Hi,

Im thinking of running Windows, Slackware, and Ubuntu on my laptop in a triple boot configuration.
I understand that i should install windows first otherwise it will erase the current bootloader, but what im not sure about is the partition scheme for the two linux OS's. Should i be sharing partitions between the two linux systems such as (/home, /swap etc..) or will i have to make the same partitions twice for both linux OS's?

Thanks.

You can share partitions if you want. Sharing the home partition might be a pretty good idea.

The only reason I do not share /home partitions is because it makes it so easy to keep a backup of critical data.

I would have a seperate partition for each OS. You can share swap. Each one have a root partition and if you wish create a seperate home in each OS. I would then create a common partition like a share partition for OSes to share in the event you need to move data from one to the other.

Brian

i usually share the /home partition (along with swap). it's usually pretty safe as far as user settings, etc. the benefits and ease of keeping most of the same configurations have far outweighed any potential risks or downsides, in my experience. saves on disk space, too.

I was wondering (always leads to trouble ). If instead of say sharing your /home directory you put the complete OS in / (root). So...
And within that you'd have a normal structure. Then you could auto-mount a separate partition say /sda3 (in this example), into you home directory that contains all your saved data, media, etc. If you did this for each distro they would have user data saved in their corresponding /home directory, but you saved everything into your 'share data' partition.

What do y'all think?
I might actually give that a go.

I think this is the way to go. Config settings aren't touched, valuable files are accessible to all distros. And if you network, the share partition could be exported.

Also, I'd suggest a separate /boot partition of 35Mb or so. You could have the first Linux install to that, putting the bootloader and boot files for that distro on the /boot partition. For the second distro, let the installer create a /boot directory under the root partition. After installation of the second distro, edit the bootloader menu (on the /boot partition) to point to the /boot directory of the second distro. No kidding, it works well. Without a separate /boot partition, you would need to mount the root partition of distro1 under distro2 in order to modify the boot menu, etc from within distro2, and that's a little weird.

Lein - this is the best way to go. There can be some issues just sharing /home, as different versions of the same program will conflict with the settings.

See This page, which I have written about dual-booting Linux distros. Using these ideas, the main boot loader is independent of all the distros, and you can reinstall/upgrade them without losing your main bootloader settings.

I hope this helps
--Ian

Cheers Ian, that was almost exactly what I was thinking. I have already set up a separate partition for grub after reading saikee's various grub & booting how-to's. I think when I finish with my exams and get some spare time I will finish tidying my system by using a method very similar (if not identical) to yours.

Now all I need to do is figure out these virtual machines and emulators to see what other fun I can have... Another day in the not to distant future I believe.