[Discuss] linux install on windows 8.1 laptop

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 05/02/2014 04:15 PM, Richard Pieri wrote:
> Tom Metro wrote:
>> I'm confused. Either "VPN" was a typo, or I'm unfamiliar with what it
>> means in the context you are referring to. It sounds like you are
>> talking about virtualization.
> Yeah... I think Laura means VM, not VPN. But as you say, there's nothing
> special about installing a guest on a hypervisor on Windows 8.
>
>
>> It sounds like your first approach was to install Ubuntu onto an SD
>> card, and use that to dual-boot the machine, but your BIOS refused to
>> boot from it.
> While most built-in card readers are USB behind the scenes they're
> usually not generic mass storage devices which means they can't be used
> for boot partitions. A given reader may be accessible by the boot loader
> on the system drive so you may be able to boot that way but that depends
> on the specific hardware.
>
> Ubuntu used to have an option for installation onto an image file on a
> Windows system drive and using that to multi-boot. I don't know if
> recent releases still provide the option.
>
Booting from USB drives is now very common but must be enabled in the
BIOS, and some older systems do not support that.
Also, Virtual Machine managers like VBOX and VMware can easily be
configured to load a VM from a USB drive or stick, but it is a slow
process.
You are always better off booting from HD or SSD performancewise.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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