I'm trying to convert my Windows Vista 64 bit desktop into a dual operator system. Which distribution of Linux would you suggest for this purpose? I couldn't find anything suitable at the RedHat site. Perhaps my mistake. I would appreciate suggestions.

Thanks
Talin

Hi, distrowatch contains a reference to almost every distro in existence. Personnaly, I use Archlinux and Gentoo, but to a novice I'd suggest Fedora or Ubuntu.

Most people usually try a couple distros before they settle with one that suits their need best, I suggest you do the same.

As a Fedora user I'd recommend Ubuntu for a novice user. Fedora's two-per-year release cycle, termination of support for older releases, and inclusion of "cutting edge" and "beta" software can require lots of patient tweaking.

In answer to the OP actual question, I know of no Linux release that can't be dual-booted with Vista or any other Windows OS.

The most common problem you might encounter would be a result of failing to let the Linux installation replace the Windows boot loader in the master boot record of your hard drive. (Many new Linux users hesitate when asked by the installer if they want to replace the windows boot loader by the Linux one since they fear that that might prevent their Windows system from loading. This is a misplaced fear: Only the Windows loader is so poorly written that it prevents an easy boot of other operating system.)

And there's other\ ways to run Linux besides just on your HD

You can run a 2 partition ext3/fat32 2gb-4gb usb and pack one distro or many onto it
ain't gotta touch your hd at all.

Very useful tip:
Ubuntu-8.04-8.10-9.04 will "auto-recognize" windows and you can choose
to share the drive with windows,etc
Ubuntu is one of the best at not screwing up your windows install.

If you wanna run several or one distro(s) on usb I'll hook you up

Thanks for the input. Do you think the Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04 would work for the Dual Boot. I mostly want the Linux for C applications etc. I don't think the Ubuntu Desktop Edition would be suitable for that. Prior to going through the set up and finding out that the I did the wrong thing, I just wanted to ask.

I have used desktop Jaunty for C, C++, and several other programming languages, and used several IDEs that are available. Why would you suppose that a "server edition" would be any more suitable than the desktop one? The development tools are identical on both systems, and, as far as I know, the only difference is what's installed by default.

That's a good question as to why I would think the "server" edition would be better. I guess that qualifies me as a "newbie". My concern is with regular Microsoft Windows, you could do C/C++ programming too, but I don't believe that's immediately transformable to the regular UNIX environment. Linux is Unix actually and a desktop is not a server. So, what you are saying is that the desktop edition should be run on a desktop and the server edition should be run on a server and that will have no bearing on the C/C++ application you are working. That's what I got out of your reply. That helps. Thanks.