Partitioning and Installing Unix alongside Windows XP

Hello Everyone,
First post, as I just found this website.
Just want to say firstly that the wealth of information here is fantastic!


I have come across a problem which I hope that anyone can help with?

I am running a laptop P4, 512mb ram, DVD-Rom, 60Gig HD, in other words a pretty standard laptop with XP.

I have recently acquired partition magic 8 to help me in creating a partition to install unix, solaris 8 onto.

Does anyone know a step by step guide website or can provide any type of information about how to go about this.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

T, gcsweb

Welcome to DevShed!

Why do you want to install Solaris? I'd pick a Linux flavour and whack that on there if I were you, they can all do just about the same stuff, and Linux is a lot more user friendly...

Instead of partitioning, have you considered getting MS Virtual PC 2004, or VMWare, and having a virtual install of it, running it from XP Pro?

I quite agree with Wiggins on that. I had fun messin' around with Solaris on x86 a few years back (I had a 6 proc machine, and the excellent SMP of of Sun was what drew me to it), but I can imagine you would run into a slew of very tricky problems trying to get it setup on a laptop.

Solaris' (x86) driver support is really extremely spartanic, especially when it comes to graphic chips. I had to scrounge around in my parts box to find a graphic card and a network card that were supported. And laptops are in a league of their own in that department (especially when it comes to graphic hardware). I have even had trouble getting linux (for which drivers for nearly everything exist) to run on some laptops thanks to their "guess what I am!" chips.

If you are hell bent, then more power too ya, and keep us posted as to your progress - we'll help where we can.
Otherwise, just pick up one of the linux distributions (or dare I suggest my beloved FreeBSD?). There are a lot more folks here that could assist you with that.

--Steven
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I like not this news, bring me some other news! –King Richard, Black Adder

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reply...
I agree Linux is very good, haven't seen the latest version and flavours but when I installed red hat 7.1, I think it was... It was fantastic, all drivers were supported and there was a lot of information to set it up perfectly.... Unfortunately I dropped computing from my radar, something you can't do if you want to build knowledge!

The reason for my interest is in unix/solaris is that I am looking at developing some custom database apps with Oracle (or maybe another option) to run in a business environemnt...

I am getting a little ahead of myself with my knowledge as I don't have the full understanding of Unix, Solaris etc and how it all fits together.

I am currently getting ready to do a solaris install on desktop... and now after hearing from others too, maybe Linux will be the go!!!

Anyway, I'll keep you posted.

Regards,

Tony

Hello all,

I am a student (but would you help me anyway). This upcoming semester we will have to utilize the Unix operating system. My home computer has the XP Home Edition and this is my only computer.

I have read the responses and seen people talk about creating partioning, or other software.

Are there any words of advice for XP Home Edition and Unix?

Any help at all is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Rebecca