use vmware or separate partition ?

[samba]

I gathered some more info on Linux install options.

1) create separate partition for linux (using partition magic) and install LINUX in that partition.
2) Install VMware in windows and then install LINUX as guest operating system on top of VMware.

Could you comment on each of these methods. Which is better and more efficient.

Thanks

[carbon_unit]

Linux wil work better and be more efficient in its own partition. Some distros provide a partitioning tool during installation.
Currently I am running Xandros which has a free edition which will automatically partition for you during the install.
It will also install a boot loader and is proven to dual boot with XP. Not all current distros can do that.

[maddie]

I gathered some more info on Linux install options.

1) create separate partition for linux (using partition magic) and install LINUX in that partition.
2) Install VMware in windows and then install LINUX as guest operating system on top of VMware.

Could you comment on each of these methods. Which is better and more efficient.

Thanks

It depends on your purpose. For me, I need to run both Windows and Linux at the same time for some testing purposes and hence VMware works for me. Not only that, I can port the Linux VM around simply by copying the files.

[yukit]

It depends is the correct answer.

1) If performance, video, sound & other device support is critical, dual boot is teh way to go.

2) VMware offers convenient features such as Snapshot (save the machine state & revert to it later).

You can also run multiple VMs & connect them together through virtual networking.

yuki

[snife]

I have used it to run a mini client/server setup (with 2 network cards installed) and it works great, i am thinking about switching over to virtualpc on my main machine though just for operating system reference as the license for that is cheaper and although they dont really state it, it does work with linux too. The only thing to bear in mind is that for proper testing such as with drivers and things you can run into problems as the vmware images are not in control of the hardware and you better have a lot of RAM if you want any sort of decent performance - so i agree that it depends also

[Chun-Yu]

I kinda did a mix of options 1 & 2. I created separate partitions and installed Gentoo, but then one day when I was bored I wondered if I could get it to boot in VMWare. It did, and after recompiling the kernel with a couple of new modules for network and sound, I can now boot it natively and in VMWare.

Hint: to do this, you have to use the physical disks option, not the virtual disks. Plus, you can't give linux access to the partitions Windows is running on, or else very weird (and BAD) things would probably happen.

[vjacob]

Hint: to do this, you have to use the physical disks option, not the virtual disks. Plus, you can't give linux access to the partitions Windows is running on, or else very weird (and BAD) things would probably happen.

- can you explain this part more in detail? I'm a bit curious but not sure how to interpret...

[Chun-Yu]

Instead of creating a virtual disk in VMWare, I just used the physical disk option to let VMWare use the actual disk (which I had already installed Linux on from outside VMWare). Just select the non-Windows partitions for use and then (hopefully) you should be able to boot your Linux install in VMWare.

[maddie]

By doing this, wouldn't Linux detects a change in hardware when you boot through either VMware or through the actual disk?

[yukit]

By doing this, wouldn't Linux detects a change in hardware when you boot through either VMware or through the actual disk?

Yes, it most certainly would.
This can be done, but you need to be careful if you are planning to switch back & forth.

VMware provides a set of virtual hardware that looks like real to the OS being installed inside the virtual machine. So the OS inside would not see the real hardware.

[Chun-Yu]

By doing this, wouldn't Linux detects a change in hardware when you boot through either VMware or through the actual disk?

Yes, but the change is rather minor (sound/network etc.). I simply built the apropriate modules (pcnet32 and snd-ens1371 if I remember correctly) for my kernel and it works just fine. The main important change is the video - I simply keep 2 configuration files and switch between them (although if you don't use the ATI specific X driver but a generic one instead, this wouldn't even be an issue).

yukit: If you don't use a virtual disk, then yes, the OS inside does "see" the real drive (although possibly only the partitions you allow it to).

[yukit]

The main important change is the video - I simply keep 2 configuration files and switch between them (although if you don't use the ATI specific X driver but a generic one instead, this wouldn't even be an issue).

Yes, that is the way to do it.

yukit: If you don't use a virtual disk, then yes, the OS inside does "see" the real drive (although possibly only the partitions you allow it to).

Yes, the raw disk does expose the physical geometry of the partitions, but it still goes through a virtual hardware.
I guess it does not really matter to users as long as it works

[Chun-Yu]

Yes, the raw disk does expose the physical geometry of the partitions, but it still goes through a virtual hardware.
I guess it does not really matter to users as long as it works

Yeah, that's what I really meant - it sees the drive as a "VMWare blah blah blah", but the geometry of it is the same.

[maddie]

Yes, but the change is rather minor (sound/network etc.). I simply built the apropriate modules (pcnet32 and snd-ens1371 if I remember correctly) for my kernel and it works just fine. The main important change is the video - I simply keep 2 configuration files and switch between them (although if you don't use the ATI specific X driver but a generic one instead, this wouldn't even be an issue).

Do you mean builidng PCNet32 and ens1371 on top of the existing Intel and Soundmax drivers for my IBM?

[Chun-Yu]

Yeah, that's what I did - I figured no harm done loading a couple of extra modules (and if I really care, I can always rmmod them).

[maddie]

Yeah, that's what I did - I figured no harm done loading a couple of extra modules (and if I really care, I can always rmmod them).

Would you be kind enough to share what you did for video driver and any scripts if possible?

Thanks.

[Chun-Yu]

For the video driver, if I remember correctly there is a specific vmware driver that you can use in your XF86Config/xorg.conf . I didn't use a script or anything to switch, I just switched them manually.

[maddie]

I see.

Thanks Chun-Yu for all the help. Really appreciate it.

[Chun-Yu]

No problem. Actually, lately I've all but given up on using Windows. I haven't been able to have Windows stay up for more than about 14 days because one of 3 things will happen:

1. Blue Screen of Death - possibly Access Connections related, older versions were known to cause BSODs, I stopped using AC for a while => no BSODs, reinstalled the new AC 3.21 and had almost none but then I got one while writing a paper for a class (fortunately I had just saved and didn't lose anything) and then another one less than a week later... since that happened about 3 weeks ago, I've basically been in Linux the whole time.

2. No BSOD, but stuff gets messed up enough to require a reboot.

3. New Windows Update to install that requires a reboot.

Current uptime in Gentoo: 14 days and counting (no signs of stuff breaking or anything like in Windows ). In that time, I switched from xfree86 to X.org and upgraded Gnome from 2.6.0 to 2.6.2 too. In fact, my ultimate goal is to schedule a reboot sometime before the fall semester begins to shrink my XP partition and convert my other partition full of music from NTFS to FAT32 and then see if I can get 1 semester of uptime. I really have almost no reason to use Windows (only reason is the fantastic audio player foobar2000 - http://www.foobar2000.org/) since I write all my papers and stuff using LaTeX and don't use Office or any other Windows-only stuff.