Dual Boot
Dual boot is a setup where two or more operating systems are installed on a single computer, allowing the user to choose which OS to boot into at startup. It typically involves partitioning the hard drive or SSD to allocate separate space for each OS, with a boot manager (like GRUB for Linux) handling the selection process. This enables running different OS environments (e.g., Linux and Windows) on the same hardware without virtualization.
Developers should learn dual booting when they need to work with multiple operating systems for specific tasks, such as using Linux for development (e.g., programming, server management) and Windows for gaming or proprietary software. It's useful for testing applications across different OS environments, accessing OS-specific tools, or maintaining separate work and personal setups on one machine, offering better performance than virtual machines for resource-intensive tasks.