Dual Booting Vista With Ubuntu Already Installed?
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Well looks like a distro switch is in the cards for my notebook. The decision came down my way as I discovered Ubuntu is apparently, useless with captive portals. You know, those hotel/book store login pages to access the provided wifi. Whatever ever reason Ubuntu Edgy fell on its face here and what is even more comical, the complete lack of response from their forums after three different attempts to seek an answer. Based on this and a response from the folks behind an Ubuntu variant, Linux Mint, I will be moving over to that distro come this weekend. From what I have been told, Linux Mint has better implementation of the GNOME network selection tools that I would otherwise get via APT. As a matter of fact, the network selector is offered in the default install. So considering this, moving over to Linux Mint makes the most sense for my notebook. Seriously Ubuntu, captive portals, how could this not receive an response? Even considering the inclusion of improve network tools in the upcoming Ubuntu release, Linux Mint already beat Ubuntu to the punch a long time ago. Sad. Moving on. I have software migration tools that work for both distros, so all is well.
Back at the home front, Ubuntu is cruising right along on my desktop. But it looks as if I will need to be upgrading to Vista for some software developement duties, therefore I was told today that I will be sent what I need here fairly soon. But this leaves me with the prospect of trying to blend together an existing Ubuntu install along with a new copy of Vista. Do I need to uninstall Ubuntu? Not at all.
Thanks to this great tutorial, adding the extra OS ought to go smoothly. I will admit that the tute looks like a lot to deal with, but in reality, it is merely a thorough how-to. Besides, should things go badly enough that I need to reinstall Ubuntu (or just move this to Linux Mint as well), APTonCD will make the migration of software very easy.
And of course, should I wish to keep XP, there are options here as well. Frankly, Linux is my desktop of daily use and Vista will be for development purposes. So I doubt I will see much need to keep XP at all. Still, it’s nice to have options.
Tags: vista, upgrade, linux, ubuntu, linux mint, apt, software
6 Comments
Eric
February 9th, 2007
at 12:24am
I myself have wanted to try linux for a long time. I’ve tried Linux Ubunut on LiveCD and have learned a little about what to do but still have a long way to go. I actually want to get away from windows simply for the fact that I’m very interested in programming and having full control of what my computer does. With Linux I’ve heard that it’s open source so I’d have access to all the code and be able to customize it however fits my needs. I also get free software that would normally cost me way too much with windows. I’m not sure at this point what to do and for right now my main home computing resides on an XP Media Center PC. When I get a computer (or build my own) later on down the road, should I keep XP Home or should I switch to Linux? Comments are appreciated as they’ll help me out on my technological journey.
Matt Hartley
February 9th, 2007
at 3:17am
First bit of advise, buy this book:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ubuntuhks/#top
Second bit:
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/it/2007/01/02/ubuntu-tute-part-1/
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/it/2007/01/04/ubuntu-tute-part-2/
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/it/2007/01/11/ubuntu-tute-part-3-nice-package/
If you are completely new however, consider Linux Mint. Things just work, it’s great. That and because it is 98% based on Ubuntu, all of the above still counts. ;)
SeanPrice.net
February 9th, 2007
at 7:12pm
[…] Dual boot Vista with Ubuntu already installed […]
Today’s The Day! ~ IT Professionals
March 22nd, 2007
at 6:36pm
[…] Well, today is the day that I will be dual-booting Vista and Ubuntu. And unlike most people, I am going to take the hard road and install Vista right next to my existing Ubuntu install. So what’s the catch? I will be doing so without installing Vista first. As you can see from this tute, I have my work cut out for me. Needless to say, it looks like fun. […]
pcwiz...
April 3rd, 2007
at 10:36am
Well, I have decided to keep XP Pro, and go with the Linux Mint Bianca distro. LM Bianca is a clean distro, which will be supported forever! (I hope!)
Then use XP for games and apps that are not replaced with LM Bianca.
I have a W95/DOS 6.2 machine for games that I can’t live without. So I’ll have an XP machine for the same reason. And that will be the end of it, for I have decided to take my game play to a PS2 console!
Screw M$! I have had enough, time for a divorce!
If I ever have a need for Vista, I’ll go with Longhorn instead!! The server software SHOULD be more stable than the workstation! Besides, it will have to be installed on a new machine, the current hardware is just a bit out of spec for Vista/Longhorn installs.
Viva Linux Mint!!!
Cheers!
Bilal
January 11th, 2008
at 5:06am
Hey there…. Regarding .. Captive Portals … i have implemented it using Ubuntu 6.06 (dapper drake) and newer versions …. there wasn’t much in it … My situation was that i wanted to implement it a bit differently … simply captive portal was easy but i also wanted to implement it without having an external internet connection to my server running ubuntu chillispot etc … and just serve my own webpage to users and nothing else … it used to work while i had internet connection connected … all users were redirected but without an internet to my server it wasn’t working … though i sorted out this later on and every thing was and is working smoothly….
Anyways thanks for your tutorial …