__/ [ Brandon J. Van Every ] on Tuesday 16 January 2007 07:59 \__
> In the past 3 weeks I've learned:
> - some distros detect Windows and will set up a dual boot (Kubuntu)
> - other distros won't (Fedora Core 6)
> - most distros won't detect other Linux distros. (both of the above)
> Triple boot is a major PITA.
> - you can get stuck with a particular distro due to packaging issues.
> For instance, the IBM Cell SDK cross-compiler + simulator is all RPM.
> That's too complicated to run through Alien, I think.
>
> I've Googled over and over again, trying to get Grub *itself* to boot
> Windows. I can't find a reasonable working answer for it. What does
> work is the "dd" magic: copying the Linux boot sector and using the
> Windows boot loader to load Linux. It's hackerish, but it's relatively
> simple, and it works. Whereas whenever I try to read someone's "use
> Grub to control all the booting" directions, I get several pages of
> gibberish, my eyes glaze over, and whatever I try never works. So
> screw it. I conclude that Grub is overcomplicated junk, and "dd magic"
> is the way to go.
>
> This kind of nonsense has got to be putting off a percentage of
> technical users. I've been at this 3 weeks and I'm on my 4th OS
> install. If I didn't have an actual goal, a hard requirement to run
> the IBM Cell SDK, I would have blown this off long ago. It has become
> abundantly clear to me why all my techie friends with paying jobs own
> Macs.
Can Mac dual boot? (no, not virtualisation)
Why can't consumers buy dual-boot machines? I mean, the price would be the
same, would it not? See [1,2,3] to see how Microsoft fits into this
equation.
Is Windows part of the problem? See [4,5].
In anye event, see [6,7].
____
[1] Dell's secret Linux fling
,----[ Quote ]
| Dell's love affair with Linux is a clandestine affair these days,
| conducted in secret, away from disapproving eyes. But now the pair
| have been spotted in China.
|
| When Michael Dell first saw the web-footed beauty, he fell head over
| heels. Six years ago Dell pledged a series of strategic investments
| in Linux companies, including Eazel and Red Hat. The romance
| attracted the disapproval of Microsoft however, and barely lasted
| weeks. Very quietly, Dell dumped the bird.
|
| It later emerged that Microsoft's OEM enforcer Joachim Kempin had
| promised Steve Ballmer that he'd be putting the screws on PCb
| uilders, or "hitting the OEMs harder" in his words.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/09/dell_linux_china/
[2] Microsoft 'killed Dell Linux' - States
,----[ Quote ]
| The States' remedy hearing opened in DC yesterday, and States attorney
| Steven Kuney produced a devastating memo from Kempin, then in charge of
| Microsoft's OEM business, written after Judge Jackson had ordered his
| break-up of the company. Kempin raises the possibility of threatening
| Dell and other PC builders which promote Linux.
|
| "I'm thinking of hitting the OEMs harder than in the past with anti-Linux.
| ... they should do a delicate dance," Kempin wrote to Ballmer, in what is
| sure to be a memorable addition to the phrases ("knife the baby", "cut off
| the air supply") with which Microsoft enriched the English language in the
| first trial. Unlike those two, this is not contested.
|
| [...]
|
| Earlier memos described that it was "untenable" that a key Microsoft
| partner was promoting Linux. Kuney revealed that Dell disbanded its Linux
| business unit in early 2001. Dell quietly pulled Linux from its desktop PCs
| in the summer of 2001, IDG's Ashlee Vance discovered subsequently, six
| months after we heard Michael Dell declare his love of Linux on the desktop
| the previous winter.
|
| Compaq was also mentioned in other memos, with Microsoft taking the line
| that OEMs should "meet demand but not help create demand" for Linux.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/19/microsoft_killed_dell_linux_states/
[3] Jury Hears Microsoft Competition Suit
,----[ Quote ]
| A judge on Friday told jurors they must accept as fact that a
| federal court found in 1999 that Microsoft holds a monopoly over
| computer operating systems and that it restricted computer
| manufacturers' ability to use competing systems.
|
| [...]
|
| She said she'll show that the company used its monopoly power
| to exclude competition and control prices and that it conspired with
| other companies to restrain trade, maintaining what she called a
| chokehold on software competitors and computer manufacturers.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061201/microsoft_trial.html?.v=1
[4] Vista scoots to new boot, but it's still kinda rooted
,----[ Quote ]
| While Microsoft would like the world to believe that anyone running Windows
| has no need of any other operating system, that attitude doesn?t cut much
| mustard with many of its users.
|
| Why settle for one OS when your PC is easily capable of running two or
| more?
|
| [...]
|
| One of the more questionable tactics that Microsoft has implemented in
| Vista is to automatically overwrite any existing MBR during the
| installation process without asking if you mind or giving you an option
| to back up.
|
| Microsoft says that the Windows installation system can't intelligently
| interrogate an existing non-MS MBR, although such features are quite
| common in the install routine for other OSes.
|
| It also argues that an "official" Vista MBR is required for security
| features -- such as measured boot, which works with Trusted Platform
| Module (TPM)-enabled chips to check that the OS hasn't been hacked or
| altered each time it boots -- to work correctly.
`----
http://www.apcstart.com/site/akidman/2006/09/1656/vista-scoots-to-new-boot-but-its-still-kinda-rooted
[5] Microsoft used undocumented Windows APIs - Iowa testimony
,----[ Quote ]
| Alepin had earlier claimed that Microsoft ran special demonstration
| programs whose sole purpose was to crash rival products and alleged
| that the company had subverted developers who used Microsoft's
| version of Java 'thinking they were developing multi-platform
| applications, but were actually developing Windows-specific
| applications'.
`----
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/101947/microsoft-used-undocumented-windows-apis-iowa-testimony.html
[6] Are You Scared of Dual Booting Linux?
,----[ Quote ]
| Specifically, a crashing while managing the partitions created an
| expensive paperweight. While I doubt this situation isn't reversible
| (as that isn't the point of this article), I wonder how many people
| are actually scared of dual booting Linux.
`----
http://www.seopher.com/articles/are_you_scared_of_dual_booting_linux
[7] EasyBCD 1.51 - Dual Boot Vista and Anything!
,----[ Quote ]
| Dual boot Windows Vista with BSD, Mac OS X, Linux, SkyOS, FreeBSD,
| ReactOS, Longhorn, Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and
| more with NeoSmart Technologies' EasyBCD 1.51. All it takes is
| one click, and you can configure Vista to boot into virtually
| anything!
`----
http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/304
--
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Roy S. Schestowitz | Previous signature has been conceded
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