Xubuntu set up alongside XP

Hi again, all!

I'm going to take the plunge and put a second OS on my XP. I wound up choosing Xubuntu, since it ran well as a demo and the pool of experienced users is large enough to find answers.

I'm currently running XP pro 32 bit. I have a 126 Gig C drive and a 232 Gig D drive.

I've been reading here about imaging the contents of the C drive before proceeding so I downloaded Clonezilla. Any hints, tips or recommendations for working with it? I'm figuring I'll mirror it on my D drive since I have a lot of room there.

Another question I have is about formatting. How much room do I give Xubuntu? I can afford enough space as it needs, so how much is enough?

Any other advice would be welcome as well, as this is my first time installing a dual os.

Thanks in advance,
JJ

 

Going down that road will replace your Windows style boot manager with Grub. I would strongly recommend not to do that but to install Xubuntu in VMware Player where it will not affect your Windows setup at all.

 

Thanks. I have a copy of VMware and have not set it up yet. I will try that.

 

VMware requires an allocation of both disk space and RAM. You are ok for disk space but what RAM do you have installed and available?

 

I saw that. I have 4 gigs. I put VM in and am running the xubuntu, but it already is problematic. VM is not recognizing my sound card and it is displaying Xubuntu in a shrunken size within it's window so I cannot truly blow Xubuntu up to to full screen, which negates the point of me installing it that way as it is something that I want to use for web applications after the XP support ends.

Guess I'm back to square one.

Do I just uninstall VM to get rid of the Xubuntu version?

 

In order to get a satisfactory install you also have to install VMware Tools. Has that been done? And have you looked at the sound card settings in Virtual Machine Settings? Quite some time ago I did install Xubuntu in my VM and there weren't any problems I can recollect. Currently it houses XP on a Win 7 host.

 

I didn't load the tools. I double-checked my sound and there seemed to be no problem on my host.

But I still liked the idea of the Virtual Machine.

So I scrubbed the VMplayer install and installed Oracle's Virtual Box. It is doing wonderfully there, and I am even typing this from my Xubuntu! Now I am faced with an entirely new learning curve as I figure the darn thing out.

At least I got the flash player running. Small victories can be sweet!

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

Pleased that's worked out well. Fully installing Linux alongside Windows is all very well until you decide you don't want Linux after all. Then it isn't quite so straightforward getting rid of it. So a VM is an ideal way to find out if Linux is for you.