Two (or more) Operating Systems on One Computer

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I've got Windows, and don't want to lose it. But I'm curious in experimenting with some of these free operating systems like Linux and React on the same computer and same hard drive. Anyone run 2 or more operating systems on the same drive? Do you have to hit F12 to switch between them when booting, or is there some way to chose when the computer is started?

Any knowledge appreciated.

Bootloader

An introduction to the Linux boot and startup processes

You could burn a live CD (or USB stick) to try out Linux first without installing anything to your hard drive. If you do install a new OS make sure you have anything important backed up first in case of any mistakes. If you mainly use one OS you can set it to always boot to that one by default unless you tell it otherwise so you don't have to select it every time.

^^ Booting from a disc or USB is an interesting way to get a glimpse, but it's temporary. I can't really install and execute programs since the source is removable media. That's why I was thinking about actually installing the OS on the hard drive.

My fear is, like you said, screwing up and losing my current Operating System. These free open source office programs don't compare to Microsoft Office. Plus, all of my main files are in Windows. I'm not anti-Windows, just curious about alternatives.

It's possible but in case of Windows you have to install that first because Winkows usually overwrites the boot loader.

But there is a better choice for playing around with lots of different operating systems by installing them into virtual machines. Afterwards you can run the systems in parallel and at the same time and testing them. You can download VirtualBox (https://www.virtualbox.org) in Windows for that. There is nearly no performance impact except for the graphics and you have the different systems available in parallel. It may also save disk storage. The other thing is that you can create any time a restoring point (system snapshot) of a VM before trying any kind of big changes of a system. Once the things are broken then it's easy to return to the previous system state afterwards. The removing of an obsolete system requires just the deletion of the subdirectory of the related VM. And once you need a faster PC then it's enough to copy the VMs on that. VirtualBox is free and easy to use so I hope you have fun with that.

Yes, I thought of virtual machines shortly after making my last post. That's probably your best bet for trying out and installing things on an OS risk free, unless your PC is underpowered since the main and guest OS will be running at the same time. That's how I first tried Linux. Backing up your important files is still a good idea though! You can install and save things on a Live distro without leaving any trace on the PC but but I found that more of a faff than installing in a VM.

I use Libre Office and now that I've got used to it it's not so bad. Didn't think it was as good as Microsoft Office at first though. You can open and save MS files in it but I'm not sure it's all totally compatible.

While having a system dual boot is useful it is far better to have a second hard drive that way no damage can be caused to your normal operating system.

One issue you may face with systems such as Linux is the drivers particularly for sound may not be as good as those in Windows. I've been messing around with Ubuntu recently....just a great many problems with drivers not working mainly for wifi the system not recognising most that I had and the one it did doesn't work at all.

I think Mint is about the most user friendly as far as drivers is concerned. I had ubuntu for a while and never managed to get it to work right for audio or video. Mint hasn't ever given me a problem, even using an Nvidia video card. I never did a dual boot. started with linux (ubuntu) about ten years ago because windows broke and I couldn't figure out how to fix it without paying someone (and couldn't afford to pay someone or lose my computer), so I just installed ubuntu and that lasted well enough to get through a few years of school until the computer itself finally burned out.
Live booting can give you a good idea of what a system will be like but won't really work as a full system, in most cases. There are some distros meant to be used only that way, though.
I've only started messing with virtualbox today, actually. Wanted to do an arch install "the right way" without another machine to install it on right now. So far so good with that. Virtualbox is pretty straightforward and easy to use. It's good to know a little bit about your CPU and RAM, although when you are going through the process of allocating memory and CPU for your virtual machine virtualbox gives a pretty clear visual indicator to you of how much ram/cpu you are giving your VM vs how much your hardware actually has.
There are some pretty good tutorials on youtube about linux installs on the machine or in virtualbox. LearnLinuxTV and Distrotube (channels) both have a lot of tutorials. I watched one yesterday by networkchuck that was ok. Was a virtualbox install of a linux distro on a windows computer. More fun than informative but you could follow the video step by step and end up with linux installed in virtualbox on windows.

You can usually run a basic version of Linux off a windows desktop.
One version is Ubuntu.

I used to mess around with Ubuntu.

Mac OS allows a person to run windows and other OS off their desktop.
I used to use software called Parallel, which was very effective.

At one point in time, I also built a hackintosh, using well chosen software.
Mostly because i use to use Apple Logic Pro on the Mac, and my old mac broke,
so i decided to build a hackintosh.

Hackintosh's are very temperamental, especially if your not a seasoned programmer.
You also have to be really careful as to what components to build your Hackintosh out of.

At one point, i was running a triple boot system off the bootloader that the hackintosh wiz kids give away for free.
Allowed me to boot up either Windows/Linux/Mac Os.

But sacked that all off, as it was very frustrating if any thing went wrong.

I now simply converted to using Cubase, instead of Logic. Cubase 11 does pretty much everything that Logic or protools does. And you can use a PC instead of Mac. and don't have to keep on buying new Apple Mac's just so you can use the software that you brought.

I love mucking around with Linux and would love to have it for my main OS but I use a laptop in a dock with a dual monitor setup and I've never been able to get the drivers working correctly. And I've been using MS Word and Adobe Photoshop most of my adult life and just can't get used to open source office and photo editing software.

I often set up dual boot though, so I can play around with Linux a bit. I like to install different distros and just explore them really. I've never really got to the stage where I'm using them confidently like I can Windows (again, been using Windows since 3.11 so it's burned into my brain).

The advantage of a virtual machine is that it uses a virtual hardware and in reality uses the drivers of your installed operating system. Did you ever try Knoppix? It's basing on Debian and comes with a huge amount of preinstalled Linux programs and is able to run from a CD or USB stick.