"Dual Boot"
 

Hi I just bought an Ibm thinkpad p3 and would like to dual boot with windows and linux "Debian".

I would like to know if I istall windows first or linux.

I would also like to know which windows "98se, 2000 or xp pro"would be better to install for a dual boot.

I will be doing this in the weekend.

Thanks In Advance.

Always install Windows first. Judgin by the specs, and compatibility with linux, I would recommend win 98SE.

Regarding which windows os: if you have at least 128 megs of ram, (as the bare minimum for acceptable speed, preferably more), I would go with Win2K. Note that if you choose to use a NTFS formatted file system for Win2K, you can't write files to it from Linux.
I'm currently running it as dual boot with debian on my P3 laptop (with 192 megs of ram) and it's great.

yea, 98se or 2000
(2000 would be great if you youse fat32 or atleast create a seperate partition in fat32, that way you can store important files there and reade/write to it from linux.)

-Zaskar

Re: "Dual Boot"
 

I have always installed windows first. However, I've read in other forums that it isn't necessary. You would just have to reinstall lilo.

You can run any or all of those versions of windoze w/ your Linux install. On my desktop, I currently run winME (strictly for older games and language software), WinXP professional SP1 & Knoppix Linux HDD install.

I don't boot from either lilo or grub -- I use the NT loader and have lilo on the partition where Linux resides instead of the MBR.

Re: Re: "Dual Boot"
 

I use the NT loader as well.


As far as the Windows version is concerned, you should pick the the version you like best. They will all work in dual boot mode and you are going to be the one using it anyway. One other thing, during the installation, I always skip the step about making a rescue floppy. There is already a rescue image included in the install disc that you could use.

I had a lot of problems with NT based windows in dual boot with linux. i think that 98se is the best solution because 98se don't care for no fat partitions on system, untill 2k/XP can mess up when find something that is not fat or ntfs on HDD

I have been dual booting WinXP and 2K with Linux for several years and have never had a problem. You can read the NTFS partition from Linux if mounted but you can not write to it (although I think there is now experimental support for it but this could be dangerous). I have never had any problems doing so.