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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Linux Newbie here, can I have some advice on dual booting my windows laptop (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've used Windows my whole life, except for a 2006 Mac OS X I got when I was a kid, and I never thought about switching away from it. However, in recent times, I've grown to care more about FOSS and customizability, and I'm also a bit more tech-savvy than the average person, I'd say. As such, I've of course heard of Linux, and didn't realize how simple it was to install certain distros until my brother installed Linux Mint on an old laptop he repaired. I want to play around with it and see if it's something I'd be interested in, but at the moment I only have one computer, which is my laptop, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to do a full switch over when all my important stuff is on here. As such, I've heard people talk about "dual booting" which from what I understand means having both Windows and Linux on the computer, and picking which to use on start up? This sounds like a perfect environment to play around with Linux, assign it like 50GB of space (Is that enough?) and see if I like it, but I'm very ignorant about a lot of things related to Linux, and don't want to start playing around with something I don't understand. Advice would be appreciated.

Sadly there's a few too many replies for my busy self to respond to. I'll say thanks for the help though, I appreciate it!

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most distros, at least mainstream ones, will happily install right alongside Windows and give you the option to boot from either Linux or Windows when you start your PC.

Basically, there is a "boot loader" that the motherboard finds on the hard drive when the PC starts up and tells it to load the OS. The bootloader handles getting the OS kernel out of the hard drive and into memory with the correct drivers so the kernel can take over. Windows has its own bootloader that can only boot Windows. Linux also has a boot loader called "GRUB" that can boot multiple operating systems located in different partitions on your hard drive as long as it knows where they are.

You'll have to first shrink your Windows partition using the Disk Management tool from inside windows so that there is "unused" space on your hard drive not occupied by the Windows file system. Then run your Linux bootable USB and it will take up that space to install Linux. Any normal distro like Ubuntu/Debian/Mint et al. will set up GRUB automatically to recognize both Linus and Windows, and you'll be off to the races.

However, if you just want to play with Linux before you commit to faffing about in your partition tables, most distros can also run in a "live USB" state where it loads the basics of the OS directly from a USB stick into memory, no installation required. I highly recommend doing this first!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Personally I would definitely recommend starting with a live USB. It's rare, but I've had a few times where setting up dual-boot broke the bootloader somehow and getting it back was a massive pain in the ass.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I second this. I ran Fedora for a year but the upgrade from one major version to the other messed up my whole windows bootloader and I lost my windows partition. Spent forever fumbling with it and ended up transferring my files out and then deleting windows altogether because it was such a hassle.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Thirded.