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Anonymouse · 03-05-2008, 06:57

Lately I've been feeling the need for a project to occupy me, and I've thought of one: install Linux on my laptop and dual boot with Vista. Now before y'all start, I've had no problems with Vista (unless you count the disappearing DVD-RW drive, and that turned out to be a hardware issue), so I'm not going to wipe it and install Linux instead. For me, Vista was a pleasant surprise, i.e. not the horror story I was expecting given everything I'd heard about it.

Laptop spec:

AMD Turion TL52 dual core (2 x 1.6GHz)
2GB RAM
160GB HDD (2 NTFS partitions)
Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 graphics card (128MB)
802.11g Broadcom wireless adapter

The thing is, the laptop has a recovery partition which can be used to restore the laptop to factory spec if required. I'm not sure which partition it's on, which raises my question: when installing Linux as a dual boot, what, if anything, does this do to the Master Boot Record? I'm concerned about losing access to the recovery partition...again (had a bit of trouble with Acronis TrueImage, which altered the MBR - luckily a bit of research enabled me to repair it).

Other questions:

Does Linux have its own partition format, or would it be happy with NTFS?

Which version of Linux is generally regarded as the most stable?

What's involved in installing it? I've used Unix in a variety of flavours on different platforms (SCO XENIX on PC-compatibles, HP-UX on Apollo workstations, etc.), but I've never installed it from scratch.

What sort of GUI does Linux have now? The last I remember, way back in '97, was X (version 11, I think).

03-05-2008, 06:57	#1
Anonymouse Owned by my cat Tigger Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bolton Age: 42 Services: 4MB NTL Broadband...but not for long if Virgin don't ditch Phorm! Posts: 478	Linux advice, please! Lately I've been feeling the need for a project to occupy me, and I've thought of one: install Linux on my laptop and dual boot with Vista. Now before y'all start, I've had no problems with Vista (unless you count the disappearing DVD-RW drive, and that turned out to be a hardware issue), so I'm not going to wipe it and install Linux instead. For me, Vista was a pleasant surprise, i.e. not the horror story I was expecting given everything I'd heard about it. Laptop spec: AMD Turion TL52 dual core (2 x 1.6GHz) 2GB RAM 160GB HDD (2 NTFS partitions) Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 graphics card (128MB) 802.11g Broadcom wireless adapter The thing is, the laptop has a recovery partition which can be used to restore the laptop to factory spec if required. I'm not sure which partition it's on, which raises my question: when installing Linux as a dual boot, what, if anything, does this do to the Master Boot Record? I'm concerned about losing access to the recovery partition...again (had a bit of trouble with Acronis TrueImage, which altered the MBR - luckily a bit of research enabled me to repair it). Other questions: Does Linux have its own partition format, or would it be happy with NTFS? Which version of Linux is generally regarded as the most stable? What's involved in installing it? I've used Unix in a variety of flavours on different platforms (SCO XENIX on PC-compatibles, HP-UX on Apollo workstations, etc.), but I've never installed it from scratch. What sort of GUI does Linux have now? The last I remember, way back in '97, was X (version 11, I think). __________________ There are too many people in the world who look, but do not see; who listen, but do not hear; who acknowledge, but do not understand; who speak when they have nothing to say. - Me