Ubuntu/XP Dual Boot

[billandsebastian]

I am considering dual booting Ubuntu and Windows XP on my laptop. I am a little worried about if my machine can handle it in terms of performance and hard drive availability. My machine is a Gateway with the following specs:

Pentium M 1.86 GHz
1GB RAM (2 x 512MB)
80GB HD (40GB free)

Would this be a bad idea?

[Alaron]

That will handle Ubuntu just fine. I'd give it at least 20GB if you install it alongside XP.

You might want a try a Live CD first. The entire OS runs from the CD, without any installation. That way you can try it out and see if you like it enough to go through the full install.

[faulkner132]

Just remember when you run it from the CD, its going to be 100 times slower than if you had the OS installed.

[ZeratulsAvenger]

I actually just tried it out and Ubuntu still seemed pretty snappy. I thought it would be really slow, and it probably would be slower for programs like OpenOffice (launching and whatnot), but it actually runs relatively nicely.

If you feel like it's to slow, you can always change the GUI by using a different Window Manager. Some think that KDE or GNOME(two standards) are a little bloated, but there are a bunch of lightweight alternatives. This is more of a problem on slower machines, so your computer shouldn't have trouble, but it's there just in case.

[KilluminatiStyle]

Ubuntu is a great OS. If my wife wasn't so stuck on Windows I would definately have it on my lappy. In another year or so MS is really going to have to watch out. Ubuntu is, I think, almost ready for the general public. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the coming years.

[billandsebastian]

Its been working great so far, even running the Beryl desktop.

[tomster2300]

I was going to offer you this guide on how to do it (found it off wikipedia), but it looks like you already figured it out. Glad you're enjoying it, my roomate does the same.

http://www.devhood.com/tutorials/tutorial_details.aspx?tutorial_id=405

[rhysox]

linux will run on pretty much anything, you'll be fine with that spec! =) enjoy