Ok, so I was speaking with a friend of mine who works in the IT field, and he was telling me that with dual core processors, you can have two operating systems on 1 PC. I was just wondering if anyone in the forum could give me some info on how this works exactly? Just for my curiosity :mrgreen:

 

 

 

-Oh and I know someone will probably tell me to google it or w/e...but I trust you nice people in the forum to give me the right info, yeh? :thumbsup:

Lol, your friend is an idiot. Those two things are completely unrelated. You can have a dual OS with just a single core, it doesn't matter at all. I don't know the exact procedure, but you can simply install 2 OS's with a bootloader, and you'll get to choose whatever OS you want to load upon booting.

Dual core: 2 CPU's on one CPU die

 

Dual boot: 2 OS's on one computer

 

 

 

You don't need a dual core to run dual OS's (However the OS will run better with a dual core)

Mostly what he said. Although if he's talking about two OSes at the same time, that would make sense in the way that having a dual core processor would definitely speed up the program, but it isn't necessary. You would use some program like Virtualbox. (I'm just saying Vbox so that Sloter doesn't kill me, otherwise I'd say Vmware Player).

 

And yeah, you couldhave two OSes on your computer through a boot loader, too. Basically what it does is it lets you select a specified partition of your hard drive every time you start your computer.

Mostly what he said. Although if he's talking about two OSes at the same time, that would make sense in the way that having a dual core processor would definitely speed up the program, but it isn't necessary. You would use some program like Virtualbox. (I'm just saying Vbox so that Sloter doesn't kill me, otherwise I'd say Vmware Player).

 

And yeah, you couldhave two OSes on your computer through a boot loader, too. Basically what it does is it lets you select a specified partition of your hard drive every time you start your computer.

 

I'm not gonna kill you. Post what you want it is your opinion I do prefer vbox though. If you don't want to install a emulator then you could just use a boor loader and make new partitions and install your other OS.

There's something else to consider:

 

Some motherboards support something called hardware virtualization, which means for emulators that support it such as VirtualPC 2007 will grab the 2nd core for itself. You will then be running the virtual machine almost completely on a 2nd core making it much more like running a 2nd computer within your main PC.

Hmm, Ok thanks alot to everyone who's replied so far.

 

 

 

I just want to be clear on a few things though...

 

 

 

--This "bootloader"...is this a piece of hardware or is this a software program?

 

 

 

--Also dsavi_x4 mentioned the programs Virtualbox and Vmware...could you guys give me a link for these programs or some more info on them?

 

 

 

--And if the bootloader is a program, and not a hardware adjustment, I'm guessing there's still a way to have dual OS's by doing something with the hardware, yeh?

 

 

 

--Finally, if the above question is true, what would be better, to use a program or to make the adjustment via the hardware? Oh and btw, the two OS's system I want to have are Vista and XP, and its suppose to be on a laptop, with a dual core.

 

 

 

--Oh and since dual core supposedly would work, I'm guessing Core 2 Duo or a quad core would work even better, yes?

 

 

 

Thanks in advance :thumbup:

Virtual box which is free unlike VMware is free and runs on just about any platform. (just asked errdoth). A boot loader is a menu that when you boor lets you select to boot to the different partitions in your partition array. So with Vbox(Virtual Box) it is basically running an OS inside and OS.

Vbox.

 

It's absolutely amazing. I've completely ditched my windows partition (well, shrunk it down to about 300gb for high-end games and stuff) after getting it to run XP under linux. (Adobe products were the only thing holding me back from using linux all the time, and now that I have those... :D ) I have linux running on three desktops with XP running fullscreen in the vbox on the fourth, and I can just compiz-cube back and forth between the two :D

 

I still haven't gotten over how awesome this is. :lol:

 

 

 

Bragging aside, a bootloader is a very small program that runs on a special partition of your hard drive. The computer first boots into the bootloader, and then you tell the bootloader which OS you want to go into, and it loads that one. Each operating system you install on a computer is on its own partition, each partition is a specific block of your hard drive. The OS typically treats each partition as it's own hard drive, and each one has a set amount of space. A virtual machine is a program that virtually creates a partition inside of your active one, and loads up another operating system on it, and the operating system only sees what's in the virtual partition (it might be C:\virtualbox\ on your computer, but the OS on the vbox will treat it like it's its own hard drive)

 

 

 

Hardware virtualization (with a program like Xen) is typically used for servers, and it allows you to specifically assign the amount of resources each guest account can use.

 

 

 

OS-Level virtualization runs multiple operating systems inside of a bigger operating system, and Hardware virtualization runs multiple operating systems in one computer, on their own and at the same time. Both are unable to interact with the host operating system (OS-Level) or other operating systems that are also running (Hardware)

Virtual Box is better though, VmWare gave me a few bluescreens in the middle of classes lately :S.

