Welcome to the Linux Foundation Forum!
mega multi-boot question
hellos
i have a 1TB external hard drive and i am going to shrink it's partition so i can install as many flavours of Linux as necessary to get the best of the Linux world.
currently i have ubuntu and win7 installed on my internal hdd
now, my question to everyone is which AND how many distro's should i install onto the external hdd, AND why the distro's recommended vs others?
since ubuntu is debian-based i am looking for some more alternatives to ensure i get the best of Linux, but i'm not striking out other debian / ubuntu based distro's from the picture.
0
Comments
.deb distro (Ubuntu, Mint, Mepis, Debian (make it Sid, it's more challenging)).
.rpm distro (Fedora, Suse, Mandriva)
Slackware
Gentoo
Linux from Scratch
There'a a good start, just remember that some distros use legacy grub, and some use grub2, good luck.
Personally, I prefer to run one primary Linux OS with /, /boot, and swap in primary partitions on the boot device, /home on another disc (or array), and run any other Linux, Windows, or miscellaneous operating systems in virtual machines under the primary host. That has proved the easiest to administer and most reliable for me. As a systems consultant, I often have to run multiple operating systems of various sorts, and this actually allows me to run one or more linux systems, Windows, and Solaris all at the same time.
and
if i'm installing these distro's on an external hard drive, will the boot loader on my laptop still be overwritten?
Most bootloaders that automatically configure themselves try to overwrite the bootloader on the first detected hard drive, but you can manually tell them to install on the external HD's mbr, you will just have to remember to boot the system from the external HD which is usually listed as usb hdd.
http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=642
I works with legacy grub, grub2, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Grub is great, but if you ever have to upgrade windows, it's nice having it working with a bootloader that won't interfere with whatever Windows is looking for during the upgrade process. I recently upgraded 2 dual boot laptops from Vista to Windows 7 without incident, and I believe I have EasyBCD to thank for that. At least take a look at it, it's an interesting app.
thanks but that is not what i intend to do. i have windows 7, and it windows keeps getting worse so if i were to do anything like that i'd revert to xp, which probably wont happen in the first place because i'm on linux 95% of the time
currently using grub.
Have you taken actions and attempting an installation to the external hard drive to see what options are presented and if any errors populated on your chosen distro?
do you have some info to offer?
This is a task that some including myself have not yet tried, I recommend giving it a shot and seeing what options it presents during the installation. If it does not work correctly, then all you have lost is the installation time, but you will gain a partial install that we can debug to correct any errors.
for the record i'm all that savvy with debugging
no programming background whatsoever.
well, i don't doubt i'll take action eventually but i don't like do make uninformed decisions
here's my main concerns at the moment:
1. what will happen to my installed boot loader (grub) after the external installation
2. how to create 2 partitions out of 1 solid block of unallocated free space
3. which distro's should i choose and why (currently looking at red hat & fedora as candidates for 1 of the partitions)
Sorry for the confusion, I was in fact referring to the original content of this thread which was your attempt at multi-boot on an external hard drive.
1. Most distro installers include and advanced option that allow you to choose where to write the boot-loader, or not to write it at all. If you choose to keep you current grub configuration you can tell the distro not to install the boot-loader. If you choose not to install the boot-loader of the chosen distro then we can help you to reconfigure your current boot-loader.
2. You can use gparted, cfdisk, fdisk or whatever is included in the chosen distro to choose you partitioning scheme. If you try a program like gparted it will be very easy to use.
3. If you plan to develop for mainstream distros then I would say to go with fedora and debian.
any ideas jump out?
edit: i'm already using ubuntu :P
edit2: it's nice i don't have to look further than this site to grab parted magic :side:
For the experimentation installs it would probably be best if you went with debian or ubuntu derivatives so most of the functionality is familiar.
i have the resources to utilize numerous OS's and i'd really like to dive into stuff new to me, as long as it's mainly covered with a GUI lol
Every Linux distro has an option of using a GUI, although in some causes it must be compiled, installed or activated. Are you wanting to play with different tools, different management options, different core processes, etc...
Knowing what base functions interest you will help us to refer you to distros that would interest you the most.
what's the most user-friendly of the rpm-users?
2. I have heard from several people that mandriva using rpm style packages and is quite friendly.