Dual booting with Linux

[burt]

Could someone please explain to me the difference in installing linux ubuntu along side windows to the Something else part of the installation, also which should I use?

 

I plan on dual booting my system and if any of you guys have tips or advice they are all welcome

[paddy-stone]

You'll have to be a bit clearer on what you want info on?

 

I can tell you how to install ubuntu, if that's what you want?

 

I have now personally moved my main desktop from having dual boot windows/ubuntu, to having ubuntu as my main OS, and running windows in a VM for those apps that I really need windows for. It was a bit of work, but got it done in about a day, mainly because of how many apps I had and backing up all my settings and stuff first for the move.

[tom_w141]

Install windows then install Linux on another partition, during install Linux will create a grubloader which allows you to select the OS on startup. performance wise a dual boot is preferable to running a VM inside another OS.

[wilamu]

Ask yourself if you really need to dual-boot a Linux distro. Can you achieve what you want to by running Linux in a VM?

[burt]

48 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

You'll have to be a bit clearer on what you want info on?

 

I can tell you how to install ubuntu, if that's what you want?

 

I have now personally moved my main desktop from having dual boot windows/ubuntu, to having ubuntu as my main OS, and running windows in a VM for those apps that I really need windows for. It was a bit of work, but got it done in about a day, mainly because of how many apps I had and backing up all my settings and stuff first for the move.

I know how to dual boot windows and ubuntu I dual boot in the past installing along side current OS, my only concern in dual booting now which to pick install alongside current OS or the something section (Manual Partition). Also why make ubuntu as your main OS not windows?

[burt]

@wilamu: I want linux to be my main work OS, since I will be a programmer someday.

[wilamu]

6 minutes ago, burt said:

@wilamu: I want linux to be my main work OS, since I will be a programmer someday.

ah OK awesome dude, let the installer configure your partitions. If you're unsure the manual partitioning can be difficult.

[VicBar]

I recommend you use linux as your main os by having only it installed. You really learn linux when you rely solely on it and get into the nitty gritty of solving anything you need.

I of course understand, especially if you're starting out, that you can't be expected to know everything and may need Windows for specific things, gaming for example.. But you will learn.

 

This being said, IMHO the best way is to have the full OS on seperate machines. I have a PC running only windows (I had dual-boot a lot, but found myself using only windows a lot) and Arch Linux on my old laptop as the only OS. I study Computer Science and I take my laptop to clases and use it daily. I Program (C++, python, R) and Model (UML, SQL) on it. 

 

Im not saying you should buy a special laptop just for linux, but since linux tends to run really well on older hardware (certain distros like Lubuntu, or Manjaro), I recommend you get your hands on some used or put aside laptop and having fun.

 

That being said, dual-boot is to have both OSs installed in different partitions and having the ability to choose at launch. A menu (GRUB) is installed outside the partitions (EFI/BIOS) and you can select at launch. All this is done automatcally with any distro that has a GUI installer.

By the way, what distro are you planning to use?

[burt]

6 minutes ago, VicBar said:

I recommend you use linux as your main os by having only it installed. You really learn linux when you rely solely on it and get into the nitty gritty of solving anything you need.

I of course understand, especially if you're starting out, that you can't be expected to know everything and may need Windows for specific things, gaming for example.. But you will learn.

 

This being said, IMHO the best way is to have the full OS on seperate machines. I have a PC running only windows (I had dual-boot a lot, but found myself using only windows a lot) and Arch Linux on my old laptop as the only OS. I study Computer Science and I take my laptop to clases and use it daily. I Program (C++, python, R) and Model (UML, SQL) on it. 

 

Im not saying you should buy a special laptop just for linux, but since linux tends to run really well on older hardware (certain distros like Lubuntu, or Manjaro), I recommend you get your hands on some used or put aside laptop and having fun.

 

That being said, dual-boot is to have both OSs installed in different partitions and having the ability to choose at launch. A menu (GRUB) is installed outside the partitions (EFI/BIOS) and you can select at launch. All this is done automatcally with any distro that has a GUI installer.

By the way, what distro are you planning to use?

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS :D, hmmm nice advice, ok then this will be my plan then I will keep my laptop running windows since the specs on this thing can run games well, while PC will be full ubuntu since specs are old and not that game friendly

[paddy-stone]

8 hours ago, burt said:

I know how to dual boot windows and ubuntu I dual boot in the past installing along side current OS, my only concern in dual booting now which to pick install alongside current OS or the something section (Manual Partition). Also why make ubuntu as your main OS not windows?

I am using ubuntu as my main OS now because of a few reasons, the most recent being a display driver conflict after the latest update... there's just so much stuff that now in windows you have so little control over and have to keep fighting against your own machine just to have it be useable sometimes. I like a lot of things about windows, and about linux.. they both have their limitations though. So I decided to go with the stability of ubuntu, and just use windows in the VM for those few programs that don't have a linux equivalent (that I have found yet) and so have to use windows for. I am whittling it down little by little, the main thing that's bugging me about ubuntu at the moment is not being able to select network drives, for instance for caliber my NAS holds the book database, and can't select it as no network options show up. This could be down to my little knowledge of linux, and I did ask for help here, but nobody replied.. so for now I am using caliber in my VM of windows where I can select the network drive fine even though it's within the host machine and using a VPN, I can still just select the network address such as \\192.168.200.78\media\caliber, and belhold my book collection is there for me, lol.

 

It's OK anyway, I don't mind really.. took me like 1-2 hours max to set up the VM and all the programs I still need for windows. And because I only use it for those must have programs, I am still learning little by little more about linux

 

I am also using ubuntu 16.04, and just recently re-installed. I learnt something along the way, that using Gparted you can extend partitions whichever way you have space for, and then the extended partition gets re-written in the case of active OS, which is quite useful.

 

[burt]

Sorry for the sudden change in topic, but I am just very very curious and having a hard time finding answers on the internet

If let say I create a back up windows OS with my USB (aka. Bootable Flash Drive) it is only limited to my laptop only or I can us the USB to boot a new windows in my PC if ever I reformat it. When will windows stop becoming a legit or license OS for me?

To make things clear here my question is concern with the Product key, or license key stuff and I do not understand it well could someone explain it for me. Thanks in advance