Need help + suggestions on windows/linux dual boot

[Yoda]

Mainly used to windows, but trying to learn programming in C++.

Was wondering the best way to install a dual boot and what version of linux would
be BEST to install for a software/game designer and why. (if any)

Wubi is an option but ive read it doesnt install the most recent version of linux.



So if I have windows 7 would there be a way to install (best said linux) as a dual boot option?




Side note.

I have a dell inspiron n5010 and last time I installed linux I could not figure out how to get the wireless to work at all do i need drivers? or to call them somehow?

Let me know the information you need and I will update this when I get back home tonight.

It also would not connect via ethernet. FYI :D

Thanks in advance!!!

[blueberry]

1. Software and games still mainly run on windows, so windows would be the best OS to do game design on.

2. It doesn't really matter what distro of linux you use. They usually come with gcc and all the other parts of the GNU tool chain, giving you the equal advantages for all the distros. That said, I personally use OpenSUSE, simply cause I like the user interface. Ubuntu does have the advantage of being extremely easy to use though.

3. To install it, just shrink your windows partition with some kind of partition manager, leaving however much space you want for linux. After that, most distros of linux should be able to handle the rest of the installation automatically.

4. What distro were you using? Try one of the easier to use distros like openSUSE or ubuntu.

-blueberry

[Stauricus]

my preferred one is Lubuntu, the light-version of Ubuntu.
i have no problems with Code::Blocks in it. works perfectly.
two or three weeks ago i dumped Windows 7 definitely. now it's just Lubuntu (and Wine, if needed).
not that Windows isn't good. it's just that i like to change. and Ubuntu is a great option :)

[drew887]

I have to agree with Stauricus, I love that Lubuntu is so light weight. Although I gotta say, I personally just take the 10.04 version of Ubuntu and install LXDE nowadays when I get a new machine, just in case I feel like some gnome.

Also I had an old Dell with the same wireless problem, thankfully I had a supported broadcom card so it was pretty easy to install the legacy drivers from source. Depending on the card in your machine it should hopefully be easy enough to find the drivers and install them from source, most source balls come with pretty good instructions. If you don't want to take apart your laptop to find out what card you have try typing lspci -vv into the terminal.

[Zaita]

Personally I'd just install VirtualBox on your Windows and try some Linux distros before you fuck around with a dual boot setup.

That being said I have dedicated Linux and Windows PCs but do 99% of my development on Windows even though I write multi-platform code. I use the same compilers and tools for both (EclipseCDT and GCC/TDM-GCC).

[PaulZRoss]

d

[Yoda]

Ok this will be my last reply in this topic ( Still learning c++ primer ) and I have two questions.


Where would i find source code for my drivers usually? on a ubuntu site area?
I am confused on this since most source comes in tar/gz files that I have never fully took a few minutes to work with and understand.

When I do find it would i run ubuntu terminal to run the code somehow?



Thanks for all your comments too!!!! Great suggestions and talk.

[drew887]

well .tar.gz is just another compressed format, similar to .zip. in ubuntu you can just open the .tar.gz and extract the files somewhere like in windows. Normally drivers come with a file called README that explains what you need to do to install the driver.

As to finding the drivers, that would be very different depending on the driver itself, google might be the best place to start to be honest.