[Techtalk] Dual-Boot Installation Order?

[James Sutherland]

On Sun, 7 Oct 2001 wny-tc at juno.com wrote:

> Hello again, Keith here in the Depths of the Great Bergen Swamp
>
> This may seem like a strange question, but what would keep one from
> installing a dual-boot system with the Linux install first, and then add
> a WinDoze install for those aps that just won't port over one way or
> another?

You can do it; the only caveat is that Windows will trample your Linux
boot sector into the mud, so you need to reinstall LILO/GRUB/whatever
afterwards. Doing Windows before Linux avoids this step.

> I have a Caldera Open Linux dual-boot package that tells one to start in
> Windows and then install the Linux.  It does not make sense that I can't
> do it the other way.
>
> Am I tramping thru land mines, cow pies or dandelions here if I reverse
> the order?

It shouldn't cause any problems - just a little bit of extra work, and you
may need to be more careful with partitioning? (Windows is quite fussy
where it boots from.)

Alternatively, if your machine is powerful enough, you could make it pure
Linux, then install Windows within a VMWare (or similar) virtual
machine...


James.
-- 
"Our attitude with TCP/IP is, `Hey, we'll do it, but don't make a big
system, because we can't fix it if it breaks -- nobody can.'"

"TCP/IP is OK if you've got a little informal club, and it doesn't make
any difference if it takes a while to fix it."
		-- Ken Olson, in Digital News, 1988