Hey, I was wondering if anyone knew any software that I could obtain to repartition my hard drive without having to reformat my hard drive. I'm wanting to dual boot Windows and Linux, so I need to repartition. I'm going to partition off ~55gb for each.
While we're on the subject of repartitioning and dual-booting, I was wondering what linux distro ya'll prefer? I myself prefer Red Hat, but that's just me.
ID:185979
 Sep 15 2005, 2:25 pm
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Redhat is free(See fedora). So is mandrake. Although these are both companys, out to make money, the GLP makes it hard to release their pay for OS without a free version. This is not because they have too, but rather because they have to give the source with the product, so Piracy is nothing. I have not read though the GLP, but basicly, anything you give or sell, you must offer the source with the product. If someone could compile mandrake, and they put some CD authentication system in it, the person could just remove that part, and redistribute it(Not legally, but it would be easy as Pie and almost impossible to stop).
Redhat has made their site a little easier to navigate, and you can get to the free download link rather easy now, they used to make no mention of an entire section of their site (fedora.redhat.com) on the main page, or any page linked to(Or very few links at least). It took me about 10 minutes of solid digging to find the link to download mandriva free(Not googling, just link clicking). I already have a copy of Mandrake 10.1, but I was thinking of downloading Mandriva 10.2. The difference is minor, from what I hear. If you need to buy it because you cannot download it(56k perhaps), then I believe many sites sell fedora for dirt cheap(About 2$ or 3$, just enough to cover time and the blank CD/DVD.) No doubt that people do the same thing for Mandrake. It is legal, and mandriva even says it on their site. They promote redistributing, it lowers bandwidth cost for them, but spreads their product. If you have a true interest in Linux, you can throw me a line on Google talk at: Scoobert.scoobsoft{at}gmail\dot\com Linux is a fun toy, but it has its downsides too. I still have not been able to switch over from windows to Linux for good. My ATI card is not well supported(Something Mandrake is supposed to be better at than Fedora, but I have not tested yet, Fedora did not like it though), so emulating windows games is out of the question, along with half of the visual things that makes KDE so pretty. NVidia is supposed to have better Linux support. | |
i would suggest just about any debian-based linux distribution - MEPIS and Ubuntu/Kubuntu being personal favorites. in just about any modern distro, during the installation process you get the chance to re-partition your hard drive as you see fit. just be sure you have defragmented the disk to move your files to one side of the drive- that way you reduce the chance of losing data that might be where you want to make the new partition. backups of your data are also a good idea anyway.
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digitalmouse wrote:
i would suggest just about any debian-based linux distribution - MEPIS and Ubuntu/Kubuntu being personal favorites. in just about any modern distro, during the installation process you get the chance to re-partition your hard drive as you see fit. just be sure you have defragmented the disk to move your files to one side of the drive- that way you reduce the chance of losing data that might be where you want to make the new partition. backups of your data are also a good idea anyway. Question: What's so special about a debian-based linux distro? I'm not very knowledgable in this field. I've just tried Redhat and I'm somewhat alright with that. | |
it's not so much that it is 'special', just that Debian-based distros have been gaining popularity as stable and easier to install and maintain than distros based on RedHat or Slackware, and the like.
i started out with RedHat, then Slackware, then various versions of Mandrake and SUSE. YellowDog, Puppy Linux, DamnSmallLinux, and Slax have also peaked my interest on occasion- often in the areas of LiveCD-distros. it's nice to just pop in a CD, boot it, and get a working OS from the get-go without losing what i already have. but since I have always had a goal of promoting Linux to others, it has been important that Linux be as close to 'idiot-proof' as possible in terms of setting up, educating users on usage, and painless maintenance. the recent debian-based MEPIS and Ubuntu/Kubuntu distributions go far to reach these goals. both have proven track records in being able to auto-detect much of todays modern hardware setups (and a fair amount of older ones too) without the user even needing to lift a finger. ubuntu, for example, asks you for a desired language, verifies your keyboard mapping, asks you to provide a username and password, gives you a few simple choices for partitioning your hard-disk, and in about 20-30 minutes you have a fully working OS, complete with all the usual tools and programs most people need to be able to get to work right away: office programs, graphic programs, email, web browser, firewall, etc. and people with windows or mac experience find that transferring their desktop skills to modern linuxes is not so hard after all. it just works, and the 6 college students that i have converted over to ubuntu this month really appreciate that. | |
On a side note, Redhat is not that good, try mandrake(Mandriva now). Redhat seems to like to move stuff around, not sticking with standards, really was a pain for me. Also, Mandrake likes KDE, while redhat like Gnome. Although both are great desktop environments, KDE pwns Gnome, so to speak. KDE is far more flexable and dynamic than Gnome, and doesn't require core rebuilds just to change most uncommon settings(I ran into this problem a lot with gnome).