How to-Installing multiple linux distros on single hard disk

rbh123 · 05-06-2005, 01:16 PM

hi ,

i want to install multiple linux distros(say Redhat5 ,Redhat 6 etc minimum of two distros) on a single hard disk, how do i do it. how should the partition be done during the installation of second distro.

Raafi · 05-06-2005, 01:21 PM

i would so a search for "dual-boot" on this forum and check out the posts that come up

snakeo2 · 05-06-2005, 03:10 PM

I'm no expert, but I would start by creating partitions for the first distro

/boot
/root
/home
/swap

please note, that you can share the /home and /swap between both distros. proceed to install the first distro, in your case redhat5 and allow grub to be installed during installation. then create another /root & /boot partition for redhat6 and install it but dont allow grub to be installed. after all the installation is done, boot into redhat5 and edit your grub.conf file to add the info(i.e. kernel, title, etc) for redhat6 so you can have a menu of both distros at boot. you will have to do some research on how to do that, since i havent been able to do it myself. i read in a thread that another way is to simply install redhat5, copy all the info contained in your grub.conf file. then install redhat6 and allow grub to be installed. then simply add the info your copied from redhat5 to newly created grub.conf file from redhat6. hope this helps.

beebelo · 08-01-2005, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by snakeo2
i read in a thread that another way is to simply install redhat5, copy all the info contained in your grub.conf file. then install redhat6 and allow grub to be installed. then simply add the info your copied from redhat5 to newly created grub.conf file from redhat6. hope this helps.

Could anyone confirm or deny the above -- is one way better than the other?
I'm planning to re-install Suse 9.2 in addition to my existing Slackware 10.1. Last time I attempted a multiple-distro install, I hosed it up and ended up starting over with Slackware only. (I love Slack, but still have a long way to go on the learning curve...)

I also intend to use the same /home and /swap partitions for the two distros. Any advice or references much appreciated.

Thanks.

titanium_geek · 08-01-2005, 10:40 AM

search for "multi-boot" in this forum and yeah. You'll find a lot. Umm... I've done this, and a tip: make all the partitions intended for root partions as extended. use advanced install as well.

titanium_geek

beebelo · 08-01-2005, 02:39 PM

Thanks for the tip, titanium_geek. Yes, I searched on "multiboot" and similar words, but didn't find a consensus 'best practice' (for installing multiple distros on a Windows/Linux system).

Here are some specifics about my system:
AMD Sempron 2800+ with 1024MB memory

hda (120GB):
Windows 2K on the first primary partition
Slackware 10.1 (except /home and /swap)
LILO in the mbr

hdb (80GB):
Linux /swap on extended partition
Windows swap extended partition (yes, I borrowed the idea from Linux)
Slackware /home on extended partition
FAT32 and NTFS extended partitions for Windows data
(Acronis automatically created a small primary partition on this drive, since I didn't create one, but I'm not using it.)

Basically I am just being cautious here, so that I don't create more work (or trouble) than necessary.

Thanks

kbusche · 08-01-2005, 05:45 PM

re: multiple distros on one disk

have a look at hentzenwerke.com

no guarantees but explicit examples of putting multiple distros on one hd.

much related info.

- enjoy

beebelo · 08-04-2005, 09:46 AM

(???) Hentzenwerke.com is a commercial book-selling site.

Anyway, on second thought .... I was going to install a another distro because of some issues with Slackware that didn't happen with Suse. But I came to my senses and decided to find the answers on my own. When I do get around to installing a second distro, the one I'd really like to try is Gentoo, or possiblly LFS (Linux From Scratch).

kbusche · 08-04-2005, 01:13 PM

beebelow:

well, beyond their commercial bookselling, they have free, useful pages, one is:
" installingmultiplelinuxdistributions_onasinglebox.pdf " as one of many free pages, try:
http://www.hentzenwerke.com/wp/insta...asinglebox.pdf

whether Redhat, Debian, Gentoo, or LFS, the "installing multiple ..." will surely help

hope it helps

hpladd · 08-04-2005, 02:14 PM

I have a system running both Debian and Red Hat 9.

My methods are crude... but effective.

I placed three partitions on the hard drive:

Code:

  Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *         1       450   3614593+  83  Linux
/dev/hda2          1060      1106    377527+  82  Linux swap
/dev/hda3           451      1059   4891792+  83  Linux

Note: only one swap partition.

I installed Redhat on hda1 and Debian onto hda3.

Note: I installed both of the distributions with their boot managers. But the computer only uses the lilo (and I guessing the mbr) of hda1 because it is the "boot" device.

My etc/lilo.conf is below:

Code:

prompt
timeout=50
default=Debian
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message
linear
vga=2
                                                                                
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-8
        label=Redhat
        initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-8.img
        read-only
        append="root=LABEL=/1"
image=/boot/deb/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-386
        label=Debian
        initrd=/boot/deb/initrd.img-2.4.27-2-386
        read-only

Hope this helps!

b0nd · 08-04-2005, 02:17 PM

Hello all,
i had XP and redhat 9 on my machine....
now i was trying to install slackware10.1 too on this machine.......i.e more that 1 distro of linux on the same machine......
Has installed the lilo of slackware on MBR.so right now i don't have access to redhat
........
the problem is with the graphics of slackware.
..........
by default init is '3'
so from the console when i'm going to the graphical mode through "startx"
....the graphics are not working normally....
i mean......i can just see the images but no text......
i.e if i'm right clicking the mouse, i can see that box and the various pictures but can't see the text.......same is happening if i'm opening 'terminal' or home etc..
....
intially i forgot to install the "tcl" and "xap" packages ........but now i've installed them ...
any sort of help will be appreciated..
regards

titanium_geek · 08-04-2005, 03:50 PM

ruudra- this question deserves it's own thread.

multibooting is fun. what I do is (I'll refrain from saying what my partitioning scheme is- it's already been discussed on the forum) keep my slackware (first linux installed) boot disk handy. I don't install a boot manager when installing other distros, and tinker with grub in slackware when I get back in.

titanium_geek

beebelo · 08-04-2005, 07:43 PM

kbusche -- Thanks for posting the exact link.

titanium_geek -- Thanks for posting the *how* of what you do.

> keep my slackware (first linux installed) boot disk handy.
> I don't install a boot manager when installing other distros,
> and tinker with grub in slackware when I get back in.

I forgot about the Slackware boot disk. DOHHHH!

> (I'll refrain from saying what my partitioning scheme is- it's
> already been discussed on the forum)

Sometimes I don't find things when searching the forum because there are so many results to look at...

Thank you,
beeb

titanium_geek · 08-04-2005, 08:34 PM

my partitioning threads:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=334307
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=334760

sorry for being gruff- I thought they were quite recent, but I had to dig for them...

titanium_geek

beebelo · 08-04-2005, 09:55 PM

Oh, I didn't think you were gruff. I was just explaining because I didn't want you think I'm clueless!

Thanks for the links!