I am getting a new machine soon with the infamous nvidia gforce sound and video. I plan on setting up a temporary quadruple boot with xp on the first partition and 3 linux distros: FC2, Slack 10.0, and Gentoo 2004.1 (installed from stage 3)--at least until I figure out which of the three I most prefer.

Here is how I plan to partition:

Dev Size(MB) Type
hda1 20000 primary NTFS windows xp.
hda2 512 primary ext2 linux swap
hda3 20000 primary ext2 linux fc2
hda4 39000 extended linux
hda5 15000 ext2 linux slack
hda6 14000 ext2 linux gentoo
hda7 15000 ext2 linux /home

And here is a proposed GRUB config:

default linux
timeout 10
color green/black light-gray/blue

# section to load fc2 linux
title fc2_linux
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5
boot

# section to load slack
title slack_linux
root (hd0,4)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda6
boot

# section to load gentoo
title gentoo_linux
root (hd0,5)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7
boot

# section to load Windows XP
title windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


I will be first shrinking down the windows partition with a shareware program, then using the FC2 GUI to create the remaining partitions and install FC2. Then, I will attend to installing a new kernel and drivers and also fixing the unethical partition problem that comes with FC2 (and anything with the 2.6.x kernels, I suppose).

Once I am certain that all is well, I will proceed with installing slack and gentoo, possibly going through the same new kernel/drivers installations with them. I understand that I will have to change the GRUB config files to point to the correct kernels. Also, I will have to install LILO for slack (on /root) and I suppose LILO or grub for gentoo on gentoo's /root. I am not certain how to configure these LILO files. I'd be grateful for an example.

Does anyone see any problems with my proposed GRUB config and partitioning scheme? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I currently have RH 8.0 dual booted with Win98, an upgrade from RH 6.1, which I started using in 1999. But, I have never configured grub, compiled a kernel, installed device drivers, etc. and I am a little nervous about all this confguring.

Many thanks.

The only advice I'd offer would be to do all your partitioning first, prior to installing any OS's. If I understand your plan correctly, you propose installing XP first, which will occupy the entire drive, and then shrink it down. If you were to partition first, and you leave half the disk (or whatever) unallocated to Windows in the first place, that could save yourself a little time/trouble. Good luck with it -- J.W.

Thanks JW.

The machine will come with XP home pre-installed. It's this one:
http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.js...&oid=95156&m=0
$430 after rebates-- a gift from a good friend.

I can reinstall after partitioning by using the accompanying rescue disk(s?) but my understanding was that this would destroy the partitioning.

How am I to reinstall XP home without destroying the partitions? Can I mount the rescue CD to hda1 from within one of the Linux partitions? I am not sure that I will really need XP at all, but I don't want to get rid of it until everything works perfectly on at least one of the linux distros.

If the machine will come with XP already installed, then disregard my comment, and follow your original plan of just resizing the XP partition. It's a smart move to keep XP in place initially, and then you can phase it out at your own pace. One other option to consider is that if you've got a spare harddrive that you can add to this system, then you could leave XP as is on one drive, install Linux on the second drive, and set up the multi-boot that way. If/when you want to ditch XP, you can just drop the XP partition, reformat it, and add it to Linux.

On the other hand, if you've just got the one drive to work with, then I'd do just as you outlined: shrink the existing XP partition, then split the remaining space into thirds for the 3 Linux distros, then install the distros one by one.

If you do need to use the XP recovery disks, then that process will basically restore the disk to its initial state, and XP will occupy the entire disk. I believe it is correct to say that if you have the actual XP installation disks (as if you bought them as a standalone) you can exercise some control over how XP installs, but if it's the recovery disk, you don't. I don't really know for sure, but that's the purpose of the recovery disk -- to put the drive back to its initial state.

Otherwise, the only other comment I have is that although multiple distros can share a single swap parition, it might get a little squirrely with having 3 distros share a single /home partition. In my view, it would be better to give each distro its own /home. That's just my 2 cents though, as I'm sure you know, partitioning is a highly subjective topic, and each person has their own favored way of doing it. Anyway, good luck with it -- J.W.