Using Linux on Windows

[The Fat Controller]

Prerequisites for this guide:

*At least 8GB of spare disk space.
*Microsoft Windows XP as the host operating system.

coLinux allows you to run Linux simultaneously with Windows, without using virtualization software like WMware or QEMU.

To get coLinux fully working along with Fedora 9 under Windows XP, follow the following steps:

1) Download the most recent stable release of coLinux.

2) Install coLinux (What is coLinux?):

a) Double click the installer and run through it. Do not choose to download one of the listed filesystem images. Instead, start downloading Fedora 9 from here.

b) Choose your installation directory. For this guide, the installation directory is going to be here:

If you install coLinux elsewhere, you will have to use your own installation path in later steps.

c) Do not install WinPCap.

e) Select "yes"/"ok" if you are prompted with a dialog box asking you if you want to install an unsigned driver.

f) Okay, click finish.

3) Download the latest stable release of Xming.

4) Install Xming (What is Xming?):

a) Double click the installer and run through it. In this guide, Xming will be installed here:

If you install Xming elsewhere, you will have to use your own installation path in later steps.

b) Do the "standard install" and run through the rest of the self-explanatory installation process. Now, go to the folder where you installed Xming and run Xlaunch.exe.

c) Run through the configuration options, leaving the defaults as they are. On the "additional parameters" section uncheck the box which says "no access control". Save this configuration to your desktop.

5) Go to "Network Connections" and re-name the new connection you find to something more meaningful:

6) Right click on this new connection, select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and then "Properties". In the right-hand pane, select "Use the following IP address" and enter the details as pictured:

Do not enter the IP address that your computer uses when connecting to the Internet normally, as I suspect this might cause problems.

7) Download the Fedora 9 executable from here.

a) Double click on the downloaded file and extract it to the directory where you installed coLinux.

b) Once this is complete, open the folder where you installed coLinux and open up "start-Fedora-9.bat" with notepad. Remove the text "colinux-daemon.exe" from the file. Also add the highlighted text into the file exactly as pictured:

Save the file as "start-Fedora-9.conf".

c) Open a new blank file using notepad, and type the following:

Save the file as start_colinux.bat and place it in the folder where you installed coLinux.

Create a shortcut to this file and place this shortcut onto your desktop.

8) Double click on the shortcut and the coLinux console should appear, and Fedora 9 will boot. Type "root" at the login prompt:

9) Now type "yum install nano". Linux will download the files the text editor nano depends on. You will then be prompted whether you want to download nano. Type "y" and then press enter. Nano will be installed.

10) Type "nano /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-sit0". Now copy-paste the following into the coLinux window:

DEVICE=sit0
BOOTPROTO=static
BROADCAST=10.0.3.255
HWADDR=[COLOR=red]see step 11 for what you enter[/COLOR]
IPADDR=10.0.3.16
NETMASK=255.255.254.0
NETWORK=10.0.3.0
ONBOOT=yes

11) Go to start-->run and open up a Windows command line by typing "cmd" into the run box. Type ipconfig /all and you will get a page of details. Copy the text in the "physical address" field for the coLinux TAP adapter shown below to complete step 10:

12) Press "ctrl+x" and then the text editor (called nano) will ask you if you want to save. Press "y" and press enter.

---

Now you are all ready to try out the system. Close coLinux and Xming.

13) Start Xming by double clicking the "config.xlaunch" file on your desktop.
14) Start coLinux by double clicking on "Shortcut to start_colinux.bat" on your desktop.

15) Log in as root and type in "export DISPLAY=10.0.3.17:0" into the terminal and press enter.

16) Open up the Fedora 9 package manager by typing "pirut&" and pressing enter. And there you have it. Here are the results of me doing everything above exactly as described, Linux applications on Windows:

The results

The limitations

The package manager is slightly laggy, as are other graphically intensive programs like OpenOffice. Most stuff I've tried has worked. Having worked on setting up coLinux with other distributions, Fedora is fairly slow. It's useable though! If you're really desperate, you could try my guide for getting Debian under coLinux, since that runs faster:

http://www.sythe.org/showthread.php?t=418043

That's all folks, if you even read this far then well done. If you post something even relevant to the guide on this thread, then you're a God

 

[MatthewGor123]

Great guide; very detailed and informative. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll assume it works - it seems very easy to follow, with great pictures. 10/10.

But I've just got a question; what exactly *is the point* of Linux? That's the only thing I've never understood about all the hype :O.

Great job, David!

 

[The Fat Controller]

Great guide; very detailed and informative. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll assume it works - it seems very easy to follow, with great pictures. 10/10.

But I've just got a question; what exactly *is the point* of Linux? That's the only thing I've never understood about all the hype :O.

Great job, David!

It does everything Windows does, except it isn't good for games. Linux has a few really notable advantages:

* It's completely free
* It's highly modular and configurable.

So you can change what you want, like desktop environment (see some pictures here):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment#Examples_of_desktop_environments

Anyway, Linux is extremely easy to try out. Download a LiveCD. All you need to do is burn it onto a disk and boot up onto it to try Linux out without wiping your hard drive or anything.

Also, my guide has pretty poor results as far as demonstrating the power of Linux goes

 

[MatthewGor123]

It does everything Windows does, except it isn't good for games. Linux has a few really notable advantages:

* It's completely free
* It's highly modular and configurable.

So you can change what you want, like desktop environment (see some pictures here):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment#Examples_of_desktop_environments

Anyway, Linux is extremely easy to try out. Download a LiveCD. All you need to do is burn it onto a disk and boot up onto it to try Linux out without wiping your hard drive or anything.

Also, my guide has pretty poor results as far as demonstrating the power of Linux goes

Whoa :O Sweet, those desktops look AWESOME! Do I need to improve my graphics card/processor or anything? Because I downloaded, oh what's it called...BootSkin maybe? WindowsBlinds? I forget which one it is, but one of those, and it made everything look cool...but laggy as FUCK.

 

[The Fat Controller]

Whoa :O Sweet, those desktops look AWESOME! Do I need to improve my graphics card/processor or anything? Because I downloaded, oh what's it called...BootSkin maybe? WindowsBlinds? I forget which one it is, but one of those, and it made everything look cool...but laggy as FUCK.

If you're using Linux then performance won't be an issue unless your computer is pretty old or you have an insane amount of eye candy. I can do this sort of stuff with my laptop which is 2 years old, take a look (your mind will be blown, probably ):

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=n68BfviH60U

Any choppiness is probably caused by his screen recorder. Mine is smooth

EDIT: Yeah, I have tried theme editing before in XP. Managed to corrupt explorer.exe first time though. I wasn't using any specialist tools, was more trouble than it was worth. And heck - I'm going to make a video of me using Compiz Fusion in Linux, so you can watch that when I put it up