wubi is a stepping stone. Not a good long term solution, but a way to get to the other side. Jim March wrote: > Quoting: > > --- > Wubi is an Ubuntu installer for Windows that lets you install and > uninstall Ubuntu from a Windows desktop. Wubi adds an entry to the > Windows boot menu which allows you to run Linux. Ubuntu is installed > within a file in the Windows file system (a loopmounted partition), > this file is seen by Ubuntu as a real hard disk. That way the hard > drive does not have to be repartitioned before the Ubuntu > installation. The resulting Ubuntu installation is a "real" Linux > system, not just a virtual machine. Wubi makes it easy for Linux > newbies to play around with Ubuntu. > --- > > Source: > > http://www.howtoforge.com/wubi_ubuntu_on_windows > > The problem here is that if anything goes wrong with the Windows > bootloader process, both Ubuntu and Windows are toast. And what do a > lot of virii infest? Yeah. The bootloader. > > Basically, a real Ubuntu dual-boot setup will protect against many > forms of virus/malware that Wubi can fall victim to. In the event > that you're running Windows when it gets infected, it's *possible* the > boot sector will get so fried that GRUB fails to load either Ubuntu or > Windows, but in practice this is vanishingly rare. In most cases > Windows malware will choke on and be unable to affect the GRUB-based > Ubuntu-altered boot process. > > An even better option from a malware-protection point of view is to > run a pure Linux system and then do a Windows virtual machine under > that. Hardware needs aren't that bad - most P4s with a gig or more > can do it, and my $500-six-months-ago Best Buy special laptop (Dell > 1525) with 2gigs RAM does great. In this model it's Windows that sits > on a file in the Linux disk structure, rather than exactly opposite as > in Wubi. If Windows gets itself hosed (again) just restore one file > off backups and you're up again. And via the internal networking > between host Linux OS and guest Windows, you can store all your data > elsewhere on the Linux disk so that if Windows is toast, you can still > get to the same files within Linux. > > Wubi is the worst possible implementation of Linux. Period, end of > discussion. It uses the Windows standard boot process, so if you > already have malware you're working off a portion of the system > *likely* affected by malware and hence unpredictable as a crack addict > with a bazooka. > > Jim -- -Eric 'shubes' --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss