Dual Boot: Mint first or Windows

[HughT]

Hi walksin2trees, note that I said

all you need to do is repair grub as follows: from a live CD

whereas you've done

from within my installed Mint

The bootloader installs to the master boot record of the disk, not the partition. Hence the instruction root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdX. Does that solve your problem?

[walksin2trees]

I understood that part, I was just looking for confirmation, because as I said Linux boots fine from the list, and I wanted to introduce the other factors into the discussion in case they made a difference in how the problem should be solved.

I'll give it a go

[drpcdr]

I have an elegant dual boot solution that does NOT require a boot manager.

It is an image of Linux Mint 9 LXDE that fits on a 16 GB flash drive

http://drpcdr.ca/LMLXDE.pdf describes how the image was created

Someone is seeding it here:

http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7220650

I am sharing the individual files at dropbox.com.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743475/LM9LXDE_16F.tbi

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743475/iflnet.iso

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743475/Read_Me.txt

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743475/BOOTITNG.ISO

Do try it out and give me some feedback

Thanks in advance

[sagirfahmid3]

Linux on a flashdrive is great, to a certain extent. You wont get write speeds ANYWHERE near traditional harddrives; at most you'll get 10mb/s write, 30mb/s read on a flashdrive. Compare that to a mechanical harddrive's 30-50mb/s write and idk what read (definitely higher than flashdrive's). That method is only good if you want to take your mint anywhere you want, but performance-wise, it sucks.

[drpcdr]

@sagir:

If you read my post and read the info I link to carefully, you would have realized that my image for Linux Mint 9 LXDE can be deployed onto any hard disk drive OR 16 GB flash drive.

You should try it out then report back your findings.

In other words, look before you leap.

You will find that my image of Linux Mint 9 LXDE runs fast even via flash drive!

---------------------------------------------------------------------


April 25, 2012, by Drpcdr.ca

http://drpcdr.ca/LMLXDE.pdf describes how this image of Linux was created.

Someone is seeding the torrent here:

http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7220650

I am sharing files at Dropbox.com:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743475/LM9LXDE_16F.tbi

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743475/iflnet.iso

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743475/Read_Me.txt

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743475/BOOTITNG.ISO

The above links to the same files I was unable to seed properly.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

NB My free Dropbox account allows a limit of 20 GB/file/day

This means only 13 downloads per 24 hour period.

The paid service would allow 130 downloads per day.

My free account may be terminated at any time.

See also the following:

http://drpcdr.ca/frank_intel_franken_to ... _tosh.html
http://www.drpcdr.ca/pics/2006_Macbook.jpg
http://www.drpcdr.ca/pics/HP_Omnibook_6000.jpg
http://www.drpcdr.ca/pics/IBM_Thinkpad_600X.jpg

http://db.tt/URHcmO27
Help me out by using the above link to sign up for free or paid dropbox file hosting account.

Thanks in advance!


---------------------------------------------------------------

Simple Dual Boot Without Boot Manager for any PC or Intel Mac

Warning this is for advanced users.
For older computers any spare blank internal HDD of any size >= 20 GB,
both desktop and laptops

Download torrent or the files I am sharing at dropbox.com
Navigate to where you downloaded it
Create image for Linux boot CD from 1 blank CD-R and iflnet.iso
create BootitNG boot CD from 1 blank CD-R and BOOTITNG.ISO
insert image for Linux boot CD
Shut down PC

connect a blank Kingston 16 GB USB flash drive
or any spare blank internal HDD of any size >= 20 GB,
for both desktop and laptops
Turn on PC

restore image file, LM9LXDE_16F.tbi onto a blank Kingston 16 GB USB flash drive!

image for linux >Enter >Restore >Automatic >File Direct >Linux Drive >Select File Drive>
Select Partition >TAB >Select Folder >Select File >Select entire drive (spacebar) >
Select Linux Drive >Select Target Drive >Yes to Continue >Enter >Start

wait for imaging to complete
remove image for Linux boot CD
Shut down PC
Disconnect internal HDD

Turn on PC then boot into Linux
login info:
user1
user_0

all lower case, no spaces. To type underscore you must hold down the shift key while
you press the key to the right of zero. Then let go the shift key to type zero.
Then press the enter key.

shut down PC
Reconnect internal HD
If you want Linux to boot before Windows then change boot order in BIOS
Otherwise to boot into Windows, remove USB flash drive before restarting PC

For older computers, P3 400+ MHz, you may use the BootitNG to resize the data partition
to fit larger internal HDDs.

This image of Linux Mint 9 LXDE can be deployed onto spare blank internal HDD
of any size >= 20 GB, for both desktop and laptops.

DrPCDr.ca
April 20, 2012

For details on how this image was created:
http://drpcdr.ca/LMLXDE.pdf

I disabled the forced mount in /etc/fstab because it was causing boot failiure and is
NOT needed. I adjusted the bookmarks in file manager.

http://drpcdr.ca/frank_intel_franken_to ... _tosh.html
http://www.drpcdr.ca/pics/2006_Macbook.jpg
http://www.drpcdr.ca/pics/HP_Omnibook_6000.jpg
http://www.drpcdr.ca/pics/IBM_Thinkpad_600X.jpg

Be careful when using BootitNG. Never install it to the hard drive.
Always click cancel at setup window displayed upon boot.

[penguinx64]

Always install Windows first. That's the only way I can get it to work right. It's nice how Windows 7 has a 'Shrink Partition' feature. You can shrink the C: drive before installing Linux. It's pretty cool how Linux automatically allocates space for a dual boot with other OS's too. You don't really need to shrink the partition in Windows, but it's an option. I used to do lots of dual boots, tripple boots, quadruple boots, etc, but stopped doing that. The problem is reinstalling an OS. You can't usually install just one of them. You have to wipe the whole drive and start from scratch. Instead, I just bought more computers. You can get good deals on used laptops from Amazon for around $200. I just ordered a used Dell Latitude D420 yesterday for $129 including shipping. A cheaper option would be to use Virtualbox and run virtual machines. That's ok if you have a computer with lots of horsepower, but nothing beats a scratch computer where you can wipe the hard drive any time. The only problem with older laptops is that the older processors may not support a 64bit OS or more than 2gb of RAM. I like Dell laptops because they seem to be the most Linux friendly. My Dell Vostro 1014 14 inch laptop came with Ubuntu installed from the factory. It was a great deal for $329 plus shipping. Of course, I immediately removed Ubuntu and installed Mint instead.