Member Avatar for fuggles

Ok, so I have decided to dual-boot my laptop with Windows 7 and Fedora 14. So here is a list of questions I have about the choices I have:

1. KDE or GNOME? I've heard that KDE is the better way to go, especially for development, but wanted to know what you guys thought.
2. Partitioning Software? Should I use the one built into the Linux install disk or something else?
3. Does anyone know how well Fedora runs on Intel iCore processors? I imagine it should run fine but was just making sure.
4. Anything else I should know about dual booting?
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Practical notes and hands-on tips that build on ' questions and the replies from and .

Try desktop environments from a live session or VM to judge workflow and resource use before committing. KDE tends toward deep configurability and many integrated utilities, GNOME emphasizes a streamlined workflow, and lighter environments (XFCE, etc.) keep RAM/CPU use low. For development, prioritize the chosen IDE, terminal emulator behavior, window management and how the DE handles multiple monitors — the DE matters less than available RAM/CPU when running heavy IDEs or VMs.

Partitioning strategy matters more than the tool. It is wise to plan logical volumes and data layout up front: a small system volume and a larger separate home/data volume make reinstalls and upgrades far simpler. Using logical volume management gives flexibility to resize later. Modern installs often prefer a swap managed as a file (easier to change) unless a swap partition is specifically required. Backups of important Windows data before touching partitions are essential. If full-disk or home encryption is desired, enable it at install time and account for the extra setup.

Boot mode and recovery deserve attention. Both OSes should use the same firmware mode (legacy BIOS or UEFI) to avoid extra complexity. From a live Linux session these quick checks help reveal the current mode and disk layout:

# detect boot mode and list block devices
if [ -d /sys/firmware/efi ]; then echo "UEFI"; else echo "BIOS/legacy"; fi
lsblk -f

If the installer overwrites the boot setup, the usual recovery path is booting live media, mounting the root filesystem, chrooting into it and reinstalling the distro’s bootloader or using the distro’s rescue mode.

Intel Core hardware is well supported; installing the distribution’s CPU microcode package and keeping the kernel/drivers current improves stability and security. Enabling AHCI and virtualization in firmware (when appropriate) also helps. These notes supplement ’s and ’s points: test first, plan partitions, and have a recovery plan.

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Member Avatar for nonshatter

1. I use Gnome, but KDE is just as good. I personally don't prefer one over the other.
2. The partitioning software on disk will work fine. Just make sure you know a bit about the partitioning formats to use for linux and windows as some provide more benefits over others. Fedora partition will probs use ext3. Decide how much space you want for each partition. Windows (NTFS/FAT), Linux(EXT3), Linux Swap Space. You could even use a FAT32 partition for sharing data between Windows and Linux.
3. Pretty much any linux distro will run faster than windows. I wouldn't be too concerned about this.
4. Here's a good link to read if you want to know more...
http://www.thpc.info/dual/win7/dualboot_win7+fedora11_grub_on_win7.html

Edited by nonshatter because: n/a
Member Avatar for Moncky

1. I use xfce, there are a few different desktop/windows managers. Play around till you find one that is comfortable and works for you.
2. fdisk or cfdisk come as default with most and work fine. You may want to look at booting the gparted live cd and shrinking your ntfs partition before you install if you only have one hdd. Then you wont need to re install windows.
3. Yep works fine for me.
4. If you do only have one disk and are going to reinstall Windows. Do this first then install linux afterwords. Windows will overwrite the MBR when it installs and fixing that can be a bit of a mare for the beginner.

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