How do I get started with dual boot of linux on vosta?

[raygg]

I had some training in unix and linux a few years ago - and used unix a lot with oracle since then but never used linux at work. In my class back then they gave us red hat distro and it booted automatically, but I don't remember learning about iso files or doing a linux dual boot on a windows pc.

I want to install oracle linux and 10g on a vista home pc as a dual boot. I have installed many oracle db's so that is not an issue. My problem is getting oracle linux onto the pc box. I downloaded the 2.5 gb oracle linux file from the oracle website and it was a zip file. I unzipped it and it was an iso file. Never worked with iso before. I fired up Nero 10 to burn an iso file to a dvd and it completed ok.

I planned to use the Vista tools to partition the 250gb HD, but when I tried using the internal partition software the partitioning tool says only 58mb is available. If I right click the C drv - it says I have 168gb unused. I am sure that this is not a bad case of defrag because I never put much additional files and software on the box - it's still pretty vanilla. What do I do next?

I am unsure how to get this to boot once the partition issue is settled. It is a windows OS but there are no files on the disk that look like setup.exe or autorun.

One of the readme's said you can boot using one of the files on the disk (boot.iso 9660kb). I fired up Nero10 again to create an iso file using a cd and it failed creating the cd twice. Should I have done a drag n drop copy instead?

Here's some of the entries from the log

7:40:51 PM #17 TRANSFER -20 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 1222
Could not perform Write

7:40:51 PM #18 CDR -1040 File Writer.cpp, Line 327
Illegal block size for command
D: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-862

7:40:51 PM #19 CDR -201 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 324
Invalid write state
D: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-862

7:40:51 PM #20 TRANSFER -18 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 1222
Could not perform EndTrack

Not sure what to do next.

 

[itsp1965]

I don't bother with dual booting nowadays but instead use the free Vmware Server so you can run your Oracle linux as a virtual machine. If you insist on dual-booting, first burn the ISO file to CD/DVD using Vista's CDBURN or DVDBURN commands to burn the ISO image to disk (as it sounds like your Nero install isn't working). Boot with the disk and then you can have Linux create a partition from free space

 

[raygg]

Where do I get the free VMWare server? I thought all the VMware products were available only for fee licensing. Is there a free WMWare server for xp and vista or does one size fit all?

 

[BadBigBen]

In an attempt to clear up things...

VMWare Player is FREE, only have to register to download the file...

Oracle's VirtualBox, more like VMWare Workstation though not as powerful imho, is also FREE and should serve you nicely in this aspect...

with both the above solutions, you DO NOT have to burn any CD/DVD at all, you tell the app, after creating a Virtual Machine, where the ISO is located at and the Virtual Machine will boot from it...

Dual booting is no problem either, once you have the ISO (which is a CD/DVD IMAGE) burned to a CD/DVD, you boot from it and install the OS, it will repartition the DRIVE for you, you do not have to re-size the partition at all through Windows...

Here are some instructions, as to HOW TO:

How to dual-boot Vista with Linux (Vista installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first.htm

VirtualBox HOWTOs and tutorials

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/User_HOWTOS

Using VMware Player to Create Images for New Virtual Machines

http://blogbuildingu.com/articles/using-vmware-player-to-create-images-for-new-virtual-machines

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[raygg]

I downloaded oracle linux - installed that in a partition I set up on the vista HD as a dual boot. Thanks for your help.

 

[jshurst]

Just to mention VMWare Server is also free, as is VMWare vSphere Hypervisor. When is VMWare going to make a bare-metal client hypervisor!? It's rumored in 2011, but we'll see (VMWare CVP).

IMO, dual-booting should be a thing of the past, we should be able to multi-boot OS's on the client (like server hypervisors do).

This also looks very interesting:

http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=2300325

and

http://www.virtualcomputer.com/nxtop/nxtop-workstation

Not trying to thread hijack, just thought it was worth mentioning...

J