Hello,
Effectively I am fairly new to Linux (a little knowledge). I am currently running Vista Business on my HP Pavilion laptop (specs below) and I wanted to install openSuSE 11.1 64 bit and reinstall Vista on Virtual box for school. How compatible is my laptop for this? Is there anything that I should account for before I do this? I plan to implement this change after this trimester but I wanted to do a bit of research first. Thank you for any advice.
Regards,
Kimo9909
Specifically HCL/Laptops/HP - openSUSE
More generally look at different hardware: HCL/Laptops - openSUSE
caf4926,
I did check there but I did not find my exact model so I wasn’t sure if there would be any problems. I will check again and compare the common components as you suggested. Thank you very much!
Regards,
Kimo9909
Yeah, I figured.
It’s a bit of a drag having to go through a list of individual hardware items. But the most likely area/s of issue are: wireless, video,
Fn keys and certain special features associated with Laptops may be an issue.
If you have a vista dvd of some sort that will enable you to re-install, you have little to worry about. In fact you should be able to make a set of recovery disc’s from within vista to you restore your machine back to original. I think you need about 3 disc’s.
If your vista is OEM it might not work in Virtual Box, I’m not sure though.
I purchased Vista Business separate as my laptop came pre-bundled with Home Premium. I religiously backup all of my data so no worries there but it is the time factor as I only get about 1-2 weeks between trimesters and I need it to be up and running flawlessly within that time frame. It is too bad that I am not very good with C++ or I could possible work on these types of issues for Linux.
If it weren’t for Adobe CS4 Web Premium I could leave Windows completely, but that suite is exceptional in my opinion. 
Thanks again for the help!
You prefer the Virtual Box route over dual boot? Leave Vista and partition the HD?!
I was told that dual boot with Vista is a really bad idea as Vista doesn’t play nice with Linux. Was I misinformed?
Well I never had serious issues. Though Grub does prevent major Service Pack updates. Well not grub exactly, but the bootable flag. If you use grub the flag will go to a Linux partition.
I never messed about with it too much. I just deleted Vista that was shipped on my Lenovo.
But you could use: Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies
When you install suse grub is installed to the / (root) partition ONLY
The wrong box is checked in this image but you see the option, Boot from Root Partition: http://files.myopera.com/carl4926/albums/671478/18.png
If there is any issue after install. All you need do is use the vista disc to repair the vista boot code. Then follow the instructions and help at easybcd
Some threads to check:
Winhoes no longer likes to boot after fresh install - Page 4 - openSUSE Forums
Cannot boot into Vista after openSuse 11.0 Install - openSUSE Forums
I may give that a shot but wouldn’t Windows run fine within a virtual environment? Also, I keep all of my virtual disks on my external HDD to save the space on the laptop HDD. I’ll research the links that you have provided and weigh the options. Thank you for all of this information…it really helps to know I have options available! TTYL…gotta get some sleep!
Yes. Vista should work fine in Virtual Box but you’ll need plenty of RAM (4GB) would be nice. XP is very quick. And I have windows 7 too and it’s OK.
But 3D is an issue I think.
