Bootcamp, VM Fusion, Linux, Partitioning, and other tricks

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blackoutspy

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I realize that nearly every topic here starts with the same words, but the subject does say it all. I finally got a new laptop and as can be expected i'm interested in all the things intel has to offer.

I've obtained VMware Fusion and been using windows XP and SUSE VM's on that. I'd like to install bootcamp and get windows xp running off a partition rather then a virtual machine. I'd also like to run SUSE on yet another partition.

So, my questions are: Can i use bootcamp to resize and create the partitions i need, if not, what is the recommended way of doing this. Also i've heard that i can use OS's installed on other partitions, say windows via bootcamp, as the VM for Fusion. I'll be looking for more information on all this but i've found this place always has something i fail to locate on my own.
 
Bootcamp will only create a Windows partition. This in and off itself isnt a problem. Just create a "Windows" partition that is large enough for both your Windows and Linux installations.

Next, you will want to use the installer program that comes with your Linux distro to partition the Windows partition into a partition for Windows and Linux. Basically, you're using your Linux installer to set up the partitions how you like it since the OS X and Windows installer have no support for making/managing partitions.

Install Windows first, then install Linux. While you're doing that, you might want to install rEFIt which is a bootloader that knows about Windows/Linux/OS X. This article was immensely helpful for me.
 
I understand that I need to install Windows using Boot Camp in order for the Linux distro to recognize the partition and use it for the Linux install (am I correct here?).If this is the case,would it be possible to use the Linux installer (like the one in PC Linux) to "erase entire disk (Windows) and install Linux"?Or do I need to keep Windows and install Linux in the free-space? I plan on installing either PC Linux or Kubuntu for a Mac/Linux dual boot and have no need for Windows or the loss of space that it would use.
Concerning rEFIt. Is this app essential? Does Boot Camp not recognize the Linux install? It just seems a lil' involved for me at this point but I will give it a try if it is recommended.
Thanx for your time!

Juan
 
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Hye,
As this will be my first post on this forum, let me tell you that I am french : so please excuse me for language issues !
I have my macbook (black) since two weeks : I have been a poor windows victim for years before to get to linux world (fedore then ubuntu) two years ago. For the beauty of the MacBook and its capacities as well as its OS, I am now on Mac OS x.
My first action has then been to install my favorite OS on a multi boot (REFIT) and I can now switch from Mac OS X to Ubuntu to Windows XP Pro Sp2. But only on a reboot phase.
Well, it would be nice to virtualize these OS within Mac OS X...
Well, it would also be a pain to create virtual machines when the OS are already installed on a partition...
It does not seems to me that VMWare Fusion can handle such virtualisation (except for windows through bootcamp but I've never managed to get the three OS up and running using bootcamp).
You all guys may have different experience and your thoughts, comments and support would be very appreciated.

By the way, I've read a lot of things on a multi-boot (3 OS) on a macbok... A very few was correct and if someone need help, I'll be happy to give my own experience.
 
Parallels does the job for me. I've multiple Windows VMs, some migrated from older Virtual PC disks. (Beware! Uninstall any VPC additions before the migration!). With 4GB RAM in my Mac, the VMs run fast enough. I don't do multimedia stuff in the VMs, so performance isn't an issue.

Parallels even supports OS/2, my operating system of choice before I switched to the Mac. I have no experiences with Linux under Parallels but I think it should work nicely. You should even be able to use OSX X11 instead of Linux X11 and run Linux without graphics support.

BTW, I'm German. All language errors should be automatically taken as inevitable. ;)
 
Hye MVCUBE,
Well, I'm happy to learn that Parallel did it for you / I can't manage to get it working for me as it can "only" create VM from image and not from physical partition. Same for VMWare fusion or VirtualBox. I've even tried a P2V solution but unsuccessfully. It looks like none of the virtualisation tool can handle creating a virtual machine from an existing installated OS.
I have my hard disk splitted over three partitions : one is for Mac OS, the second one for Linux Ubuntu and the third one for an exotic os (Windows XP).
Using rEDIt for multiboot works perfectly and the three OS are well setup with their softwares installed, up and running well. http://macosx.com/forums/images/icons/icon10.gif
I don't want to do the job again for an image file but would just like to run one or the other from Mac OS... http://macosx.com/forums/images/icons/icon12.gif
If anybody knows where to get the solution from... http://macosx.com/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif
 
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