Re: who uses dual boot? [was: How to start using a free OS]
On Tue, 12 Nov 2013 08:32:55 -0500
Miles Fidelman <mfidelman@meetinghouse.net> wrote:
>
>
> But, having said that, when one really uses two operating systems on
> the same machine, I expect it's more common to run one under
> virtualization, so you can run both at the same time - dual booting
> is a real pain if one is really USING both operating systems.
>
> What are other people's experiences? How many folks here use Windows
> (or Mac o/s) on the same machine as a linux distribution? Do you
> dual-boot or do you virtualize?
>
>
I dual-boot a laptop, XP and sid. Some applications I use work only on
Windows, some only on Linux, most unusual USB peripherals work only with
Windows. A lot of non-IT hardware uses USB for firmware updates and
sometimes configuration, and the software driver is nearly always
Windows-only.
The government of my country requires pretty much all business taxation
to be dealt with by their own software over the Net, and though they
offer a Linux fig-leaf, it doesn't cover much e.g. needs 32 bit
support, which no longer exists in sid (no, it doesn't work in a
32-bit Wheezy VM on 64 bit sid). I don't do that work on the laptop, so
the dual-boot isn't really relevant, but it is another reason that I do
need to keep Windows around the house.
I haven't done any recent experimenting with virtualisation, and
previous experience was that USB on the virtual machine varied from
primitive to non-existent. Maybe it's better now. Also, something not
many people seem to realise, and probably don't care about, is that only
'professional' versions of Windows are licensed to work in a VM, and I
don't have any suitable Windows version.
I do also use the laptop on free public wi-fi, and there's no way I'll
do that with Windows, even using a VPN. I need Linux to run natively,
to make use of iptables, so I can't really run either OS in a VM in the
other, and I doubt that I have the RAM to do so usefully anyway. XP
needed about a quarter-gig when it came out, but seems to need twice
that much nowadays.
From April next year, I won't dare connect XP to the Net, so I'll be
looking out for a laptop that allows Linux to boot. I don't necessarily
want to dual-boot it, as I now have a sid installation on a USB hard
drive which seems to boot on nearly anything, but I do need it to work.
--
Joe
Reply to: