Yeah I'd like a copy of linux

T

thelowbudget

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I need to find a copy of linux that can be installed within windows XP. I can't seem to get any to install without error from the before boot command line on my toshiba laptop. It is also quite a pain to get it to the install on preboot.
 


Preferably one that you know won't mess up my windows installation by overwrite. I'd like one that could create a seperate file system on a separate partition.
 
thelowbudget, have you tried installing ubuntu? I just started playing with linux, specifically unbuntu desktop a few days ago. link to download is here

During the install process it will give you the option to install it alongside windows. It let's you resize the windows partition so you don't delete windows or your windows install/files. You can always burn a copy and just boot from CD which gives you an opportunity to explore it without committing to an install on your pc.
 
I need to find a copy of linux that can be installed within windows XP. I can't seem to get any to install without error from the before boot command line on my toshiba laptop. It is also quite a pain to get it to the install on preboot.

There is a tool called 'Instlux' which is a windows installer that allows you to install linux.
 
Yeah, Wubi is a great option when you're first starting out, though the standard Ubuntu CD does a good job at preserving your Windows partition.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this, but have you considered installing Linux in a virtual machine? Granted not all laptops can smoothly run a virtual machine, but its another option to look at compared to dual-booting, unless you're looking for a more powerful solution.
 
Yes here's the issue with all of this my laptop can barely run windows xp on it. It has a 2.0ghz celeron and it doesn't even have 1gb of ram in it. The ps3 sitting behind me has nearly four times as much usability with it's operating system. It even has more HD space, but besides that point I came looking for windows alternatives. I tried using wubi but it leads to many errors after the installation which render both operating systems useless. I am going to try and install damn small linux or DSM or a common name is buisiness card linux. I only have a 250 gb HD in this thing (it's old so originally 30gb). That being said the 500mb DSM image is less than half the size. I'm hoping to get this image on along with a dual boot windows. I hope it ends up recognizing my network device.
 
I think I will look at Instalux and Wubi I really don't care if I lose this windows partition It's my laptop and I can do whatever I want with it. Besides, I put important stuff on my win 7 desktop anyways.
 
Ok whatever instalux was it doesn't seem to exist because I cannot find it with a quick advanced google search so I'm now attempting the WUBI installer from okaykeke's suggestion.
I will reply again from within Ubuntu.
 
Keep in mind that there are other "editions" of Ubuntu and other distributions. You might try something with the LXDE, or XFCE interface as they are lighter and tend to not be as resource intensive.
 
Try Puppy Linux. You can run it from a usb drive. No need to install into the hard disk. So there's nothing to mess up.
 
Try Puppy Linux. You can run it from a usb drive. No need to install into the hard disk. So there's nothing to mess up.

If your motherboard supports it, you can run anything from USB -- even Windows 7.

I'd say if you really want to run XP and Linux side-by-side, do NOT virtualize one. It simply kills the purpose of using Linux if you're doing it within Windows.

Instead, use Ubuntu (or whatever you want) Live CD to repartition a separate area for Linux and just install Linux to there. Then you can dual-boot (upon booting your PC you'll choose whether you want to run Windows [version] or Linux).
 
You can also install it on a USB-Key. Maybe that's the way to go?
 
You could try Ubuntu's Wubi - what it does is it installs Ubuntu into a virtual hard drive within Windows, so you can install and uninstall it like you would a Windows application. But you have to boot into Ubuntu to use it, you can't use it within Windows, like you would a Windows application or a virtual PC. The performance impact is negligible in most cases, though on slower hard drives it may slow you down a bit.

You said you had a weak laptop with barely 1 GB of RAM in it. I would recommend older versions of Ubuntu for smoother performance while still maintaining the ease of use that Ubuntu brings. Ubuntu 10.10 would be great - all versions beyond that are bound to slow down your laptop because of the new Unity interface.
 
I'm in your place as well, but I need a copy for Windows 7. I'm pretty new to Linux myself, so it's pretty ideal that we consult forums such as this. Good luck, though!
 
I'm in your place as well, but I need a copy for Windows 7. I'm pretty new to Linux myself, so it's pretty ideal that we consult forums such as this. Good luck, though!


Linux can run virtualized in either vmware player, virtualbox, etc. Either that or do a full install (Granted this will wipe out your windows install unless you plan for dual booting). There really is no windows 7 version of Linux unless you are putting linux into a vm.
 
If you are struggling you can always install it in a VM inside windows. I do that at work, basically you are running windows, but inside windows you can open a virtual Linux machine. I recommend using Oracles Virtual Box, just because it is what I use. A second option is pubuntu, which stands for portable ubuntu. It installs within windows as a program. Might be good for just playing about.
 
First: for those who are recommending one use Wubi to install: don't. Please don't.

Non-Ubuntu Linux forums are filled with people looking for help after Wubi screwed up their Windows installation and now they can't boot into one or either of the OSes.

There is no practical need for WUBI (as those recommending playing with Linux in a virtual machine rightly demonstrate). It runs the risk of leaving you unbootable and also gives you a more limited Linux experience. If you're going to actually install Linux, please do a normal, regular install of the OS - you'll be safer in the long run.

Secondly, for those who are lifelong Windows users and want to check out Linux - it might not be popular to say, but you might not want to choose Ubuntu. Ubuntu has a controversial new user interface that seems more intended for touch displays and ultra-dumbed-down applications than normal desktop use. You don't really want to add an extra learning curve to the mix. You'd probably be much more comfortable with a distro that uses KDE as its default desktop interface since it uses the standard, normal taskbar/"start" menu type interface you're familiar with. You could probably sit down at a desktop using KDE and not realize for a long time you're not using Windows 7. If you make the switch to Linux then later on, once you're comfortable with the "linux" part, you can investigate other desktops and see if you want to switch to one of them.

Third, for the original poster, provided Linux doesn't have any trouble with your particular hardware, you'll find performance much better going to Linux from XP with your specifications. I have an old laptop with a 1.8GHZ single core 32bit Sempron chip with 512MB of memory and an unbelievably slow, 4200rpm (!) IDE 75GB hard drive. XP loves to use the page file to swap things out to disk. Given that the disk drive in this laptop is incredibly slow this would cause the machine to essentially pause quite often as it swapped memory data out to disk or read it back in, even when there was free memory. Linux normally only uses the swap file when memory is close to filled up, so that alone made the performance much better for me when I replaced XP with Linux on it. Linux, like more modern Windows versions, will use all free memory to cache hard drive writes/reads and leave recently used files in memory. XP doesn't really do this and the performance boost was again quite noticeable. I'm able to run the latest version of OpenSUSE Linux with the full KDE desktop on this laptop, so you should be able to run any linux distro you're interested in on yours. You will definitely see a major boost in performance if coming from XP or having low memory, and like me, you qualify on both of those. Linux also uses much less disk space - a default install of OpenSUSE only averages about 3GB, and that's including office suite, image editing program, browser, e-mail, instant messaging, VoIP, PDF reader, etc.!
 

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