[Novalug] Laptop question again.

[Stephan Greene]

On 3/31/07, Jason <novalug at jasons.us> wrote:
>
> I haven't seen any laptop (or desktop, for that matter) come with an OS
> CD for several years.  What they usually do is have a partition on the
> HDD with the OS on it that you use instead.  It's a PITA.
>

I can't speak for their laptops, but the 3 HP/CPQ desktops we have at home
all came with a rescue partition with the full WinXP installation; they also
came with software to create install CDs at the user's option.  Finally, you
can order installation disks from HP for a nominal sum if the rescue
partition gets damaged.  This saves HP/CPQ etc lots of money managing CDs
with each system and only irritates those people who don't trust on-system
rescue media and feel they shouldn't be paying twice for it.

The re-install partition or CDs will restore the system to original factory
condition (followed by hours of fun downloading several years of patches and
reinstalling all your apps and data and delivery of stern lecture to teen #1
on the need to practice "safe computing".  Loss of car priviliges DOES seem
to make an impression!).  No idea if/how the policy has changed for Vista,
and while I'd expect a salesperson at BB, CC, etc. to know, I would not be
surprised if they didn't or had wrong info.  HP's website should have
definitive info.

To the original question re: dual-booting Win/Vista and Linux, it should
still be possible to do so without fubar'ing the factory installation.  At a
minimum, you could run a CD-based distro to get started, or use VMWare or
similar.


Steve

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Steve Greene  ks1g04 at gmail.com  <kay ess one gee zero four>@gmail.com
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