[Dracojounin7]

What is the best way to install a Debian partition on Windows XP while making it unnoticeable to Linux-bashers? My computer is a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion a1217n if that helps. Thanks in advance.

[johnebadbak]

use virtual pc available from microsoft i think try google first to find the site.

[redoak]

Here is the Google page:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

{redoak}

[techkid]

The first thing I did after making the recovery CDs for my laptop, was formatting the recovery partition completely and installing Ubuntu over the top of it. I couldn't care less what people thought about the idea.

I would just ignore the nay-sayers, and just install it, if you have a spare partition/drive to install it on. If you don't, but you have plenty of drive space available, you can probably download or buy a partition manager, and create the partition yourself.

[Dracojounin7]

I would ignore them, if I weren't a 14-year-old doing it on my computer I share with my Linux-fearing mother.

[techkid]

Ah. A shared household computer is a different story. Well, to be fair, the only impact your mother would see is during the boot process, when it asks whether you want to boot to Windows or Debian. What's so bad about Linux that she doesn't like, anyway?

Well, there are a couple of ways around this:

1. If this distribution has one, download a bootable ISO that can run straight from CD/DVD. It doesn't have full functionality compared to installing it, but depending on what you need to do, it might be the way to go (I just had a look at the Debian site, it doesn't say anything about it, but you never know).

2. Using virtualisation software (like VMWare or Virtual PC). VMWare is pretty expansive, covering OS's from Windows, to Linux, Novell and just about anything that can run on an x86-based machine. The downside? It not just costs a pretty penny, but a very handsome dollar.

Virtual PC, provided by Microsoft, is free, but I don't know how much support is offered for a Linux-based system (if it works at all).

[Dracojounin7]

She says she thinks it's too advanced... thanks for the advice! ^^

[techkid]

Not really. When it comes to installation and configuration, it's a bit of a bugger, yes. But for general usage, Internet and suchlike, you wouldn't know the difference.