Dual Booting.

[LittleJess]

Well since my laptop died, I'm going to consider dual booting, Ubuntu + Windows 10, should I risk it

Actually yeah, might go ahead with it, nothing to lose really, gonna have to unplug my drives, than install it, than plug them all back in, I like ubuntu, but I game too so this is a good option for me.

I use Ubuntu, due to personal preference, not because it's easy, I like the unity UI.

 

[dampatnight]

Well, why not. If you even got separate drives it's pretty hard to screw up while installing either of those.
(got windows for the odd game and mostly use linux myself)

 

[tiny]

It's easy enough if you understand what you're doing.

The worst thing that's likely to happen is you screw up the boot loader, in which case you can use the Ubuntu/Windows installation media to restore it.

It's always easier to install Windows first, and then GNU/Linux. Windows boot managers can't load Linux, but Linux can chainload Windows OSes.

Alternatively (instead of dual-booting via a bootloader) you could set your BIOS/UEFI to boot from one drive, install Windows on it, set the BIOS to boot from another drive and install Ubuntu on that, and then use the BIOS boot menu (or CMOS settings) to switch between the two OSes.

 

[MolicareMan]

I recommend you set the other partition/drive as read-only within each OS. It makes it harder to screw up the other OS accidentally.

 

[LittleJess]

I recommend you set the other partition/drive as read-only within each OS. It makes it harder to screw up the other OS accidentally.

That's not a problem, my main drive is encrypted with veracrypt so ubuntu doesn't really see it or write to it.

 

[BrandonHoward2016]

Duel booting isnt to easy. Make sure you partition it correctly. I was able to install windows, then put in my debian cd and it offered to install that along side, but I am not sure if that would be an accurate partitioning method. Best of luck.

 

[willnotwill]

If you've got a reasonable laptop these days, one of the nice VMs works well rather than dual booting which can be a pain in the posterior. I do a lot of stuff with Oracle VirtualBox these days.

 

[LittleJess]

If you've got a reasonable laptop these days, one of the nice VMs works well rather than dual booting which can be a pain in the posterior. I do a lot of stuff with Oracle VirtualBox these days.

My laptop is dead, my main computer is a "development pc", I built it with the intention of development, but slapped in a graphics card later on (btw I can game on it) I mostly use the GPU for parallel programming and I like to mess with game development in the future (currently only can do 2D)

(runs virtual box fine, when I'm not using 5.2GBs due to how much programs I've got running ) that being said, since you remind me of virualbox, I might just wipe my drive, and use a software raid. and use lubuntu in vmware.

 

[MarchinBunny]

If you know how to use Linux and you need it for something, then I say go for it. However, if you are already pretty proficient in using windows and you really don't have any specific need for Linux, I don't see the point.