[TriLUG] Knoppix revisited...again

Scott G. Hall ScottGHall at BellSouth.Net
Wed Jun 4 20:20:13 EDT 2003


On Wed, 4 Jun 2003 00:13:12 "Chris Bullock" <cgbullock at cox.net> wrote:

>OK, I have finally tried knoppix and like the quick and easy <1 min
>Linux install.  I know that Knoppix is a bootable Linux distro, but my
>question is; is there a way to load it onto a Windoze HD and launch it
>from within Windoze.  Is this something Knoppix can handle or should I
>explore Lin4Win?  I have used cygwin but I have problems with remote X
>display everytime I load it and am getting frustrated deciding what to
>download.
>

MS Windows is a machine operating system.  Linux is a machine operating
system.  You can't have two operators running the same machine at the
same time.  Therefore, it is impossible to run Linux from within MS
Windows.  Also, don't confuse emulation of an operating with the actual
operating system.  The cygwin project is an emulation system designed
to run UNIX software from within MS Windows -- MS Windows still being
the operating system here.  Win4Lin is an emulation system designed to
run MS Windows (and MS DOS) programs from within Linux -- Linux still
being the operating system.

That said, if you are booted to MS Windows and want to then run Knoppix,
you need to reboot to Knoppix.  Likewise if you are in Knoppix's Debian
Linux and want to then run MS Windows, you need to reboot to MS Windows.
You can, however, dedicate part of your harddisk to installing Linux.
This is not as simple has it sounds if you require repartitioning
because you will likely have to reinstall MS Windows, or buy a 3rd-party
partitioning software that knows how to defragment and reallocate
MS partitions.  If you have unallocated space now, sure you can dedicate
that to Linux, and either install Linux on it, or just mount it as a
permanent data area each time you reboot to Linux.  This is also true
if you free up space by reinstalling MS Windows or using a partitioning
tool that will free it up for you.

A better solution for you is to evaluate what kinds of a software mix
you want to run everyday, and how important speed is in running any one,
and how important it is to run certain things versus whether they will
in an emulation, and basically chart what software you can live with
running under an emulation, and how many times will you need to reboot
to run software in its native environment.  This will tell you if you
should install Linux on your harddisk, and whether to setup what is
called a "dual-boot" system where you have more than one operating
system installed, and easily reboot the machine picking one or the
other each time.

-- 
Scott G. Hall,
Raleigh, NC, USA
ScottGHall at BellSouth.Net





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