Dual booting Linux with Windows

There would be probably zillion other pages on the blue nothing with similar instructions. Yes. But nothing beats doing these things yourselves … blundering through some and still coming out on tops and saying … whew!! I did it!! (ofcourse a little help from Google doesnt go unappreciated)

A lot of users go about the right way installing a dual boot system.

  1. Take backup of your existing data
  2. They will plan and create partitions
  3. They will first install Windows (WinXP in my case) on one drive
  4. They will then install Linux (Ubuntu here)
  5. Then relax, and configure both the OSes as per their desires

This is the simpler version of doing it. Its the real man’s way … a no-nonsense approach to getting things done.

And now there is my way. I have been using this laptop for about 8 months now … running it on Ubuntu. So after roughly about 8 months, I have a 5Gb home folder, some customized applications, some handy scripts, an up-to-date system … and with what internet speeds are in India, I do not wish to re-update my system again. So I decided, that I will try to rescue the Linux after losing my master boot record (MBR). So this is what I did –

  1. Installed WinXP on my 8GB FAT32 partition
  2. Put in an Ubuntu LiveCD and booted through it to Gutsy Gibbon
  3. Started grub and wrote that on the MBR. Now the windows was gone … sigh!
    1. For more detailed instructions, please visit Recovering Ubuntu after installing Windows
  4. Started my actual Linux (whew!) and edited the grub configuration file
  5. Made a manual entry for windows in this and booted
    1. This is not easy as it sounds
    2. You need to know on which partition of your hard drive was windows installed (for me it was /dev/hda4) … the grub entry which corresponds to this is (hd0,3) … keep that in mind (minus 1)
  6. This was the exact entry

title Windoze XP
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
makeactive
chainloader +1

It works!

Why did I install Windows again? … to play games :-)

Vanity Brands

We were having a team lunch … the four of us, Manish, Mayank, Ranjith and myself. One of the rare occasions these days when all four had a free time slot in the middle of the day. So, sitting at Eat Street, Hyderabad near the Hussain sagar lake, having fast foods like the rest of urban India. As I reached for the Subway Cookie that I had bought, Manish remarked that I could have bought an entire packet of biscuits at 60% of that cookie’s price.

While the others were laughing, I informed him that the utilities in both the cases are different. In case of Hide&Seek, the utility is value-for-hunger, in case of a Subway Cookie, its more or less Vanity (well actually its not vanity, but I just like them). But then we got into a discussion where other well known brands are often flaunted for vanity. There are so many of them … Ferrari, Mercedes, Maybach, Apple, Tommy Hilfiger, Rolls Royce … effectively all brands that could be used as a status symbol.

I for Implementation

I was watching the idiot box when I was at home, when I saw the new IBM ad. Here’s its original one.

And then it struck me. How true is this? Especially for IIM grads :-). When we were at IIM-Indore, we had this urge to name almost all initiatives with the letter I. And all the initiatives would have some words starting from I to connote the message, mantra, dictum, et al.
Always it was something like ideation, incubation, inspiration, innovation, etc. etc. … you got the drift right?

What we did not think was I for Implementation. That word strikes us right in the middle of our eyes the moment we start our work, since up till that point the majority of us are involved in theory and not practice. Hence ideas, innovations, strategies, etc… and not roll-out plans, implementation plans, work schedules. Even as I am typing these words, the earlier ones seem more glamorous than the later. Its not that we made out elaborate plans and never fulfilled them when we were students, we managed to get them done as well. Just, that it amuses me that most of us are geared to do the strategies rather than the execution.

Interesting, huh … sort of like Lions for Lambs :-), just a 6.2 on IMDB.

IIM Jobs

No, I am not job hunting. Atleast not yet :)

But I came across this great site. Its iimjobs.com

Its a portal for all job hunters or for those of us who want to know our market value, and feel good with that information. The site has a simple layout with all the recent job openings on top. Plus, if you are particular about one stream only, then you can browse through the job postings by specialty.

And the best part about the site is that you do not have to register to get to the content.

Kudos Tarun!!

Coming back to this post after a decade, and can say so much has changed about IIM Jobs. It has become one of our default sites to post jobs, and also refer to friends and family when they are hunting for opportunities.

In the start-up eco-system, I can see that founders are posting jobs for co-founders.