I have installed software (BaCon) that needs libc6 2.14 or 2.15 (specifically glibc_2.14 or 2.15). I have found it is risky or impossible to upgrade from version 2.13 on my Debian 7 machine and it looks like I need another distro.

My questions are:
1) Can someone point to suitable info about installing a second distro on my laptop as I want to keep Debian 7?

2) What distro would be the closest to Debian 7 as far as "look and feel" are concerned and has the necessary library?

3) Can I share some partitions (/home /var) between the 2 distros? How?

Thank you for your help.

Debian testing will give you version 2.18-5. If your machine is for home use you're probably better off using Testing (or Unstable) than Stable anyway.
jdk

You might want to take a look at one of the current versions of Puppy Linux

#1, @rblampain.

Linux Mint Debian http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php
.. will have a later libc6. ( It's a Debian Sid OS.)

Sharing /home/ :
Select the partition with /home/ when you are installing "Mint Debian".
And set it to /home in the "Select window".

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