I run a system with win2K, I have a 2nd drive that I split into 2 - 15 gig drives.

Can I install fedora on one, and slackware on the other. (I hear slackware is the best if you want to learn LINUX, and fedora is the easy to use ditro).

I read somewhere that slackware uses LILO, not GRUB for boot.

yeah, triple boot is possible if you configure it correctly. it's hard though. i always wanted to have a triple boot machine but i just figured i'd stick with one linux distro instead of two, since they're essentially the same. if you have fedora and slackware because one is easy and one is hard, it seems like sort of a contradiction. the one thing you can't do in slack you'll do in fedora. if you just have slack, you're forced to learn.

but that's my opinion. anyways, if you want details on how to setup a tri-boot, ask away. i think you'll find a lot of stuff if you do a search of the forums though.

thx, I look into it... thats what I was meaning to say.

what i would recommend is trying them both. maybe you'll like the learning experience of slackware but still prefer fedora. try as many distros as you can and you'll find one you're happy with.

Welcome to LQ!

Well of course, you can triple boot. You can boot more than that, if needed.
If you must do this, then install Windoze first, Fedora second, then install
Slackware and use the expert option to install LILO.

On the Slackware CD1 there is a file named Slackware-HOWTO, which says,
"This document covers installation of the Slackware(R) distribution of the Linux
operating system from the Slackware CD-ROM." You should print that and read
it and make notes, then use it when installing.

Now for the opinions...

If Fedora is anything like its predecessor RedHat, it is not easy to use. Before
installing Linux, you should determine WHY you're doing this. If you just want to
"try it out" and aren't interested in learning an entirely different system (from
Windoze), then run a Linux LIVE-CD and save yourself some time. If you've
already decided that you want to migrate to Linux, then install Slackware and
start learning Linux rather than learning Fedora. When all the gui wizards in the
Fedora system fail, you're as helpless as you were the first time windows lost its
registry. It's designed for the point-and-click Windoze mentality.

LILO is easy if you realize this:
/dev/hda = primary controller, master drive
/dev/hdb = primary controller, slave drive
/dev/hdc = secondary controller, master drive
/dev/hdd = secondary controller, slave drive

quick thought, you can share swap partitions, no need for a swap for each distro. just point it at the same swap partition for the second, third, forth,etc. distro you add.

You don't have to use Lilo.........install grub and use it instead.

I saw an article in a newspaper or a pc magazine a while back that detailed how a young kid had managed to boot something like 40 operating systems from one computer. Of course he had about 10 hard drives in there and it tool him months to figure out in what order the os's needed to be installed and how to boot them all harmoniously. Apparently he used Linux, Unix, Windows, OS2, and many other os's. True story, I swear, Pretty neat!

At one time I did manage to get Mandrake, Fedora, Windows XP, 2000 and 98 all booting from this machine. Not too tough.

I am going to use partition magic 8 to prepare my 30 gig secondary drive to split it in half for fedora/slackware.

Any suggestions on how I should set them up space, swap etc.. I see PM8 allows you to format with linux ext 2 or 3 aswell, which one should I use.

the old rule of thumb was 2 times ram size, doesn't apply as much these days with ram cheap and plentiful. 512MB is a good round number for swap. ext2/ext3, either is a good choice. ext3 will save you from long fsck's by reading from the journal instead, but long file system checks are not really much of a concern on a home box.

Yes, it is definitely possible to triple-boot. In fact, I currently have 7 OS's on 3 hard drives on my computer (septa-booting?). When you install the third OS, you just need to remember to place the bootloader (lilo or grub) in the beginning of the root partition, and not in the MBR (this is assuming you are going to have the 2nd one you installed handle the bootloader. Once you've installed the third OS with the bootloader in the beginning of its root partition, add it to the boot menu in Lilo (or Grub if you're going to have Fedora handle the MBR bootloader.)