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Requesting help for XP Linux rebuild

My Windows XP Pro system that I run at home is getting slower and slower. I will likely get a new PC in a year or two, but in the meantime, I'd like to start experimenting with a Linux & XP dual boot system (the idea is to get rid of my bloated, slow computer and streamline it as much as possible). After trying several free, open source pieces of software on Windows, I'd like to see how reliable and practical an open source OS will be. I've done some minimal research (BBR's All Things UNIX, for example) on what is involved in setting up Linux, but I thought it might save me some time to ask experts' opinions that are tailored to what I have to work with (instead of a general tutorial online, like the ones below). The more I research, the more I realize that there are too many factors for a newbie to decide on! Can you help me?

Existing Configuration - My BBR profile lists my basic setup (although the Western Digital (WD) is now my primary HD; I also have a new DVD-RW). I just bought a new 120GB Seagate ST3120026A, so I will definitely be using that along with the WD 40GB for my two drives. I only have two ATA IDE connections, so I can't have more than two HDs. I currently use the Seagate mainly as a backup for my files since I don't have a regular backup process to CD or DVD or tape drive. It's probably worth mentioning here that I'd like to have my dual monitors work in Linux, as well (I use nVidia).

Hard drive partitions dilemma - I'm currently using one partition on each of my hard drives. I've heard that XP runs cleaner if it's on its own partition, so that's one thing I'm pretty sure I want to do; I know that a lot of people create different partitions for their music files, applications, videos, and photos, etc. but I think I'd rather just go with the OS on one and everything else on another (unless that causes fragmentation issues). The other issue is how to configure the two operating systems on my two hard drives. I've read a little bit about Lilo, but I would probably be more comfortable using a Windows/DOS interface for booting up to the right OS. I've also heard about the CD-bootable Linux distributions, but I think I'd like to have an OS on the hard drive, or at least a partition to put it on eventually after trying several distros... which brings me to my next point.

Which distro is for me? Distrowatch seems to be a good resource for deciding on which version of Linux to go with. I will likely boot to Windows automatically but tinker with Linux every once and a while. I took a Unix intro course about a year ago and still have O'Reilly's Unix In a Nutshell, so I'm not totally in the dark. Frank's Corner seems to be a good resource for Running Windows applications and games on Linux using Wine, but I can probably find as good or better Linux apps that do the same thing. Is there a way to have both Linux and Windows XP running concurrently (but separately) and then be able to toggle to one or the other at will? I have a feeling my 512MB of RAM is probably not enough to support that, if it's even possible.

From an initial look, the popular distros Mandrake, SUSE (yes, I know that this one is not free), Debian, or Red Hat will probably suffice, but I'm not sure if they will all run on my 1GHz Athlon processor. Even though I'm in the IT field, all the x86, i386, amd64, 32-bit jargon is making my head spin, as well. Can you recommend any other good links to get me started? Windows XP Memory Tweak guide and Windows-to-Linux roadmap seem to be pretty helpful.

Initial proposal

  1. Transfer current WD HD data to new 120GB drive. Transfer Seagate contents likewise.
  2. Configure new setup on IDE cables: CPU---IDE1---DVD---40GB and CPU----IDE2---DVDRW----120GB
  3. Clean format the 40GB WD and split it evenly into two partitions.
  4. Clean install WinXP SP2 on one of the WD partitions.
  5. Install all non Windows apps and other data on F: drive, or whatever the 120GB drive would be on. Is it more efficient to create more than one partition on the 120GB drive?
  6. Install Mandrake on the other Mandrake partition.
  7. Start experimenting with Linux apps; install non-OS software on the 120GB drive. How will Linux recognize the different partitions? Will it see them as /dev/hda and /dev/hda2, etc?
  8. Implement a simple backup plan for data on the computer, once a month would probably be adequate. Suggestions?

Modified proposal Jan26

  1. Format 120GB drive into 20GB XP NTFS partition and 100GB FAT32 storage partition (possible 2GB paging/swap file partition for Linux if recommended by someone).
  2. Transfer current WD HD data to new 100GB drive. Transfer Seagate contents likewise.
  3. Configure new setup on IDE cables: CPU--IDE1--DVD(Sla)--120GB(Mas) and CPU--IDE2--DVDRW(Mas)--40GB(Sla)
  4. Format the 40GB WD, create 2GB FAT32 paging file partition for WinXP, 10GB Linux OS partition, and 28GB non-OS Linux apps partition.
  5. Clean install WinXP SP2 on 20GB NTFS.
  6. Install all Win32 non-OS apps and other data on F: drive, or whatever the 100GB partition would be on. Still, is it more efficient to create more than three partitions on the 120GB drive?
  7. Install Mandrake on the 10GB partition.
  8. Start experimenting with Linux apps; install non-OS software on the 100GB drive.
  9. Implement a simple backup plan for data on the computer, once a month would probably be adequate. Suggestions?

Please let me know what you'd do differently. Thanks in advance for your input!

