Strategy For Linux Evaluation and Migration on Your Desktop Installing and experimenting with Linux does not mean that you give up Windows on your computer (although going the other way will)

1. Linux and Windows Coexistence
Strategy For Linux Evaluation and Migration
on Your Desktop
Joel Avery
February 2010
© 2010 All Rights Reserved

2. First Step – Get Linux
 A popular entry point into the Linux world is via
the Ubuntu Linux distribution
 http://www.ubuntu.com/
 You will want the “Live CD” and most likely the
standard Desktop 32 bit version
 http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
 There is lots of good background on Ubuntu
and Linux on that site
 Burn the downloaded ISO image as an image
onto a CD

3. Second Step
 Build your “lab”
 Grab an old computer to minimize disruption to
others
 Not too old, as newer PCs will perform better
 1GHz processor
 500 MB of memory
 20 GB hard drive
 Anything built in the last 10 years should be okay
 You can usually find a sufficient computer in the
garbage

4. Several Ways to Coexist
 Boot Linux off of a Live CD
 Run Linux inside a Virtual Machine on Windows
 Run Ubuntu inside of Windows via Wubi
 Dual Boot Linux and Windows
 Run Windows inside a Virtual Machine on Linux

5. Live CD
 This method will not permanently install
anything unless you ask it to
 Slide the CD you burned into your drive and
(re)boot from it
 You most likely can just take the defaults
 It grinds away for a couple of minutes and gives
you a desktop
 See if all your hardware works properly,
especially your video and network card
 If not, this will be more work for you

6. Linux Inside A Virtual Machine
 You may need to install a virtual machine (VM)
application such as VirtualBox
 http://www.virtualbox.org/
 VirtualBox is a good choice because it runs on
Windows, Mac OS, Linux and OpenSolaris
 You will be installing a “Linux Guest” on a
“Windows Host”
 Create the virtual machine (somewhat tricky)
 Mount the CD image you downloaded earlier
and boot your VM from this image

7. Linux Inside A Virtual Machine - 2
 You'll start by running the Live CD inside a VM,
so reference those instructions to get started
 Click install Ubuntu and wait about 20 minutes
 Install any updates that are available
 Shut down the VM and reconfigure it to:
 boot from the hard drive
 not bother to mount the CD drive
 Fire it back up and you should be good to go
 Install the “guest additions” for added
functionality, like shared folders

8. Linux Inside A Virtual Machine - 3
 Pros:
 You are running two operating systems at the same
time so you can transfer files as well as cut and
paste between them
 Pretty non destructive to Windows
 Retains changes between reboots

9. Linux Inside A Virtual Machine - 4
 Cons:
 This is tricky if you are new to virtualization
 Won't evaluate whether Linux will run on your
hardware
 You need more memory (500Mb) and some disk
space (5 GB) on your Windows machine
 This is unneeded extra work if you really plan on
installing Linux

10. Run Linux Inside of Windows via
Wubi
 I've never done this, but it is an option for the
Ubuntu Live CD
 While running Windows, you should be able to
stick the Ubuntu CD in and an application
called Wubi will auto launch to run Ubuntu and
Windows at the same time
 It should have most of the same pros and cons
as a virtual machine, and it should be easier as
you won't have to learn about virtual machines

11. Dual Boot Linux and Windows
 Slide in the CD and boot from it (just like the
live CD method)
 If you like what you see, click install (just like
virtual machine method)
 The last step of the install will look for other
operating systems and configure your system
to give you the option to select them at boot
time

12. Dual Boot Linux and Windows
 Pros:
 No resource sharing between operating systems,
so it can take full advantage of things like memory
 Can “mount” Windows partitions for file sharing
 Does not kill Windows installation
 Good transition step prior to deleting Windows
 Cons:
 The Windows installer will eliminate Linux by
removing the dual boot configuration, so you can't
reinstall Windows without reinstalling Linux

13. Windows In A Virtual Machine
 You will need to install a virtual machine
application such as VirtualBox
 You will be installing a “Windows Guest” on a
“Linux Host”
 Mount a Windows CD or image and boot your
VM from the mounted media
 Install Windows
 Shut down the VM and reconfigure it to:
 boot from the hard drive
 not bother to mount the CD drive

14. Windows In A Virtual Machine - 2
 Fire it back up and you should be good to go
 Install the service packs and “guest additions”
 If you configure the VM without a network card,
then it can't go to the Internet, which means
lessor or even no need for:
 anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, etc.
 will run in less memory and much faster
 You can turn the network card back on via a
simple click, but only visit highly reputable sites
which are Windows only (like my Garmin GPS)

15. Windows In A Virtual Machine - 3
 Pros:
 You are running two operating systems at the same
time
 You can share files and cut and paste between
them (even without a configured network card!)
 Linux wraps Windows which provides an extra layer
of defence
 Stripped down VM is faster than Windows native
 Cons:
 You need more memory and some disk space

16. The Normal Route People Take
 Boot via a Live CD to ensure that all your
hardware works
 Install Linux in “dual boot” configuration
 Finally, wipe Windows (or Linux if you quit the
project)
 If you need to, install a Windows virtual machine
inside Linux

17. The Route I Took
 Dual booted Linux and XP on the kitchen
computer for about a year
 Mounted NTFS (Windows) partitions for sharing
 Tried different distributions and versions
 Learned what applications I needed and liked
 My wife still usually booted XP
 Clean install of Kubuntu
 Wiped XP and took the entire hard drive
 Used Samba client to access NTFS files on our
server

18. The Route I Took - 2
 No complaints from other users about Linux
 Dual booted all our other computers / laptops to
ensure they would work with Linux
 Built a new server which only runs Linux,
moved all our data onto it
 This server actually runs the desktop image with
additional services such as Samba, DNS, NTP,
NFS
 Wiped Windows off of other computers on the
next Kubuntu release

19. The Route I Took - 3
 Dropped Samba in favour of NFS for file
sharing and CUPS for print sharing
 Windows reduced to two virtual machine
images
 an XP image on the server and
 a 2000 image on an Acer Aspire One
 Upgrades to new releases of Kubuntu start in
the kitchen and spread from there – the server
is updated last

20. Disclaimers
 Your experience will vary based on factors like:
 Hardware
 Versions of Windows and Linux
 Desire, Willingness and Effort
 Like Windows, the 32 bit version of Linux
seems to have better driver compatibility and
application selection (or did a few years back
when I last used the 64 bit version)
 For consistency, I install the same 32 bit image
of Kubuntu on every computer

21. Copyright Notice
 These slides Copyright in 2010 by Joel Avery
 They are not to be copied or excerpted without
permission
 Feel free to contact me