I'm looking to install Linux as a secondary OS to boot on my currently WinXP Home Asus Notebook. I'm concerned with whether Linux would automatically find, install, and update drivers for my Notebook components such as graphics card, BIOS, webcam, audio drivers, etc., as the original Asus Live Update will not be installed on the Linux. Also, can Linux be installed in the same partition as the current WinXP Home?
2007-04-19 21:35:58 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
Two pieces of advice:
1. Try booting to a Knoppix cd. It may already have the hardware drivers you need, and plus you could just keep booting off the CD whenever you want to run linux.
2. You can install both on the same drive if the drive is partitioned. But I wouldn't. I strictly don't think it's a good idea to have have two OSes on the same drive. Most other linux people will have a "yea, do it! sure!" attitude, but I don't agree.
2007-04-21 15:21:21 · answer #1 · answered by heartscared 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on which Linux distro you plan on installing. Most Linux distors are updateable but they have different methods. The best method is Synaptic which checks which library files you require before it installs anything. For instance you may want to download program X, but program X also has dependancies and requires libraries Y and Z beofre it can function so Synaptic will download Y and Z as well. Downloads are not quite as automatic as say Windows updates. You need to run something like Synaptic manually to see if the system needs updating.
Drivers are slightly different. For instance if you have a printer then do a Google search for: Linux printer and model name drivers and download the appropriate driver.
Windows and Lixux need to be installed on a different partitons on the same hard drive as they are incompatible operating systems. Linux will install a special boot program so that at boot time you can select which system to boot to.
2007-04-19 21:50:41 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You should try good distros such as Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora Core. I think they can detect, install and update common drivers for popular hardware. If not, why dont you try at Asus website to find right driver for linux?
View some Linux GUI at: http://linuxscreenshot.blogspot.com/ before you install.
2007-04-19 23:48:08 · answer #3 · answered by alohanema 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try installing the latest release of Linux flavors, like Fedora 6, Ubuntu 7 like that.
2007-04-22 19:19:28 · answer #4 · answered by Linux 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try a good distro like kubuntu, its pretty good at making hardware work. Then also get automatix to make installing software a doddle. Kubuntu's installer will offer to wipe your disk, or repartition the disk so that windows and kubuntu may have different file systems.
2007-04-19 21:46:54 · answer #5 · answered by inmyname2003 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