Solve : configuring new system with Windows and Linux?

1.	Solve : configuring new system with Windows and Linux?
Answer» Hi everyone. I have assembled a new tower system and have not yet installed any OS. I intend to RUN Windows 7 on it; I will be installing it from a retail disc for Win 7 that is currently installed on an old Pentium 4 and I'll be terminating that old computer since the motherboard has some degrading capacitors. I would also like to have a Linux OS on it. I prefer having two OS by installing one of the OS as a virtual machine using VMware Player or virtualbox, as opposed to a dual-boot configuration. This new build has 8GB of RAM, so it should have no problem running a primary OS and virtual OS simultaneously. The question I'm debating now is which OS to install as the primary, i.e. the OS that initially boots when the computer is turned on, and which OS to run as virtual machine (VM). I belong to a computer users group and two of the members who lead a Linux SIG (Special Interest Group) within the organization have helped some other members setup new computer builds with two OS where one of them is a VM. These two guys prefer installing the Linux OS (usually Ubuntu, I believe) as the primary and Windows as a VM. I understand their REASONING but they are, in my opinion, Linux fanatics. Interested in forum member opinions on this. Which way would you go, and why? Couple of choices... The cleanest method is dual-boot on seperate HDD's If this is an option i'd highly suggest it. If not and it's all on 1 HDD i'd suggest the Win install 1st...then whatever flavor of Linux you decide on...and then probably a 3rd party boot manager as grub and the others suck...It all comes down to how you use it. If you plan on using Linux mostly and just running a few Windows programs, put Windows in the VM, if it's the other way around, put Linux in the VM. You also need to think which OS will be running the most intensive tasks and consider putting that on the main machine. Personally however, I dual boot my desktop off of a pair of SSDs (One for Linux (main) and other for Windows 8.1 (secondary)) and my laptop off a single SSD (Linux (main) and Windows 8.1 (secondary)). I don't have a problem with GRUB though - Sure it's not the easiest to configure manually but once it's up and running it works fine, besides, loads of distros will configure GRUB AUTOMATICALLY at install.Quote from: camerongray on November 19, 2013, 06:47:50 AM It all comes down to how you use it. If you plan on using Linux mostly and just running a few Windows programs, put Windows in the VM, if it's the other way around, put Linux in the VM. You also need to think which OS will be running the most intensive tasks and consider putting that on the main machine. Yeah, after giving this more thought, I think installing Windows as the primary system makes the most sense for me. I use MICROSOFT Office a lot. Quote from: camerongray on November 19, 2013, 06:47:50 AM Personally however, I dual boot my desktop off of a pair of SSDs (One for Linux (main) and other for Windows 8.1 (secondary)) and my laptop off a single SSD (Linux (main) and Windows 8.1 (secondary)). I don't have a problem with GRUB though - Sure it's not the easiest to configure manually but once it's up and running it works fine, besides, loads of distros will configure GRUB automatically at install. I have one SSD in this new build and I plan to move the 250GB SATA HD from my old Win 7 system to this new build. So, it will have two drives and I might go the dual-boot route. On the other hand, I'd like to have the option to simply switch back and forth between Windows and Linux without restarting. So, installing a Linux OS as a VM is more likely what I'll do. I was doing this back in 2011 but it was a bit sluggish at times on the old system (P4 with 4GB of RAM). I think this new system will handle such a configuration much better. I could see the restart option being a pain...it's just how i run my dual-boot systems as i never have issues with boot-loader messes ...or VM slowdowns...just my opinion.For the usage you describe I would probably agree with using Windows as primary and Linux in a VM, if you go that route rather than separate drives. As camerongray rightly says, it's all down to what you use the most. I would have Windows as primary and Linux as a VM myself mainly because, as far as I know, the only thing I couldn't do on Linux that I currently do with Windows is play GAMES (by which I mean games that don't work on Linux), and they'd be much better off not running in a VM. I don't think you'll have a problem running a VM OS on top of your normal apps, you have enough RAM to make both smooth and SSDs help greatly in these situations as it's easy to run into a situation with a HDD where both OSes are accessing the disk and just thrashing it, bringing the system to a crawl.

