I want to run linux and windows 2000pro on the same machine. I don't have any expierence with installing an OS or with Linux. Can someone tell me what distro I should use and how I would intall it to allow dual booting? Thanks
The far easiest way to do it is with third party software, if you dont mind spending about £30 that is Best piece of software I would advise is Acronis Disk Director 10. I have this software & it allows you to safely & easily create both Windows & Linux partitions & has a built in boot manager which will help you sort out which OS to boot into. You can get Acronis disk director 10 from here http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/diskdirectorsuite/ I would strongly advise that you back up your current install before you attempt to do this. If you dont have a good backup program then I would strongly suggest Acronis Trueimage. It is possible to do a dual boot without any boot managers, however this is not a task for the feint of heart. The process can be frustrating & tedious trying to sort out your NTFS partition for Windows & the Linux partitions as well as a swap partition. I have been messing around with computers for many years now & have done this dual boot without third party software & I would not attempt to do it again, it's just not worth the hassle. Out of interest what Linux build were you planning to install? My favourite is Fedora Core - & I believe they have just released V5. I notice in your post you say you dont have any experience in installing an OS. Linux is extremely easy to install & will generally pick up all your hardware "out of the box". I find Windows 2000 pretty easy to install too, but if you ever re-install Windows 2000 & have never done so before I would suggest visting manufacturers websites for all your hardware & downloading the latest drivers before attempting a re-install. One of the most common mistakes is to re-install then find you cant connect to the net cos you forgot your modem/LAN card drivers!!
Thanks for your advice. I'll try the Acronis software for dual booting and the backup image. At the time of the post I wasn't sure of what distro I was going to use, but I'm probably going to use fedora core.
