Linux

[martint235]

I don't see the benefits of dual booting. A far, far more useful technique is virtualisation.

I find that under load virtualisation just puts too much stress on a PC that's already over 5 years old. You're effectively asking it to run two OS at the same time. Plus I find that things don't necessarily work quite as well in a VM. Don't get me wrong, I do use them particularly for looking at new OS but prefer to dual boot once I've settled on distro.

 

[martint235]

There's lubuntu or xubuntu, either might be worth a look if you like ubuntu but not unity. Or cut out the middleman and install Debian, which these days is probably about as user-friendly as Ubuntu is anyway

My distribution of choice these days is NixOS, but it's still pretty "niche" and I probably shouldn't be recommending it to anyone who doesn't already find the description on its web site compelling - http://nixos.org/nixos/about.html

Yeo I've used Xubuntu and Debian. I might have another look at Debian in a VM (see other post). I'll certainly be putting NixOS into a VM to have a look.

 

[simon the viking]

I tried wiping an old laptop and installing ubantu on it..... Not good... Probably my fault but it keeps crashing so put it back under the stairs where I'd got it from and not touched it in 6 months.........

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Ubuntu for me, but am running Windows 10 pretty much full time as the open source alternatives to Excel just don't hack it in the corporate environment I'm slaving in.

 

[Dan B]

Ubuntu for me, but am running Windows 10 pretty much full time as the open source alternatives to Excel just don't hack it in the corporate environment I'm slaving in.

Run it under qemu/kvm? Might work, might not, probably worth a try

http://wiki.qemu.org/KVM

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Run it under qemu/kvm? Might work, might not, probably worth a try

http://wiki.qemu.org/KVM

Tried. It didn't.

 

[User16390]

I have been following the thread with interest, my brother has a dual boot, Linux and Windows but he has never explained to me why. Someone asked earlier in the thread and if someone could explain to me the advantages I would be most grateful. Is Linux better than windows at some tasks than windows or are there other reasons.

 

[martint235]

I have been following the thread with interest, my brother has a dual boot, Linux and Windows but he has never explained to me why. Someone asked earlier in the thread and if someone could explain to me the advantages I would be most grateful. Is Linux better than windows at some tasks than windows or are there other reasons.

The only reason to have dual boot is if you want both. My life wouldn't be worth living if the OH couldn't have full access to iTunes so I need Windows. If it were just me, I'd have gone Linux only years ago probably when it first started to emerge out of Unix (I used to be a Unix Admin). By the time I did get into Linux, it had evolved so much and I'd forgotten so much Unix that I'm still on a steep learning curve and there's still some stuff I find easier to do in Windows. I do spend more and more time in Linux though and just prefer the uncluttered feel and the fact I'm not owned by MS

I could just forget about it and use Windows but I could also forget about rooting my phone and using custom ROMs but that is also unlikely to happen.

 

[Dan B]

I could just forget about it and use Windows but I could also forget about rooting my phone and using custom ROMs but that is also unlikely to happen.

You'd still be using Linux on the phone even with a stock rom, though ;-)

(assuming this is Android we're talking about, anyway)

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I'm happily on Fedora at the moment, I've been on Linux for years, Ubuntu, Lubuntu and mint. @martint235 a silly question, did you put windows first then Fedora or the other way round? does the computer have EUFI ?

 

[Smurfy]

... and those that do tend to be real geeks ! Very knowledgeable and helpful, so nice geeks.

I have Ubuntu as a dual boot but confess I haven't used it very much, as I am more familiar with Win7 (much as I dislike MS ). What is the real purpose/ benefit of a dual boot ? (and no footwear jokes, please ... )

That's the thing about dual boot. The temptation is to stick with what you know, and for most people what they know is windoze. That means many people never break free from windows. For me, the point of Linux, is that it's not bloatware, and the malware risk is much reduced. Over 2.5 years now without windoze, and I don't miss it

 

[martint235]

I'm happily on Fedora at the moment, I've been on Linux for years, Ubuntu, Lubuntu and mint. @martint235 a silly question, did you put windows first then Fedora or the other way round? does the computer have EUFI ?

No it doesn't have EUFI and Windows was on first. The Fedora installer isn't the most intuitive in the world so I'm sure it's just something about where to set the boot device. However I've lost interest in Fedora now (I'm a bit fickle like that) so I'm putting Xubuntu 14.04 on today and will see how I get on with that.

One of my problems with Linux is it's like a custom ROM to me. I'll spend ages setting it up, getting it how I like it and then think "oooh why don't I give distro X a go". I'm going to find a way of backing up the whole thing this time into an ISO so I can just re-install exactly how I left it.