install / dual boot question
 

hello,

i have 7.10 installed on my laptop. i would like to install ubuntu on a real system though. I have a windows pc that i build and I woulnt mind installing ubuntu on it. it has two hard drives that are both partitioned. i would create a partition of say 50gb for the ubuntu install.

my qustion is once i install ubuntu will i get a choice as to which OS to boot from when i turn the pc on??

Yes. But if you don't get one for some reason, you can edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file to add Windows to the boot menu.

The extreme is you can install Grub in a data-only partition, write the menu.lst to boot up to 28 operating systems in the two disks. That is before you even install any of them!

I used one of these methods.
http://apcmag.com/node/5162/

ohh.. thank you for this..

one question. I use partition magic on my system. I built my pc myself here are my specs.

AMD +6000 X2 CPU
8800 gt gfx card
Asus M2N-E Mobo
Antec PSU
2 300GB 7400 16mb cach hard drives.
2gb ddr2 800 ram corsair


I have windows xp pro installed on hard drive #1 on a 20mb partition. i have a partition for games and software. on hard drive #2 I have a partition for my documents and a partition for itunes... I will create a partition for ubuntu on the 2nd hard drive but i dont know what file format to make it or maybe i dont need to worry about that?? will ubuntu just fill in free space with a partition? partition magic does have a few options for linux but i dont know which to use.. fat, fat 32, ntfs, linux ext2, linux ext3, linux swap

If you install a Linux why not let Linux Live CD to create the partition for you. The installer will do the formatting normally.

Do you really trust a MS Windows software to create a Linux partition for you?

You can use Ubuntu CD to create a Linux partition (Type 83) and its installer will seize it for installation, leaving your existing partitions untouched.