Linux Professional

[nemisis1400]

Ok, I'm not that technically proficient to learn linux in a month, but I do want to step away from windows. Unfortunately I'm very reluctant to do so since it is what I know. What I want to know is how do I make a dual boot with linux, that's when you start-up and you choose which OS to use right? Does Wubi act like an alternative to dual-booting? I want to work with a computer that isn't bogged down by all the spyware and viruses that windows catches.

[locosway]

Wubi will act like a dual boot more-or-less.

If you want to truly dual boot then you would install or have installed Windows first, and then you would install Linux after it. Linux will install to the location you choose and will install it's own boot loader which will be able to boot either Linux or Windows.

A lot of people have a laptop and desktop. They'll install Windows on one and Linux on the other until they get proficient on one system such as Linux and then switch over completely when they are comfortable.

Also, if you have kids. Linux is perfect for them and it will save you a lot of time worrying about anti-virus and malware on their computers.

[Nobama4us]

Ok, I'm not that technically proficient to learn linux in a month, but I do want to step away from windows. Unfortunately I'm very reluctant to do so since it is what I know. What I want to know is how do I make a dual boot with linux, that's when you start-up and you choose which OS to use right? Does Wubi act like an alternative to dual-booting? I want to work with a computer that isn't bogged down by all the spyware and viruses that windows catches.

You have 3 boot loader choices without going to a 3rd party source. You can use windows bootloader (blah), Grub or Lilo. Most linux distros will see your windows partition and add them to the boot loader menu for you. If not they are very easy to edit and add. Below is a grub.conf snippet for a generic dual boot. Your actual partitions will vary.

default=0
timeout=30
splashimage=(hd0,6)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu

title Fedora (2.6.27.30-170.2.82.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.30-170.2.82.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=60356f00-768d-493a-a29e-e7a0c273828a
initrd /initrd-2.6.27.30-170.2.82.fc10.i686.img
title XP_Media_Edition
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1