Confused with Dual Boot on two different partition

I am using Windows XP. It is a old system and I am really fed up with those daily threats.I am looking for a new experience or tired of viruses, spyware, Trojans invading my PC. In a month atleast one time I need to format and reinstall my system. Even in such a paid software the issue is just hectic. I am a beginner who wants to install a distribution of GNU / Linux and on the same want to keep Windows in dual boot to Linux. There are many Linux distribution and anyone can be chosen. I will go for the more newest one. Now I have around 250GB of hard drive. This is enough for the disk space. What should I do to begin with dual boot system. In a dual boot system atleast I can have a working system. I found my friend using this and he can also view all the folders of Windows. So that is going to make my job much easier.

You must first understand about the Linux. The kernal here is a piece of code which is the most important part and it manages the memory and hardware access. The basic commands that revolve around the core, are from the GNU project. GNU tools are essential for the proper functioning of the Linux kernel and that's why we say GNU / Linux. Most Linux distributions are free as Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuse, etc. Generally pay distributions include proprietary drivers and / or technical support. GNU / Linux is an operating system ideal for smaller hardware configurations. Install it on a machine aging is often a good solution to give it a small facelift as it can be used, for example, server and / or router, post office or web browsing. For the setup insert the bootable disc and choose the option of Install Linux and Windows side by side. And done.

Linux will be installed with Windows in the directory c: \ Ubuntu and you can uninstall it as a simple software in Add / Remove Programs. Your Windows system files are not modified and this is without risk. This mode of installation is called as side by side installation. In this the linux bootable disc install Linux as a application. You get a boot manager on the boot screen which gives you the option of choose which operating system you want to boot. The disadvantage of this solution is disk performance a little worse on Linux but there is no impact on Windows. For this the system requirement is that you need more than 256 MB of RAM. If you have only 256 MB of RAM then it will not work. And other than this you also need 10 GB of free space on your hard drive. You can download the ISO file from the official site and burn it. If you do not want to burn a disc then you can directly run the setup with the help of Daemon Tools Lite. Just unmount the disc and done.

It is not a big task to define different partitions. First insert the bootable disc of any linux distribution you want to use. When you insert the disc you get a autoplay box on your Windows screen. Click on Install on Windows. You can leave the default options. In Space dedicated to Ubuntu, I will recommend you choose 10 GB or more. This will give you the ability to install and try lots of software. Also choose a username and password. They will be required to log on Linux. Wubi will then copy the CD onto hard disk. Once completed, Wubi will offer to restart to continue the installation on Linux. After restart you can now remove the Ubuntu CD. Choose the appropriate option and then leave the install process this may take a while. Do not panic with the word partition. The operating system will intsall in C:\ubuntu. You can remove that from Control panel > add remove program.

If you wan to install the preferred version of Linux on the second disc then juts inspect the following two options. First choose manual disk partition and the other one is choose the second disk for installing Linux. You can begin by creating the root partition, then the other partitions as desired. The root partition will be named something like / dev/sdb1 or SATA disk for / dev/hdb1 for an IDE disk. Continue installation of Linux to the stage of installing Grub. This is the the Linux boot loader. Then choose the location manually to install GRUB. This must absolutely be the root partition of your Linux and not the MBR on what there is already Windows is installed. Just for checking the installation of two discs you cna get the MBR like / dev / sda (or / dev / hda) and the root partition as / dev/sdb1 (or / dev / hdb1). Most Linux requires a restart to complete installation.

Linux can do many things. If you want to install directly a software created for Windows on Linux then the answer is no. And for one simple reason the two operating systems have nothing in common. However, using specific programs emulation, it is possible to run the Windows application and have it interact with the Linux applications. For this you can use the software wine. I am not comparing Linux to Windows as a user voluntarily because of Windows you already know the drawbacks. There are two ways to create a dual boot system. The first is either installing both the operating system on the same drive and other is using a distinct drive. Linux disc search for the disc with highest empty space and install the files in that. So that makes your job easier. But you can also choose which partition you want.