How to multi-boot Windows, Linux, and/or Unix
Go to Administrative tools, and open Disk Management. Select the local drive. Shrink the NTFS partition (the larger the disk capacity, the more you should shrink), and don't format the unformatted space yet.
Go to the distributor's website, and download the UNIX(OpenIndiana, GhostBSD, or TrueOS is recommended) or Linux(recommended distributions are Ubuntu, Linux Mint, MEPIS, Fedora, CentOS, and OpenSUSE) disk image. Burn it onto a CD or DVD, or alternatively install it onto a USB using Universal USB Installer or UNetBootin. There is also Win32 Disk Imager along with other alternative programs.
Linux can read from and write to NTFS and FAT filesystems, but cannot boot from them. Linux s from a UNIX file system. UNIX filesystems have inodes. Ext3 has long been the standard filesystem for Linux, but ext4 is replacing it. There are also Btrfs, ReiserFS, Reiser4, and XFS.
You might like to have a separate root(Btrfs) and home(ext3, ext4 or XFS. Probably 1.5 times the size of the root partition, but you can choose different sizes) partition. Logical volume manager allows for resizing and creating snapshots.
Linux uses the GRUB bootloader. You will see the Windows entry along with the Linux entry or entries. If you don't do any action with in a matter of seconds, the bootloader might automatically boot into Linux.
UFS is the standard filesystem for BSD. ZFS is the standard filesystem for Solaris including illumos which OpenIndiana is. To use GRUB for FreeBSD, you need to use ZFS. To install FreeBSD bootloader and boot manager, the drive has to have Master Boot Record (MBR).
If you install FreeBSD or illumos, put it on a separate drive from the drive that Windows and maybe Linux is on. Why? Because when I dual-booted OpenIndiana and Windows, the Windows entry didn't show up anywhere in the Unix bootloader. I think the same will happen if I or you dual-boot Windows and FreeBSD on the same drive. Maybe you could install FreeBSD first and then Linux.
Dual-boot if at least 180GB hard drive space. Triple-boot if at least 320GB hard drive space. Quadruple-boot if at least 500GB hard drive space. Quintuple-boot if at least 750GB hard drive space.
Alternatively to multi-booting, you could use virtual machines. Use VMware Workstation or Oracle VirtualBox. Alternatively, if you have Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, use Hyper-V. To use Hyper-V, virtualization (like Intel VT-x or AMD-v) must be enabled in the firmware. Don't use virtual machines if your computer has less than 4GB RAM or limited CPU power. Recommended at least 8GB RAM. You could use several virtual machines if your computer has at least 16GB RAM. Remember, only one virtualization technology can access the hardware virtualization extensions.
To read ext2/ext3 partitions from Windows, install ext2fsd or ext2 IFS.
Some hardware(such as Wi-fi, Bluetooth, printer, and especially touchscreen) might not work in Linux. You need to install the proper drivers. Or you could use NDISwrapper. Most wireless drivers are not open-source, with some exceptions. Broadcom does not play nice on Linux, while Qualcomm plays very nice on Linux, BSD, and Solaris/illumos.
See Forbidden items - Fedora Project Wiki. Fedora and Debian have policies of not including proprietary software in their repositories. Ubuntu doesn't have such a policy. SUSE Linux also has a policy restricting proprietary software, but it's not as strict as that of Fedora or Debian.
You could just get a Linux laptop. Now, if you have two laptops, a home laptop and a work laptop, the home laptop could be Linux, while the work laptop could be Windows. Probably not vice versa. If you have a spouse, one could have the Windows laptop, and one could have the Linux laptop.
If you want to play games, you could use Wine and/or Steam.
If you get OpenSUSE, I recommend that you install the Packman repository.
If you get Fedora, I recommend that you get RPMFusion free and nonfree.
If you get Linux, I advise that you not get Debian, Gentoo, or Arch. Any questions? Say so in the comment. You can look up articles or YouTube videos if this information is not clear enough.
This article may be subject to change.
Go to the distributor's website, and download the UNIX(OpenIndiana, GhostBSD, or TrueOS is recommended) or Linux(recommended distributions are Ubuntu, Linux Mint, MEPIS, Fedora, CentOS, and OpenSUSE) disk image. Burn it onto a CD or DVD, or alternatively install it onto a USB using Universal USB Installer or UNetBootin. There is also Win32 Disk Imager along with other alternative programs.
Linux can read from and write to NTFS and FAT filesystems, but cannot boot from them. Linux s from a UNIX file system. UNIX filesystems have inodes. Ext3 has long been the standard filesystem for Linux, but ext4 is replacing it. There are also Btrfs, ReiserFS, Reiser4, and XFS.
You might like to have a separate root(Btrfs) and home(ext3, ext4 or XFS. Probably 1.5 times the size of the root partition, but you can choose different sizes) partition. Logical volume manager allows for resizing and creating snapshots.
Linux uses the GRUB bootloader. You will see the Windows entry along with the Linux entry or entries. If you don't do any action with in a matter of seconds, the bootloader might automatically boot into Linux.
UFS is the standard filesystem for BSD. ZFS is the standard filesystem for Solaris including illumos which OpenIndiana is. To use GRUB for FreeBSD, you need to use ZFS. To install FreeBSD bootloader and boot manager, the drive has to have Master Boot Record (MBR).
If you install FreeBSD or illumos, put it on a separate drive from the drive that Windows and maybe Linux is on. Why? Because when I dual-booted OpenIndiana and Windows, the Windows entry didn't show up anywhere in the Unix bootloader. I think the same will happen if I or you dual-boot Windows and FreeBSD on the same drive. Maybe you could install FreeBSD first and then Linux.
Dual-boot if at least 180GB hard drive space. Triple-boot if at least 320GB hard drive space. Quadruple-boot if at least 500GB hard drive space. Quintuple-boot if at least 750GB hard drive space.
Alternatively to multi-booting, you could use virtual machines. Use VMware Workstation or Oracle VirtualBox. Alternatively, if you have Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, use Hyper-V. To use Hyper-V, virtualization (like Intel VT-x or AMD-v) must be enabled in the firmware. Don't use virtual machines if your computer has less than 4GB RAM or limited CPU power. Recommended at least 8GB RAM. You could use several virtual machines if your computer has at least 16GB RAM. Remember, only one virtualization technology can access the hardware virtualization extensions.
To read ext2/ext3 partitions from Windows, install ext2fsd or ext2 IFS.
Some hardware(such as Wi-fi, Bluetooth, printer, and especially touchscreen) might not work in Linux. You need to install the proper drivers. Or you could use NDISwrapper. Most wireless drivers are not open-source, with some exceptions. Broadcom does not play nice on Linux, while Qualcomm plays very nice on Linux, BSD, and Solaris/illumos.
See Forbidden items - Fedora Project Wiki. Fedora and Debian have policies of not including proprietary software in their repositories. Ubuntu doesn't have such a policy. SUSE Linux also has a policy restricting proprietary software, but it's not as strict as that of Fedora or Debian.
You could just get a Linux laptop. Now, if you have two laptops, a home laptop and a work laptop, the home laptop could be Linux, while the work laptop could be Windows. Probably not vice versa. If you have a spouse, one could have the Windows laptop, and one could have the Linux laptop.
If you want to play games, you could use Wine and/or Steam.
If you get OpenSUSE, I recommend that you install the Packman repository.
If you get Fedora, I recommend that you get RPMFusion free and nonfree.
If you get Linux, I advise that you not get Debian, Gentoo, or Arch. Any questions? Say so in the comment. You can look up articles or YouTube videos if this information is not clear enough.
This article may be subject to change.
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