By rockofvictory | Mon 2005Jan24 15:47 CST | News | Last edited Mon 2005Mar07 23:07 CST
Trackbacks disabled due to inactivity.

COMMENTS (8)

Smar969905 from the Linux Forum has given me some good input for some specific distros and tools to use. He recommends Mandrake.

DebianDude and stupergenius from BBR have provided info on using FAT32 - they recommend keeping WinXP on its own hard drive.

#C1 | By: J. J. | Tue 2005Jan25 08:08 CST

I will likely boot to Windows automatically but tinker with Linux every once and a while.

Then I would not recommend repartitioning and reinstalling anything at all. If you are just going to experiment with Linux, you should try one of the Live CDs. I would recommend Ubuntu, which is probably the easiest for a novice.

If you do decide you want to do a full Linux install, then choosing the right distribution is a very personal thing. Asking others to recommend a "distro" will only cause confusion as you'll get conflicting advice from just about everyone you talk to!

All of the hardware you've described should be fine with most modern distro's, especially the Live CDs. However, I've never worked with Linux on a dual-monitor setup, so I'm unsure how it handles two heads.

#C2 | By: Jonathan M. Hollin | Wed 2005Jan26 05:57 CST

Almost everyone has a different strategy! I think I'm in favor of DarkBlue's suggestion, but I can just leave half of my 40GB drive partitioned but unused until I decide to use it for Linux later. Jens suggests that I create two partitions on each drive with the 120GB for Windows and files while the smaller drive is for Linux and files.

I'm looking for the fastest and least fragmented solution. Which of the above accomplishes this goal?

#C3 | By: J. J. | Wed 2005Jan26 08:17 CST

Boblucci mentions using the 120GB drive on an old PC running Samba and use it as a file server. Too bad that I don't have another machine for this; I imagine this could be used as a simple print server for my two home computers, as well....

FYI, Adrian's Rojak Pot has a good article about setting up virtual memory (paging files in Windows).

Revisiting Jens on Linuxforums.org, he makes a good point that it's probably a good idea to keep the two OSes on separate hard drives so that if one crashes, they don't both crash. All very helpful suggestions, amigos!

#C4 | By: J. J. | Wed 2005Jan26 11:32 CST

As Jonathan pointed out, this is a very subjective topic.

I've never setup a dual boot between linux and windows. I have setup many a dual boot between different versions of windows though. You ALWAYS want to put each OS on its own partition. Doesn't necessarily need to be on its own physical hard drive...

I would take the 40 GB drive and create 2 equal sized partitions. Use this as the system drive for both operating systems. 20 GB should be plenty for your OS and programs. The 120 GB I would use strictly for data. Make one big partition. NTFS is preferred, but it may be best to leave it FAT32 so you don't run into security issues with linux accessing it.

Here’s how I would setup the drives:

Primary Master: 40 GB
Primary Slave: 120 GB
Secondary Master: DVD-ROM
Secondary Slave: DVD±RW

The advantage of keeping all the data on the single 120 GB partition is portability and convenience. If you plan on getting a new PC within the next year or so, you can easily pull that drive and install it in the new PC. Or if you decide after a while to ditch the dual boot setup, you only have to touch the 40 GB drive.

If you are worried about data loss, then purchase an ATA controller card and utilize all 3 of your hard drives (Windows, Linux, Data.) Better yet, purchase a second 120 GB drive and mirror them!

If your goal here is to be able to easily revert back to a single boot system after you get done testing, then I think your going about this the wrong way. It’s pretty much inevitable that you have to clean install any time you plan a major operating system reconfiguration.

Back when I was taking the MCSE classes, my teacher recommended creating a small partition just for the boot files (500 MB or less.) This was basically for dumb operation systems like Windows 98 that would always install its boot files on C:\. This was useful for 98 but I don’t think it applies to your situation.

Well there ya go, another opinion. Hope this helps…

#C5 | By: Nick | Wed 2005Jan26 13:11 CST

Just saw your modified proposal.

I would not install programs on the data drive. Install windows programs on the windows partition, and linux programs on the linux partition.

The pagefile I would put on the data drive. You will see a performance inscrease by having the pagefile on a separate physical hard drive. You will not benefit by having it on a seperate partition on the same physical hard drive.

#C6 | By: Nick | Wed 2005Jan26 13:20 CST

I guess I'll go with Nick's suggestion then. Since I have 512MB RAM, I won't worry about the paging files, either. I will, however, most likely keep the hard drives on separate IDEs according to my modified proposal. Until I get into the nitty gritty, I think that's enough info to get me going for now. I'll create a new post with my results in a few weeks!

#C7 | By: J. J. | Wed 2005Jan26 13:59 CST

Also, you cannot run both operating systems simultaneously. That would require extra hardware and I'm not sure how reliable it would be.

Was trying to find a link for you but can not find it right now...

#C8 | By: Nick | Wed 2005Jan26 15:41 CST

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