A few weeks ago I wrote a series of blog postings comparing Vista to modern desktop Linux (1, 2), and commented on how well Vista coped with being installed on a computer that already had Linux on it.

In this last installment I turn this on its head and discuss how well Linux responds to Vista. In short, what should you be aware of if you plan to install Linux on a Vista computer in order to dual-boot?

There are one or two things to watch out for, but mostly it’s plain sailing.

The first step of most Linux installations is to shrink the existing partition on the computer. Here I experienced a major problem. I used GParted, courtesy of the Ubuntu Edgy Eft “Knot 3” CD, and on two separate installations Vista was left unable to boot following the partition shrinking. Drive activity ceased half-way through booting, although Vista was obviously able to load some data because the Microsoft copyright message and progress bar appeared.

I’m not sure what went wrong. Vista uses plain-old NTFS, so GParted and other Linux partition resizing tools should have no problem. I suspect the problem was with Vista, rather than GParted.

Of course, there are many caveats here. Edgy Eft is pre-release software, as is the version of Vista I was using (RC1; 5600). When I tried to boot into Safe Mode, it appeared Vista was getting stuck on a file called crcdisk.sys. A Google search shows many others have had similar problems, although not necessarily after resizing the Vista partition. Perhaps the main caveat is that I was testing Vista on a notebook with a weird BIOS that constantly throws up problems (an ASUS A6R).

So, in other words, the jury is out on the issue. Further testing will be required when the production releases arrive. (EDIT: A chkdsk on the Vista partition fixed the problem and Vista can now boot. I’m no closer to discovering the cause of the problem but at least there’s now a potential cure.)

Provided Ubuntu Edgy Eft is installed into some existing free space and doesn’t have to resize a partition, everything works well. GRUB has no trouble with Vista and the Ubuntu installer adds an entry headed “Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)”. Selecting this then kicks you off to Vista’s own boot menu. (If you don’t dual boot Windows Vista and XP, like me, at this stage Vista will start booting.)

The Vista partition is automatically mounted and made available within Ubuntu, as with any Windows partition, and it’s possible to copy files across or browse the file system.

What about the old trick of delving into Windows’ font directory and copying the contents across to Linux? Windows still uses true type fonts, so no problem there, although I found Vista’s new default font—Segoe UI—didn’t work at all well with Ubuntu’s font display system. Text either looked bold or, if subpixel rendering was activated, some letters looked slightly distorted (like an analog TFT screen that hasn’t been synced properly). No doubt somebody will find a way to get this working, although the selection of fonts on most modern Linuxes is pretty good so it’s arguable if there’s even a need nowadays.

Note that the Vista EULA (PDF) has a word or two to say about fonts, unlike the XP EULA, although it doesn’t comment on whether the fonts can be used within another operating system provided one has bought a licensed copy of the software.