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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Linux Box on windows</H3>


<p><strong>From Uri Rado
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Heather Stern, Breen Mullins
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
How can I install a linux windows on windows?????
<br>Thanks!!!!!!!!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Uri Rado.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Hmm, such a simple question, so many ways to interpret it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><ul>
<li> "a linux windows"
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The usual graphical system for Linux is called the X Window System (no
plural) or often, just X.  The usual flavor of that we use is "Xfree86"...
even if we're on Alphas and some other hardware, but since you're using
Windows(tm) you're pretty likely to be using 80x86 compatible stuff.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The part that makes it look impressive is called a "window manager" and
many of them, even the really plain ones, support themes, though not the
same theme files from Windows without a little help.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<li> "on windows"
<BLOCKQUOTE><ol>
<li> a linux windows "inside" windows ... to run like a windows app?
<blockquote>
One possible way is to use VMware for Windows, and install Linux into
the child volume that it would create for you.  This can be a little
tricky to setup, but may not be too bad, and allows you to run Windows
and Linux things at the same time.  Yes, we here in The Answer Gang are
more likely to do it the other way, running Windows inside of Linux, but
it's your choice to make, not ours 
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockquote>
<li> a linux windows "inside" a windows partition, but to boot into
from windows.
<blockquote>
There are several distributions (many of them describe themselves as a
"loopback loading" linux) whose install does not repartition your drive,
just uses up a bunch of space inside of your C: ... I have little experience
with them personally so I can't tell which one is the best. (PhatLinux
got a lot of attention at one point :D)  All I can say is that Linux Weekly
News' "Distributions" section (<A HREF="http://www.lwn.net"
	>http://www.lwn.net</A>) has the best listing,
and you'll want to look at several web pages before picking one, if this
is what you wanted.
</blockquote>
<li> I'm using windows, how do I install linux without wiping my windows?
<blockquote>
Many of the commercial distros promise to do this, and they have varying
degrees of success... the most frightening part is the part about resizing
your drive space so Linux can use the rest.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Don't feel bad, it's frightening to us old hands too - and it should be.
There was never a better time to make a backup!
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Partition Magic is reeeeally popular for doing that, in fact, so popular
that it is what a couple of the big Linux distros use.  But, I have heard
of a few rare cases where it didn't do things right - and if you have
Windows ME you desperately, importantly, don't-take-maybe-for-an-answer,
<EM>need</EM> to use the newest version, or it won't work.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
FIPS used to be the handiest, but it's a DOS app.  It's also quite old
and unmaintained.  Basically if you have a new enough version of Windows
that you're not sure how to boot from a floppy into a DOS prompt... or
that you *can't* ... you shouldn't use FIPS anymore.   Its docs <EM>are</EM>
still valuable reading though.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
GNU Parted is the current good tool to use if you come up in Linux.  I'm
not sure if it's seen any problems with those WinME partitions or not,
but it is being actively developed, at least...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The most careful way is to do your own defragging and backups, use any one
of probably several available tools to cut your C: into a C: and D:, and
then, start your selected Linux distro installer.  The space assigned to
be your D: can safely be chopped up into parts for Linux (for ordinary
flavors of Linux) or used as the resting place for Linux parts (for
distros which use UMSDOS, live in FAT filesystems directly, or use
"loopback loading".)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you have an IDE drive your C: will almost certainly be <TT>/dev/hda1</TT> when
mentioned in the Linux tools, and should be left alone and absolutely NOT
formatted during your installation of Linux.  (For SCSI systems, <TT>/dev/sda1.</TT>)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<li> I just want to make my windows box look like Linux so my nerdy friend
will stop bugging me
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(Hey, it's april coming up, isn't it? 
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";P" 
		height="24" width="20" align="bottom">) 
 Well, it might be a little hard
to make it look like K desktop, but there are apps for virtual workspaces
in MSwin, and I <EM>bet</EM> someone has a hack to replace that "Start" logo with
you own thing, so with the right backdrop, a kinda boring enough cursor,
and maybe being able to tune the bevels so they look flatter (can it do
that naturally?  Been a while since I looked) ... plus some effort with
an ico editor turning some popular "gnome" and "K" icons into MSwin icons...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><DL><DT>
Maybe a student's project "icoutils" could help you out here:
<DD><A HREF="http://www.student.lu.se/~nbi98oli/src/icoutils-0.12.0.tar.gz"
	>http://www.student.lu.se/~nbi98oli/src/icoutils-0.12.0.tar.gz</A>
</DL></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You'd have to be a little bit programmer instead of artist though, he says
turning images back into .ico's is "not yet implemented".  But it was
just updated this week, so let's encourage him, okay?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Anyways don't forget to use Windows' features to make the icons 48x48 size
and not to lose pixels by getting stuck with 32x32 "old style" .ico or it
won't look very linux-y...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Hopefully, your buds would get the hint that by applying apropos Windows
tricks, that you are nerdy enough in your own right, in the environment
you prefer.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
</ol></blockquote>
</ul></BLOCKQUOTE>
<p>[about adding Linux to an existing Windows install]</p>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Breen]
WinME apparently added a new and bizarre way of reporting cylinder
numbers on large drives (the physical cylinder modulo 1024 or some
such) which confused the dickens out of Parted. I don't know if
the fix is in the latest released version but it has been reported
on the parted list.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Make very very sure that you're using the latest version of whatever
tool you're using if you've got WinME anywhere near your box.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        >
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Uri Rado.
</strong></p>

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