[Gloucs] XP Linux dual boot

[Alan Carter]

On 17 Aug 2005, at 15:39, Steve Greig wrote:

> Hi, First of all thanks for previous help on burning Ubuntu Live CD 
> etc. I have had an interesting time testing Ubuntu Live and then a 
> version of Fedora1 that came with a book call Linux for Non-Geeks. I 
> went throught the projects in the book. I have now restored XP. Apart 
> from not being able to resurrect my backed up old outlook express 
> emails all has gone well. I would love to be able to transer all these 
> into an open source email program but it looks tricky.
>
Kmail lets you import your emails from outlook express if I remember 
correctly and uses a XP type wizard to do so.


> I am now keen to install XP and Ubuntu on the lap top but have found 
> reading about this has still left me with some questions. These mainly 
> relate to what sort of partitions I should create on my 18GB hard 
> drive. It is FAT32 (at the moment) and for Windows is probably best 
> kept that way so I can access the Windows partition from Linux. I 
> would be very grateful for any advice on how to partition the disc and 
> what order to install the Windows and Linux OSs.
>
Install windows first as all Linux distribution recognize windows is 
installed and create you a boot menu for dual boot automatically. If 
you install windows afterwards you will need to restore the MBR(daul 
boot menu) not impossible but can be difficult for a beginner.
You are write to leave windows as FAT32 as linux fully supports this 
and has for many years.
Partitioning can be a little personal but for a first install I would 
create 2 partitions for linux. 512mb or so swap and about 8-9gb ext3 
root partition, you may need to adjust this size to fit you XP.


> If I can't dual boot I thought I would go for Fedora as the sole 
> operating system. I only want XP for programs that wont' work on 
> Linux. One is MathCad for a course I am hoping to do and the other is 
> something like itunes which I have heard is not available for Linux 
> but was wondering if equivalent pay to download music programs were 
> available.
>
You should have no problems with dual boot and to start is what I would 
recomment. I don't know about replacements for iTunes but you can talk 
with a Ipod ok but havn't tried myself.

> Any comments, advice etc would be appreciated. Best wishes from Steve
>
>
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