Thanks alot, guys (and gals, if it applies).

 

 

 

I feel enlightened now :mrgreen:

 

 

 

Just a few more questions though:

 

 

 

-->Is it a bad idea to run Vista and Xp using such methods (like Vbox, bootloader, etc)?

 

 

 

The reasoning behind it all is that the laptop its suppose to go on is gonna be "public" use...and we all know how there are still alot of people out there who fear Vista...so it was decided that it should have XP on it...then the idea was brought up of having both Vista and XP.

 

 

 

-->@Errdoth, or someone who knows about this kinda thing:

 

I see you used the term virtual machine to describe Vbox. Am I correct in saying then that bootloader IS NOT a virtual machine?...and if this is the case, then can you recommend or give me some info about a bootloader I could use. (I'm sure Vbox is as good as you say it is, I'm just trying to examine all options so I can make an informed decision :) )

Thanks alot, guys (and gals, if it applies).

 

 

 

I feel enlightened now :mrgreen:

 

 

 

Just a few more questions though:

 

 

 

-->Is it a bad idea to run Vista and Xp using such methods (like Vbox, bootloader, etc)?

 

 

 

The reasoning behind it all is that the laptop its suppose to go on is gonna be "public" use...and we all know how there are still alot of people out there who fear Vista...so it was decided that it should have XP on it...then the idea was brought up of having both Vista and XP.

 

 

 

-->@Errdoth, or someone who knows about this kinda thing:

 

I see you used the term virtual machine to describe Vbox. Am I correct in saying then that bootloader IS NOT a virtual machine?...and if this is the case, then can you recommend or give me some info about a bootloader I could use. (I'm sure Vbox is as good as you say it is, I'm just trying to examine all options so I can make an informed decision :) )

 

 

 

A boot loader is not a virtual machine. It can be installed under a virtual machine but it is not one. A virtual machine is like like a computer inside a computer.

 

 

 

GRUB

 

 

 

Virtual Box

Thanks alot, guys (and gals, if it applies).

 

 

 

I feel enlightened now :mrgreen:

 

 

 

Just a few more questions though:

 

 

 

-->Is it a bad idea to run Vista and Xp using such methods (like Vbox, bootloader, etc)?

 

 

 

The reasoning behind it all is that the laptop its suppose to go on is gonna be "public" use...and we all know how there are still alot of people out there who fear Vista...so it was decided that it should have XP on it...then the idea was brought up of having both Vista and XP.

 

 

 

-->@Errdoth, or someone who knows about this kinda thing:

 

I see you used the term virtual machine to describe Vbox. Am I correct in saying then that bootloader IS NOT a virtual machine?...and if this is the case, then can you recommend or give me some info about a bootloader I could use. (I'm sure Vbox is as good as you say it is, I'm just trying to examine all options so I can make an informed decision :) )

 

It's not going to cause much trouble if the system has the specs to run both at the same time, but it's a bit unpractical, as transferring files typically has to go through a network drive or something similar (you can't access the main partition from inside the virtual one)

 

 

 

A bootloader is not a virtual machine, no. The difference is that with a bootloader, you start one operating system at a time (let's say you boot into XP. To get into vista you would have to restart the computer and boot into vista) With a virtualization program, however, you would be able to work in both and have both running at the same time.

 

[hide=The smaller window is vbox running XP, the outer (main) desktop is ubuntu][/hide]

Ok, thank you sloter and Errdoth, I think I got it all understood now. I think what I'll do is recommend that we get the laptop with Vista...so it has all the nice specs and is powerful enough, and then use Vbox to run XP :mrgreen: Or...even just forget about XP and just run Vista.

 

 

 

Thanks again to all who responded, I know I came to the right place for help :thumbsup:

Lol, your friend is an idiot. Those two things are completely unrelated. You can have a dual OS with just a single core, it doesn't matter at all. I don't know the exact procedure, but you can simply install 2 OS's with a bootloader, and you'll get to choose whatever OS you want to load upon booting.

 

 

 

Spot on, your friends a tool :/

Split your hard drive into 2 partitions, install an OS on each, boot up and choose the OS you want

 

 

 

# of processors is irrelevant, although it'll obviously be faster with dual processors

Split your hard drive into 2 partitions, install an OS on each, boot up and choose the OS you want

 

 

 

# of processors is irrelevant, although it'll obviously be faster with dual processors

 

You would actually do 3 partitions. A ext3 for linux, ntfs for windows, and swap for a swap partition. I think you mean cores instead of processors.

A swap partition is almost necessary for Linux, especially if you don't have a lot of RAM.

 

And then of course you can have more than two operating systems too, if you make a multi-boot for them or use lots of VMs.

You can do it with a single core, I have 5 OS's on my 5 year old computer :shock: