The Biggest Hurdle In Switching Completely To Linux -- For Me

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

I have made several attempts at saying good bye to windows and switching completely to linux. The primary motive has always been to learn how it works and to master it. Every second person online would tell you that linux is extremely powerful and and you can do an awful lot of stuff with it. So it kind of attracts me towards the linux ecosystem.Many of my previous attempts have failed because of issues that I later solved such as getting the pc to pc network to work or setting up dual monitor setup. However, one thing that my experience taught me is that the biggest hurdle (in the longer run) for me to completely shift to linux is GAMING. Every other issue is solvable but as of now, gaming stays the single most important issue that is keeping me stick to windows 7.The possible workarounds for me include having two different computers..... one for gaming (with windows on it) and the other for learning and experimenting with linux... But I personally don't think it is a good idea. There are a numebr of reasons. First is that I am a one machine type of guy. It kind of gives me headache to operate many machines simultaneously. I like to have a single machine do all the stuff for me. And as a matter of fact, I do mix things up quite badly. So unless I want this setup real bad, I am not going to go for it.Second option is to dual boot windows and linux (which, by the way, is what I am doing now). The problem with this setup is that once you switch to one Operating system, it kind of becomes very difficult to take a decision to switch off the computer and run the other OS. Gaming is fun it does have enough motivation in it to make me turn off the computer and start the windows OS but on the oher hand once I am on windows, I would start browsing and writing stuff and exploring and hearing music, then it becomes very difficult to switch off the computer and start the other OS.The actual tast of rebooting into the other OS is not difficult at all but because of my lazy nature, I can't take the decision to do so and thus I remain struck with my windows OS most of the time. This results in very little amount of time spent on the linux OS and thus the learning process is very very slow.Third solution, which is near to impossible for me at the time, is to get my games to work on linux. The game I mostly play is FIFA 12 and I don't think there is anyway to run it on linux with resources that I have in my laptop.So unless I get fed up with gaming or give up on learning linux or someone magically appears with a trick to play resource intensive games on linux, I am going to be stuck within this dilemma....

[manuleka 0]

i have tried this before... i then realize i can't live without Windows due to some applications, but especially games so i end up using both (dual boot) and VMs - where i have Linux VM on Windows for quick access and vice versai also have one linux data partition which links the Linux VM to the Dual Boot Linux and Vice Versa

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

I have used vmware in the past to test ubuntu before installing it. One thing that I hated was it was slow. But that was on my previous computer which had slower hardware. Now with reasonable good hardware, I think I can give vmware another try. In my mind, I am making plans of setting up an environment where linux (on vmware) runs on my secondary monitor and windows on my primary display. If I can get this to work, it would significantly increase the amount of time I spend on linux and I might tame the linux beast in much less time..

i also have one linux data partition which links the Linux VM to the Dual Boot Linux and Vice Versa

Can you elaborate the above statement a little more. I wasn't able to completely understand it. And I am assuming that it is a useful thing to have.
By the way, I also have a separate partition on my hard drive for working on linux. Separate partition allows me to make test installs of different linux distros and check how they perform utilitzing the full hardware resources of my laptop.

[manuleka 0]

Can you elaborate the above statement a little more. I wasn't able to completely understand it. And I am assuming that it is a useful thing to have.By the way, I also have a separate partition on my hard drive for working on linux. Separate partition allows me to make test installs of different linux distros and check how they perform utilitzing the full hardware resources of my laptop.

Here's how i partition my pc:

partition1: Windows 7
partition2: Kubuntu 12.10
partition3: Win-specific-data
partition4: Kub-specific-data
partition5: VM-shared-data

partition5 is connected to LinuxMint 14 VM (as a data partition) running on Windows 7, it is also connected to Windows 7 VM running on Kubuntu 12.10

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

partition5 is connected to LinuxMint 14 VM (as a data partition) running on Windows 7, it is also connected to Windows 7 VM running on Kubuntu 12.10

Can you explain the process of how you did this??

[manuleka 0]

on vmware and virtualbox you can attach a physical partition to a virtual machine https://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/doc/ws_disk_add_raw.htmlon virtualbox http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

Ok so I understood the process of doing this. But can you throw some light on what are the benefits (and also drawbacks) of this arrangement.

[manuleka 0]

the benefits are basically - i get instant access to these Working Environments (Windows or Linux) when i need themespecially when testing stuff or just when something comes to mind and in need of a quick double check...

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

I have a single virtual machine that is running almost all the time... There is only one main operating system (windows 7) properly installed on the hard drive. So my setup is basically a one host one guest setup... While I am working on my experiments either on the host or on the guest operating system, more often than not there comes a need to access files of one OS from within the other.For instance, I developed a test C program on the guest OS (Lubuntu) but I needed to get it open on my host OS to see how the C compiler works in windows 7. A similar situation can arise when I have created something in the Host (Windows 7) OS and I want to see how it behaves in the Linux (host OS)....What method do you recommend for me to access files for such requirements and setup....

[yordan 10]

What method do you recommend for me to access files for such requirements and setup....

Should work fine with a folder on your windows7 machine, and from times to times you make this folder shared by the virtual machine.

[manuleka 0]

as yordan mentioned, shared folder would be your best and easiest option... i currently employ that as well which makes file access between host and guest very effective

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

Ok.. then tell me how do I share a folder between the Windows 7 host and Lubuntu guest. Do I have to use Samba ?

[yordan 10]

You don't have to use samba.While your virtual machine is running, go to VM, settings, options, shared folders.Select shared folder, you will be able to choose the folder on your Windows7 machine (create a folder named c:\myshares while under windows and select it in the vm shared folder settings). You will be able to say if it's activated always, only once or never, and choose the folder.

[manuleka 0]

similar application works on Virtual Box too...

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

Well that sounds quite simple.. I will try the method mentioned by @yordan and see how it goes.... it should work straightaway, I assume.....