I'm posting in the newbie section because, even though I've been a casual user of Linux since roughly 2002, I still qualify as a newb (but hopefully not a n00b!).

I'm going to switch my laptop over to a Linux distro, (probably Mint, but I'm also going to check out OpenSUSE) that I'll dual boot with Windows. I'll only leave Windows on there for family members, I'm trying to 'take the plunge', as it were, and use only Linux.

My questions relate to loop devices. I'll have a Linux distro on my machine for casual everyday use, but for school (majoring in information systems security) I need to use Backtrack a few days a week. I'd like to be able to switch between my "daily use Linux" and Backtrack without having to reboot my computer each time. Please correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it, I can run two instances of the same, or different, distributions of Linux at the same time.

I can accomplish this on my Android phone using a preconfigured ARM distro of Backtrack, and some scripting software that basically writes and modifies the BASH script used to create and run the loop. I then connect to it using either SSH or VNC. (for info on that, here's the code for Linux on Android via SourceForge http://sourceforge.net/p/linuxonandr...4565f520/tree/)

What I'm asking for is not a line by line process of how to do this, but for some one to kindly point me in the right direction for me to find the instructions for this on my own. Google has actually confused me a bit more than I already was on this! I'm a firm believer in the whole "teach a man to fish" thing, and believe that with a nudge in the right direction, I'll be good to go.

Also, if anyone has personal experience with running two instances of Linux on one machine at the same time via a loop device or similar, please tell me about it. DO you connect to that wtih SSH or VNC, or is there another way to do it? Did you enjoy it? Was it difficult or cumbersome? Is there a better way?

Thanks in advance for your help everyone!

What you are searching for is linux on linux with chroot ex:http://www.linux.org/article/view/ch...current-linux-, http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Chroot_from_a_livecd.
Another option is virtualbox.
succes.

1 members found this post helpful.

AH! Yes! Thank you so much whizje! This is exactly what I'm looking for!

I've considered using VirtualBox for this, since I've been using it, as well as VMWare, to run virtual machines. I'm hoping that Linux on Linux will run a little smoother, but time will tell.

THANK YOU! =D

I'll check into this as soon as I'm able - probably not until Wednesday :-( - and I'll post back here about how it worked.

Sorry it has taken so long to get back, but I'd like to state that the advice that whizje has given me has worked! I used the links he provided, along with the instructions at http://blog.pfuender.net/archives/134 to set up a parallel Linux!

I've run into a few bugs that I have to work out, but for the most part, so far so good!

Thanks again!