LinuxQuestions.org - Making a dual boot system

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Making a dual boot system

Hello,

I have purchased a 500Gb seagate external hard disk.
I partitioned it using the xp disk manager. I have now 320gb primary NTFS partition for accessing & storing data through XP & kept 144Gb of unallocated space for installation of Redhat Enterprise Linux 6.0.

I have the dvd of RHEL 6.0, now please guide me through the process. I know I have to boot from my dvd drive. But i don't know how to manually allocate & partition the swap, and how much to mount under '/' & under'/boot'.. And also how to set it up for the dual boot.

My system config are:
32bit system
1560MB RAM
Intel Core2duo processor

help me out..

Here is the install guide, everything you need is in there.
Based on the nature of your question, you would probably be better off using an "easier" distro, such as Fedora.

brian-va, your link includes an unnecessary google reference. Here is the direct link.
http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Re...ide/index.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deepon (Post 4325977)

kept 144Gb of unallocated space

Good.

Quote:

But i don't know how to manually allocate & partition the swap, and how much to mount under '/' & under'/boot'.. And also how to set it up for the dual boot.

Forget about /boot. It serves no purpose in a simple install.

Whatever distribution you choose, the mechanics of manual partitioning should be pretty simple once you try it. For some distributions there is also decent online documentation of that step.

As for which partitions you need and how big, the defaults in most distributions are pretty stupid. You would be better off with:
2GB or 3GB for swap
The rest for /
You don't need /boot or /home or any of the other such partitions. All of those areas work best as directories within / which is what you get automatically if you don't attach partitions to those mount points.

Ubuntu is quite good at detecting Windows and setting up the dual boot for you.

Other Linux distributions are also pretty good at that.

Find out whether the distribution you will use has grub or grub2. Then find a decent online description of dual booting for that (it is quite different between grub and grub2).

Probably the Linux installer will just get everything right and once Linux is installed the dual boot will simply work. In case something goes wrong, after installing Linux, just Linux is bootable and Windows isn't. Then the online instructions are pretty easy for taking control of the dual boot setup yourself, as long as you don't make the common mistake of trying to use grub online instructions when your installer used grub2.

Thanks,
I know ubuntu is the best, infact I have been using ubuntu & Fedora for the past 4 years. But now I am going to install a specific software which was built for RHEL 2.1. I don't know whether it will work with my ubuntu10.10 or fedora14.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnsfine (Post 4326247)

If you aren't planning to pay for support for RHEL (after verifying that it is suitable for your intended use) don't waste your time installing it.

An unlicensed copy of RHEL won't have access to repositories for updates and adding packages.

Do you really want a server distribution of Linux? If so, and assuming you won't pay for support, get Centos instead. I expect your internet access makes downloading a Centos DVD image difficult and you already have RHEL. But despite that, using RHEL unlicensed will ultimately waste your time.

A non server, more beginner friendly Linux on CD (not DVD) is probably a better idea. Ubuntu is probably best.

Good.

Forget about /boot. It serves no purpose in a simple install.

Whatever distribution you choose, the mechanics of manual partitioning should be pretty simple once you try it. For some distributions there is also decent online documentation of that step.

As for which partitions you need and how big, the defaults in most distributions are pretty stupid. You would be better off with:
2GB or 3GB for swap
The rest for /
You don't need /boot or /home or any of the other such partitions. All of those areas work best as directories within / which is what you get automatically if you don't attach partitions to those mount points.

Ubuntu is quite good at detecting Windows and setting up the dual boot for you.

Other Linux distributions are also pretty good at that.

Find out whether the distribution you will use has grub or grub2. Then find a decent online description of dual booting for that (it is quite different between grub and grub2).

Probably the Linux installer will just get everything right and once Linux is installed the dual boot will simply work. In case something goes wrong, after installing Linux, just Linux is bootable and Windows isn't. Then the online instructions are pretty easy for taking control of the dual boot setup yourself, as long as you don't make the common mistake of trying to use grub online instructions when your installer used grub2.

Please don't quote an entire long post when replying. Remove the parts of the quote that aren't relevant to your reply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deepon (Post 4327090)

I am going to install a specific software which was built for RHEL 2.1. I don't know whether it will work with my ubuntu10.10 or fedora14.

Do you really mean 2.1? That wasn't a typo?

If the software isn't portable enough to work on a different distribution of Linux, it also won't be portable enough to work on an RHEL version several years newer than originally intended.

If it will work with some version of RHEL, it will also work with the corresponding version of Centos. Centos is the same as RHEL except for some trademarks and similar material. The functional parts are identical. Centos repositories (for upgrades and for changing which packages are installed after initial setup) are free.