[clue-tech] [OT?]How do I multiboot Windows NT 3.51 and Windows2000?

[David L. Anselmi]

Hex Star wrote:
[...]
> True it probably won't yeild any skills I can use for business but I'm just
> a teen in highschool

So NT 3.51 is older than you are. :-)

> with no job as of yet and probably won't be able to get a good
> computer management job around here until I get into college so I 
> might as well enjoy toying with useless software until then ;-)

Nonsense.  There's a Debian developer (not an easy thing to become) who 
was already a DD at the age of 12.  You have a great opportunity to use 
the time you have to learn something useful and contribute to the Free 
Software community.  What you learn doing that will help you know what 
kinds of jobs you want to do and get the education you need to do them.

Here are 3 areas where you can contribute.  Pick the one you think is 
most interesting and do it.  But dabble in the other two so you learn 
how they fit together.

Programming - you can help add features or fix bugs in any language you 
want.  You may have to explore a bit to find a project that fits your 
style and skill level but there are many out there.  Look at their bug 
and TODO lists and read their code.  Even if you don't manage to 
contribute anything important you'll learn a lot.

Integration - this is what the Debian developers and other package 
maintainers do.  They take individual programs and figure out the 
"right" way to install them on a given system.  That includes figuring 
out how they get installed, configured, upgraded, and uninstalled.  The 
Debian bug tracking system is loaded with work to do in this area 
(pretty much anything that doesn't say upstream on it is likely to be an 
integration bug).

System administration - this is where figuring out how to make computers 
do what people need done happens.  There's a lot to it--networking, 
desktop, database, clustering, security, the list goes on and on.  Build 
your own system and maintain it (backups, upgrades) and you'll get a 
feel for things that the programmers and integrators can do to make 
their packages more useful.  If you have a broadband Internet 
connection, run yourself a blog or wiki or mail server or something.

Here's what I would do with your servers.  Install Linux.  If you like 
GUI desktops use one of those.  Once it works for email and web surfing 
follow the directions to build a system at linuxfromscratch.org.  That 
will teach you how Free Software gets built and how your system works 
underneath all the packaging.  By the time you get done with that you'll 
have an idea what you like and can direct yourself.  All the information 
you need is available (on-line mostly, but at your library if you like 
reading books).

It sounds like you have a bit to learn about your hardware (sounds like 
it has a RAID, can you make that go?)  You'll have a much easier time 
learning it and getting it to work with Linux than with old versions of 
Windows.  Sure, new Windows will probably work fine but you won't learn 
as much.

Dave
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