Dual-booting Ubuntu 9.04 and Windows Vista
So you’re ready to commit full time to Linux, and you’re wondering what distribution to use. If you’re like most users then you want something that is simple, yet powerful, and backed up by a team of developers who are committed to quality releases. Allow me to introduce you to Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on Debian, and the name “Ubuntu” is an African word meaning “Humanity to others”, or “I am what I am because of who we all are”. The current release is version 9.04 (9 for 2009, 04 for the 4th month of the year), code named Jaunty Jackalope, and each release is on a release cycle that has been maintained since its initial release.
So why use Ubuntu? Well quite simply, it works! When you’re finished installing Ubuntu, a full installation takes about 25 minutes, it is ready to go. There’s not really any tweaking that needs to be done in order to get everything working like with other distros. You will most likely have to change a few settings here and there to tweak things to your liking, but that’s true with any operating system. Obviously your individual results will vary based on your particular system setup, but generally things are smooth.
Okay, so you’re ready to go. Head on over to Ubuntu’s website and download the ISO image of the installation you choose. Please be mindful of the 32 and 64-bit versions, 64-bit will not work on all systems. Then burn the image to a CD-ROM using Nero, or my personal favorite Alcohol 120%. Once that’s done then restart your computer and make sure your BIOS is set to boot from the CD-ROM. I am not going to go into in depth instructions on how to install Ubuntu, their installation instructions are pretty straight forward and do most of the work for you.
What I will talk about is deciding which Bootloader to use. Ubuntu comes bundled with GNU Grub aka Grub or Grand Unified Bootloader, and it works really well. When Ubuntu installs itself it will automatically install Grub to the MBR, as well as search your hard drives for other OS installations and add them to /boot/grub/menu.lst. For most purposes this will work just fine, and your two operating systems will live happily with each other. By the way, when doing a dual-boot system involving Vista, I would always recommend that you install Vista first, and try to have Vista on the first partition that your BIOS sees. Read more…
