The following is a summary of the architecture choices that you should consider. Your choice will probably depend most on your compuer expertise level, value of existing data, and expected division of usage between Windows and linux.
Table 1. Architecture
Separate for linux and Windows
Shared by linux and Windows
Support
Pros
Cons
address space
Not Supported. Windows must be the only operating system in its partition.
address space
partition
Not covered by this HOWTO. VMWare under Windows
No need to disturb the current configuration. Linux can be loaded on the emulated system.
linux is slow.
address space
partition
Not covered by this HOWTO. VMWare under linux
No need to disturb the current configuration. (unverified) Windows can be loaded on the emulated system.
Windows is slow
address space
partition
Not covered by this HOWTO. DosLinux
No need to disturb the current configuration.
address space
partition
Not covered by this HOWTO. Armed distribution (unverified)
No need to disturb the current configuration.
partition
disk
Windows requires that Windows reside in the first primary partition
Works with standard mail-order home computers from the major dealers.
Requires more installation effort.
disk
host
Minimizes risk to existing system and data. Requires less installation effort.
Normally requires a second computer and extra disks.
host
network
Not covered by this HOWTO. Classes, books, and online help is readily available.
Minimizes installation effort.
Requires at least two computers equipped with network interface cards. Data is not directly available to the other operating system.
3.2. Filesystems
Your choice of filesystem is usually constrained by the hard disk manufacturer, your choice of Windows version, and your choice of linux distribution.
Table 2. Filesystems
Type
Code
Support
Description
DOS6
0x06
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, linux
IBM DOS default filesystem. Names limited to eight characters + 3 character type
NTFS
0x07
Windows NT, linux read-only
Windows NT default filesystem. Names have arbitrary length. Names cannot include special characters
FAT32 LBA
0x0c
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, linux
Windows95/98 default filesystem. Names have arbitrary length. Names cannot inlcude special characters
swap
0x82
linux
linex default memory cache filesystem
ext2
0x83
linux
linux default filesystem. Names have arbitrary length. Names can contain arbitrary characters. Tends to suffer little external fragmentation. Scales well over several magnitudes of size. Runs quickly on semirandom access systems.
3.3. Linux Distribution
Your choice of distribution will depend mostly on friends' recommendations, your level of computer expertise, and easy availability of packages. Most distributions will happily reside on the same disk, so there is no reason not to try several distributions until you find the one that is best for you.
Largest number of bundled packages. Professional-user-friendly. Easiest software development. New packages most often appear here first. Tolerates unbundled packages. Tolerates multiple versions on same partition.
Easy to install. Business-user-friendly. Aimed at business users. Commercial support available. Tolerates unbundled packages. Tolerates multiple versions on same partition.
3.4. Backup Tools
Table 4. Backup Tools
Tool
Requirements
Description
Norton Ghost
Windows 95/98/NT network drive
Easy to use. Makes and restores images of disks or partitions. No selection or deselection of files/directories. No index generated.
tob
linux tape drive
Easy to use. Easy to configure. Selects or deselects files/directories to backup or restore. Generates index of backups searchable to find archived files.
yast (untested)
backup tool
Graphical interface for system administration tools. Included with SuSE linux
3.5. Compaction Tools
Table 5. Compaction Tools
Tool
Requirements
Description
fips
Windows95 (Included in tomsrtbt-1.6.335)
Splits a FAT16 or FAT32 partition into two partitions without destroying data so that the new partition can be loaded with a different operating system.
fips
Windows98, Windows98 (requires at least version 2.0), Run under Windows98
Splits a FAT16 or FAT32 partition into two partitions without destroying data so that the new partition can be loaded with a different operating system.
3.6. Repartitioning Tools
Table 6. Repartitioning Tools
Tool
Requirements
Description
fdisk
Included in tomsrtbt-1.6.335
Supports editting of a partition table. Two-tiered menu system. The first level includes read and normal operations. The second level lets you fix inconsistencies.
fdisk
Included with Windows 95 and Windows 98
Does not permit creattion of partitios associated with filesystems not supported by Windows, nor selecting a bootable partition other than the first primary partition.
yast (untested)
backup tool
Graphical interface for system administration tools. Included with SuSE linux
3.7. Formating Tools
Table 7. Formating Tools
Tool
Requirements
Description
e2fsck
Included in tomsrtbt-1.6.335
Checks an ext2 filesystem for errors
format
Included with Windows 95 and Windows 98
Creates a vfat filesystem on a chosen partition
mke2fs
Included in tomsrtbt-1.6.335
Creates an ext2 filesystem on a chosen partition.
mkswap
Included in tomsrtbt-1.6.335
Creates a swap filesystem on a chosen partition.
3.8. Boot Managers
Table 8. Boot Managers
Tool
Requirements
Description
lilo
linux
Configures which operating system is booted. lilo itself if very robust and configurable. Some care is required, since lilo is usually used to overwrite the master boot record, lest one carelessly loose the ability to boot Windows automatically.
loadlin (uc)
Windws 95 or 98
Started from Windows in dos mode. (Can be placed as shortcut in Windows) Replaces linux with Windows in memory. Since loadlin does not overwrite the master boot record, a failed installation should not be able to risk Windows.
