installing and partitioning hard drives, and many other aspects.

The reason I start with the above is that it’s always a struggle for me to realize that many others don’t have my experience and knowledge level concerning computers and the many OSes I’ve installed and used. This realization has been reinforced in recent months, since I started using Ubuntu Linux and haunting the Ubuntu help forums, more often proffering help than asking for it.

You state that “Frankly, in my honest opinion, dual-booting is stupid.” I must respectfully disagree with that assessment, especially for a newbie. To my estimation that is tantamount to throwing a young child into the deep end of the pool and saying, “Sink or swim” instead of giving that child a little time in a swimming class, where at first the child can occasionally put it’s feet on the bottom while learning.

While I have heard of very few problems of setting up a dual-boot with XP (the installer does this automatically while installing Ubuntu), there have been problems with setting this up with Vista. The secret to this is to shrink the Vista partition using it’s own partition editor, after first defragging the Vista partition. Then all you have to do is select the “Install in the largest contiguous free space” and the installer will take care of the rest.

If you (and especially a newbie) just throws Ubuntu on their computer without keeping Windows, then some issues they might experience will deny them the use of their computer, especially if one of those issues is access to the Internet and it is their sole computer. With a successful dual boot, the user can boot into Windows and access the Forums for help with their issues. This is beside the fact that, if their issue concerns a vital function that they use the computer for, they are out of luck until they get that issue resolved.

I certainly encourage dual boot, at first especially, so that the transition is as smooth as possible. If they use their computer for generating reports and assignments, and if they find they have problems getting their printer to function properly, for example, then they will be able to boot into Windows to print the reports out until they get that issue resolved. They’re not stuck until they get this issue resolved.

I still run dual boot on my computers. I have some Legacy software which I want to run (one of them (MS FSX) won’t run in Wine and is too memory and resource intensive to really run in VMWare), and until issues are resolved I will continue to dual boot. It’s really not that difficult, and the Ubuntu Forums are there as a resource to resolve any issues.

Other than that, this was a fine series of reports. Thank you!

Glenn: While I think we agree to disagree, I would also say well argued and well put. :)

Nicely said indeed.

Thank you, Matt.

That was kind of you.