Answer»

Hi everyone. I have assembled a new tower system and have not yet installed any OS. I intend to RUN Windows 7 on it; I will be installing it from a retail disc for Win 7 that is currently installed on an old Pentium 4 and I'll be terminating that old computer since the motherboard has some degrading capacitors. I would also like to have a Linux OS on it. I prefer having two OS by installing one of the OS as a virtual machine using VMware Player or virtualbox, as opposed to a dual-boot configuration. This new build has 8GB of RAM, so it should have no problem running a primary OS and virtual OS simultaneously.

The question I'm debating now is which OS to install as the primary, i.e. the OS that initially boots when the computer is turned on, and which OS to run as virtual machine (VM). I belong to a computer users group and two of the members who lead a Linux SIG (Special Interest Group) within the organization have helped some other members setup new computer builds with two OS where one of them is a VM. These two guys prefer installing the Linux OS (usually Ubuntu, I believe) as the primary and Windows as a VM. I understand their REASONING but they are, in my opinion, Linux fanatics.

Interested in forum member opinions on this. Which way would you go, and why?
Couple of choices...
The cleanest method is dual-boot on seperate HDD's
If this is an option i'd highly suggest it.
If not and it's all on 1 HDD i'd suggest the Win install 1st...then whatever flavor of Linux you decide on...and then probably a 3rd party boot manager as grub and the others suck...It all comes down to how you use it. If you plan on using Linux mostly and just running a few Windows programs, put Windows in the VM, if it's the other way around, put Linux in the VM. You also need to think which OS will be running the most intensive tasks and consider putting that on the main machine.

Personally however, I dual boot my desktop off of a pair of SSDs (One for Linux (main) and other for Windows 8.1 (secondary)) and my laptop off a single SSD (Linux (main) and Windows 8.1 (secondary)). I don't have a problem with GRUB though - Sure it's not the easiest to configure manually but once it's up and running it works fine, besides, loads of distros will configure GRUB AUTOMATICALLY at install.Quote from: camerongray on November 19, 2013, 06:47:50 AM

It all comes down to how you use it. If you plan on using Linux mostly and just running a few Windows programs, put Windows in the VM, if it's the other way around, put Linux in the VM. You also need to think which OS will be running the most intensive tasks and consider putting that on the main machine.

Yeah, after giving this more thought, I think installing Windows as the primary system makes the most sense for me. I use MICROSOFT Office a lot.

Quote from: camerongray on November 19, 2013, 06:47:50 AM

Personally however, I dual boot my desktop off of a pair of SSDs (One for Linux (main) and other for Windows 8.1 (secondary)) and my laptop off a single SSD (Linux (main) and Windows 8.1 (secondary)). I don't have a problem with GRUB though - Sure it's not the easiest to configure manually but once it's up and running it works fine, besides, loads of distros will configure GRUB automatically at install.

I have one SSD in this new build and I plan to move the 250GB SATA HD from my old Win 7 system to this new build. So, it will have two drives and I might go the dual-boot route. On the other hand, I'd like to have the option to simply switch back and forth between Windows and Linux without restarting. So, installing a Linux OS as a VM is more likely what I'll do. I was doing this back in 2011 but it was a bit sluggish at times on the old system (P4 with 4GB of RAM). I think this new system will handle such a configuration much better. I could see the restart option being a pain...it's just how i run my dual-boot systems as i never have issues with boot-loader messes ...or VM slowdowns...just my opinion.For the usage you describe I would probably agree with using Windows as primary and Linux in a VM, if you go that route rather than separate drives.
As camerongray rightly says, it's all down to what you use the most. I would have Windows as primary and Linux as a VM myself mainly because, as far as I know, the only thing I couldn't do on Linux that I currently do with Windows is play GAMES (by which I mean games that don't work on Linux), and they'd be much better off not running in a VM.
I don't think you'll have a problem running a VM OS on top of your normal apps, you have enough RAM to make both smooth and SSDs help greatly in these situations as it's easy to run into a situation with a HDD where both OSes are accessing the disk and just thrashing it, bringing the system to a crawl.

Solve : configuring new system with Windows and Linux?

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