A few questions before I even purchase my system...

Alright, I'm intending to install a dual-boot system of Ubuntu 6.06 & Windows Vista.

My intended motherboard was the GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3, which I've heard has a Jmicron IDE thing. Appearantly, it emulates IDE and the kernel of Ubuntu isn't new enough to handle it.

My build thus far is...
Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128017

CPU: Intel E4300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115013

RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-5400c4 (x2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145015

Video Card: 7800GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130077

HD: Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822144417

Speakers: Logitech S-100 5 watts RMS 2.0 Speakers
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6836121124

Mouse: Rosewill RM800U Black 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Mouse
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6826193002

Keyboard: Logitech 967738-0403 Black USB Standard Deluxe 250 Keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6823126013

Monitor: SCEPTRE X9g-Naga V Black 19" 8ms DVI LCD Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824112177

Optical Drives: LITE-ON 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model LH-18A1P-185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106042

Floppy Drive: SONY Beige 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6821103109

First off...

1. How many resources does Ubuntu take up?
2. Can Linux access the Windows drive and vice versa?
3. If I used an SATA optical drive can I install Ubuntu?
4. Other than the installing issues, are there any other compatibility issues with Ubuntu and my setup here?
5. Is Linux all that ?

Alright, let's see if I got the dual-boot setup down.

Here is my plan.

1. Install Vista on HD 1.
2. Install Ubuntu on HD 2.

I got that much down. I haven't been able to find a tutorial for 2 hard drives so here are the two situations I can foresee.

Situation 1: Oh snaps. GRUB just pwned Vista's bootloader and the computer boots into Linux.

3. Computer boots into Ubuntu.
4. Call open a terminal.
5. Put in "sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_bak" and enter root password.
6. Put "sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" in terminal.
7. Insert
"
title Windows Vista

root (hd0,0)

makeactive

chainloader +1
"
8. Vista is now in grub boot.
9. Rejoice.

Situation 2: Oh snaps! Vista boots as normally! Ubuntu doesn't seem to exist.

3. The computer boots into Vista.
4. Download EasyBCD
5. Tell it that GRUB is in the 2nd hard drive 1st partition.
6. Linux is now in the Vista boot manager.
7. Rejoice.


If I install Ubuntu on the 2nd hard drive will it still overwrite the master boot record?

Either way, does my plan seem to be logically correct or am I mistaken here?

In reality GRUB and Linux play nicely with other operating systems, it is just Windows that refuses to do this. As far as windows is concerned, it is the only god in your universe and therefore it will destroy GRUB with its own bootloader if you try and install it second. I know this for a fact because I once screwed up my winXP pretty good and when i reinstalled, poor GRUB had been wiped out! If that happens though, you can always pop in your linux install disk and just reinstall GRUB good as new

The moral of the story: Install windows first so that it doesn't know from the get go that "it is your other woman" and become jealous.

-Zorak

Ah, so Ubuntu is going to detect Vista? If that is the case, it would work out great.

Either way, well, it won't be a big problem.

Vista first it is.

Update: it seems that mainline kernels 2.6.18+ have a fix for the JMicron controller, so if you feel a bit Feisty, you can try out Feisty Fawn with the 2.6.20 kernel. That is if you even need to use the PATA controller.