is it possible to have 3 operating systems on one computer? i have 39gig of unparitioned space on my harddrive, and instead of turning that into another windows or linux storage drive, i was thinking of possibly trying another linux distro. but is this possible, and if so, how do i set up lilo to acknowledge the 2nd linux? i know i could change the label, but what about the kernel path. as i type this im looking at the lilo section of the kde control center? could i just click add another os? and if i do this after i install (which makes sense), would doing so just instantly set up this other distro?
thank you for your help

It certainly is.

If you're going for another Linux distro then may I suggest you do this:

Install your new distro but do not install a bootloader. Make sure you know which partition(s) you installed it to. Boot to your Mandy distro and mount your new distro's partition. Copy the kernel (and initrd) files over to Mandy's /boot and give them sensible names, like rh9-kernel and rh9-initrd (very useful if you're 3+ booting). Edit your bootloader's config file (/etc/lilo.conf) and add another entry for your new distro, using the kernel and initrd files stored on Mandy's /boot area. Tell it to use the correct root partition, though.

Here's my lilo.conf file so you can see what I mean:

after reading your post i changed a few things in my lilo config(just labels of boot choices), and even tho the changes will show up in lilo.conf, they didn't show up in the lilo boot menu when i restarted my computer

code:
boot="/dev/hda"
map=/boot/map
default="windows"
keytable=/boot/us.klt
prompt
nowarn
timeout="300"
message=/boot/message
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw

image="/boot/vmlinuz"
label="Mandrake 9.1"
root="/dev/hda6"
initrd="/boot/initrd.img"
append="quiet devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off"
vga=788
read-only

image="/boot/vmlinuz"
label="Mandrake 9.1-NOFB"
root="/dev/hda6"
initrd="/boot/initrd.img"
append="quiet devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off"
read-only

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="Mandrake 9.1-failsafe"
root=/dev/hda6
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="failsafe devfs=nomount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off"
read-only

other=/dev/hda1
label="WindowsXP"
table=/dev/hda

image="/dev/hda1"
root="/dev/hda6"
initrd="/boot/initrd.img"
append="quiet devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off"

image="/dev/hda1"
label="donno"
root="/dev/hda6"
initrd="/boot/initrd.img"
append="quiet devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off"

other=/dev/fd0
label="floppy"
unsafe



(end of lilo)
also, the last two options just ...appeared..and i have no idea what they are, and as i said, none of this shows up on the lilo boot menu. from there i get "linux, linux-nofb, failsafe, windows, and floppy" i did the changes w/ith the lilo configuration program in kde's control center,

when i attempt to remove the blank entry (with no label, 3rd from the bottom) the config program deltes my standard linux option (mandrake 9.1) the option donno however, deletes easily, with no problems(i just did that, thats why it was still in lilo.conf
when i hit apply, i get the following message

WARNING: the config file is currently NOT ok.
Do you really want to override /etc/lilo.conf?
If you aren't sure, select "no" and click the "Check configuration" button to see the details.
If you don't know what's wrong, try clicking the "Probe" button to auto-generate a working lilo.conf.
If you're getting this message after using the "Probe" button, please send a full bug report,
including the output of "Check configuration" and the generated lilo.conf (displayed in the "Expert" tab),
to bero@kde.org

there is a yes and no option. clicking the probe button changes my lilo.conf to

boot=/dev/hda
lba32
prompt
timeout=50
message=/boot/message
root=/dev/hda6

image="/boot/map"
label="map"
root="/dev/hda6"
read-only

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.21-0.13mdk
label="2.4.21-0.13"
root=/dev/hda6
read-only

image=/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage
label="Linux_Compiled"
root=/dev/hda6
read-only
optional

other=/dev/hda1
label="NT"

other=/dev/hda5
label="NT"

and i know that is wrong because /dev/hda5 has no operating system. am i doing something horribly wrong, or is kde control center just a really really bad choice to change the lilo config with?

thx
randal

As a general point - when youve edited lilo.conf and you want to make the changes work you have to run the map installer

/sbin/lilo

as root user

So - Open a command line Terminal or Console.

Then type:

su

Press enter

Then type your Root password

Press enter

then type

/sbin/lilo


Getting back to your specific situation - those 2 dodgy entries are causing the KDE lilo utility error - they need to be deleted. (the image = directives are poiting to partitions!!)

Second - did you follow what Thymox said correctly? - you'll have to exaplain what youve done up until this point.

[root@localhost randal]# /sbin/lilo
Added Mandy
Added Mandy-NOFB
Added Mandy-failsafe
Added WindowsXP
Fatal: Kernel doesn't support initial RAM disks
[root@localhost randal]#

is that bad? or should i carry on and reboot to see if it works?

edit:
i deleted all of the blank things from lilo.conf, so all that was left was mandy, mandy nofb, mandy failsafe, windows xp, and floppy. then i ran /sbin/lilo again and got :


[root@localhost randal]# /sbin/lilo
Added Mandy
Added Mandy-NOFB
Added Mandy-failsafe
Added WindowsXP
Added floppy
Fatal: No images have been defined or default image doesn't exist.
[root@localhost randal]# Mutex destroy failure: Device or resource busy

im not sure if that last line has anything to do with..well anything, but as it appeared and i didn't do it, it might be of some use

The crucial point is that you havent got an entry yet for the distribution that you have just put on - youll have to explain excatly what youve done so far in terms of putting the new distro on etc.

Spork - which new distro have you put on and what have you done in terms of following what Thymox said

right now i was just preparing the system for the new boot, so really just changing labels, i haven't really decided what distro (probably rh or deb) and so i dont have the distro..sorry if i gave that impression

what distro do you think is good for a newbie like me?

Aah - that explains it.

In general - you install the distribution first before editing the bootloader that you are using.

Considering you've already got Mandrake 9.1 - I would go for Red Hat 9.

I noticed that youve got a mismatch in your lilo.conf file between

the

default = directive

and the label name for WindowsXP

make sure you change them so that they are both the Same

Then you'll have reset your lilo.conf properly and Windows will be the default again.

Remember to run /sbin/lilo as root user once youve made the Windows label name and the default= directive the Same

ahhh..ya thanks man it worked beautifuly after that red hat eh? sounds good, but what about lycoris (im just wondering, i know thats a rather touchy subject amongst the linuxers who know what they're doing) persionally i think it'd be fun to play aroudn with, even tho it loosk nearly exactly like ms windows, which anyone could do with a lot of spare time and kde actually nvm that lycoris, i was just browsing distro watch and saw it well thanks for the help man

er..just a quick question, in the red hat iso directory, there are 6 isos, shrike disk 1-3, and then shrike SRPMS disk 1-3, w hich do i need to dl/burn?

For the install you'll need shrike disks 1-3 - not the source disks.

thanks

say out of curiosity, whats slackware like?
i'd ask waht it looks like, but then i realized it probably would run on kde/gnome,a nd therefore look pretty much like every other linux distro, with the exception of a distro theme (ie: mandrake, or suse, or lycris(Or w/e it is..donno off hand) themes)

It's well worth trying - it uses KDE by default - It's superficially similar to Mandrake 9.1, but a little faster. There's no GUI install - it's text based (tabs and arrow keys) - also you typically set up your partitions using cfdisk.

All in all - well worth trying.

is the 2nd slack iso _supposed_ to be 705mb?..cuz on one svr i saw 2 slackware-current.isos, but only 1 said 9.1..and i only have 700 mb disks..do they even make bigger ones? i was trying to use k3b but it didn't work......any suggestions, or would maybe using windows work instead (got roxio there)

or is this something i put int he slackware forum?