Setting up dual-boot Windows and Linux

AnteCantelope

One of my Uni courses involves programming in Linux, so I need to set up a computer to run Linux in. However, I really really hate Linux, so I wanted to just set up a small partition and have a little something I can fiddle with while at home, with the minimal impact on my Windows use.

I'm running Windows 7, which boots from an SSD, but since space is limited on those things I think I'd rather install Linux on my HDD. I need to install Linux and GNOME. I have no idea what GNOME is, but apparently I need it. Could somebody please tell me what I need to do, assuming that I don't have the foggiest idea of how to start? I've never so much as set up a partition on a drive before, so I'm not sure what to do at all.

Thanks a lot.

Jimmy King

Why not use vmware and install Linux in a vm? Way less hassle than dual booting.

GNOME is GUI for Linux. How you install it will depend on the Linux distro you're installing. I imagine your class wants you to install a specific distro, so the teacher can probably give you specifics. Most likely they have you installing either Red Hat (or a variant such as Fedora or CentOS) or Ubuntu. Ubuntu will install GNOME by default if you install the desktop packages. RH based stuff I'm not sure as I've only used it in environments with no GUI of any sort installed, but you almost certainly get the option to do so while going through the install and can do it with yum afterwards if you miss it.

AnteCantelope

Less hassle sounds good, I'll look into vmware.

I thought that Unix has a bunch of flavours, but Linux is just Linux. If that's wrong then it doesn't look like we need a specific distro, as the notes keep referring to "Unix or Linux", so I imagine it's pretty generalised.
Is 'turing' a distro? Because we need to connect to the university's turing server.

bsjezz

i wouldn't bother with vmware or anything. it's extremely easy to set up a persistent ubuntu OS on an external or flash drive - http://www.pendrivelinux.com/. set your bios to boot from usb and just plug it in and restart when you're ready to roll. it's also very easy to set up a second partition, and not too hard to get a dual boot going, but i personally much prefer not to clutter up my launch with boot queries.

L Ron Howard

I'd recommend going the virtual machine route. I mean, why sit there and reboot, when you can just launch the OS in a window. For my $.02, though, I've never been really impressed by VMWare. Since you'd only be doing one OS, you can choose either of those, or any others, for free.

corky842

Virtualbox is a fairly painless VM.
USe Ubuntu. It comes with GNOME by default, and since it's so widespread there's plenty of community support.

a5ehren

corky842 wrote: »

Virtualbox is a fairly painless VM.
USe Ubuntu. It comes with GNOME by default, and since it's so widespread there's plenty of community support.

Also has the advantage of being free. Just go download Ubuntu 10.10. After getting that set up in the VM you're going to want to go to System->Administration->Synaptic and search for "build-essential". This will install everything you need for 90% of programming. If you're going to be using it for an extended period, lookup how to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions - they make the VM integrate with Windows better and make it easier to resize the screen.

If you're going to be doing a decent amount of programming (as in any at all), you'll need to get used to Linux and it's really not bad.

AnteCantelope

OK, I'm downloading Ubuntu and Virtualbox now, I'm guessing that it'll be straightforward enough to set up but if not I'll know where to ask.

Also, corky842, where do you live? I have a core2duo, I forget which but it's around 3.15GHz, but if you don't live in Australia the postage would be more ridiculous than it's worth.

AnteCantelope

OK, so I've got Virtualbox installed, and it's asking me how much RAM to set aside for the virtual machine. A couple of questions: This is only going to matter while the VM is running, right? It's not going to cost me some RAM constantly, right? Anyway, I have 8Gb RAM, and it defaults to 512Mb. Should I just go with that, or something else?
It also defaults to 8Gb of space for the partition. I've got 350Gb to spare, but I really only want to use this for programming, so I was think 20Gb. Enough?

corky842

Virtualbox uses dynamic disk images, so the guest OS sees the whole size but the image is only as big as it needs to be. Ubuntu recommends 1Gb of RAM, and it will only be used when the VM is running.

AnteCantelope

I downloaded 64 bit Ubuntu, and just tried to install it, but I got the error "This kernel requires an x86-64 CPU but only detected an i686 CPU. Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate to your CPU." I'm running an Intel i5-2500K, so I don't really think I should be having that problem, unless the VM is emulating a different sort of CPU. Any ideas?

L Ron Howard

Did you select Linux as the OS when you went to create the new Virtual Machine?
Did you select Ubuntu (64 bit) as the version?

AnteCantelope

Aaaah, I selected Ubuntu, but not the 64 bit version. Thanks.

AnteCantelope

OK, I tried to install Ubuntu64 and VirtualBox is telling me that "VT-x/AMD-V hardware acceleration has been enabled, but is not operational. Your 64-bit guest will fail to detect a 64 bit CPU and will not be able to boot. Please ensure you have enabled VT-x/AMD-V properly in the BIOS of your host computer."

Now, I had a quick look in BIOS and didn't see anything about VT-x, but I'm running anew 1155 chip, which have changed the BIOS around a bit, so it's possible I just missed something. Does anyone know what's wrong? I was thinking of abandoning VirtualBox for VMWare, but don't want to go to that effort if it turns out it's a problem in my BIOS settings.

corky842

According to your CPU's spec sheet it does support VT-x. You could dig around the BIOS for half an hour trying to find it, or you could download a PDF of your motherboard's manual and search for it.