March 29, 2012

My top 3 Linux picks

I have been playing around with Linux for several years now. One of the first distributions I really liked and stuck to for a while was PCLinuxOS, mostly because it was light weight, fast and had an awesome GUI. It still has some great graphics and nice features and is currently listed at #10 in the Distrowatch rankings. There are several options to choose from when downloading, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, OpenBox and Full Monty. Here is a screenshot of the most common KDE.

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My next pick would be Linux Mint which currently ranks #1 in the Distrowatch rankings. Mint is a very clean looking feature rich distribution and is extremely popular right now. It comes loaded with tons of tools and apps and should be able to do just about anything you need.

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Number three would be Ubuntu, which currently ranks #2 on Distrowatch. Ubuntu has really been vital in the transition of some companies actually trashing Windows and going with Linux to operate their business. Ubuntu was one of the first distributions that had great drivers and compatibility with plug-in devices. The simple menus and configuration made it much easier for a Windows user to jump right in and learn how to use it. I often use Ubuntu inside a virtual machine and have it installed on some machines in my home.

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March 24, 2012

Dual Boot The Easy Way

Ok, if you have ever played around with Linux, I’m sure you have fallen in love with all of the great distros like Ubuntu, Mint, Open SUSE, Fedora, etc.  The problem now is, you’re not quite ready to let go of Windows, or you don’t have an extra PC laying around to install Linux on.  I ran into this problem early on and decided to take my chances at creating a dual-boot PC with both Windows and Linux.  After a few headaches and some research, I found a program called Parted Magic, which allows you to partition a drive on the fly while having Windows already installed. It does this without disturbing the current Windows installation, but PLEASE BACKUP all of your documents and files prior to attempting a dual-boot installation.

First, you must download Parted Magic here and burn it as a bootable ISO image. Make sure that your PC is set to boot from CD first, if not, you can set it easily in the BIOS. You will insert the disc and then reboot the PC to allow it to boot from the disc operating system seen above.  Once it is up and running, you can access the computers files and see the overall state of the PC. This operating system is equipped with a browser, file manager, etc.

Here, you will choose to create a partition in the empty space outside of the Windows NTFS partition. You will choose to create a linux swap partition, roughly 1GB and then an EXT partition of 10GB or more. Be sure to leave enough room for the NTFS Windows partition to expand so that you aren’t forced to format the drive and reinstall everything anytime soon. Once you have the sizes and partition types set, you will choose to “Apply” and wait for the program to run. Once it’s complete, verify that everything is how you want it, reboot and remove the disc.

Now, you are ready to load your favorite Linux distro CD in and boot up, from the CD again. This time, the linux CD will boot LIVE from the CD and walk you through the installation. There should be several warnings to keep you from installing Linux onto the entire disc. You should see the EXT partition that you created, be sure to install it there. Once you complete the installation, reboot, remove the disc. You should see a grub menu which will allow you a few seconds to choose between Windows and Linux before automatically loading the default.

Note: WINDOWS MUST BE INSTALLED FIRST ON THE DISC BEFORE INSTALLING LINUX.

Have a question? email me at dennis@thecommongeek.tv

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