ok i got my computer here
pentium 4 2.5ghz
1 gig of ram
80gig hdd (75gig)
nvidia Geforce 6200 256vram

ive set up my partion table as such:
XP-ntfs {12gig} UbuntuStudio8.4.1-Ext3 {12gig} Swap{2gig} Fat32{55gig}

grub is installed and ubuntu is set as my default
i would like to ad a 3rd os to my boot sequence i was thinking a portage system maybe gentoo but im probly gunna be lazy and use saybayon(almost gentoo) i already have a 3.5 dvd burnt

the problem im having is that my swap takes up a primary partition and apparently u can only have 4 on one hdd (wish somebody would of told me)

you know when u learn somthing by your self sometimes you find holes in your knowledge

i was playing with my partion editor (gnome) but i just got everything working so nice i really dont want to fuck it up just cause i got greedy

i know it has something to do with an extended/logical partition but i just never learned that (wish i would of)

so im asking somebody to enlighten me please

You are right or they are, you can only make four primary partitions per hd. If you need another partition you will have to do some resizing to one or more of your primary partitions to make a extended partition. Then you can create your logical partitions in the extended partition. Remember to backup everything you want to save before resizing those partitions.

Following on from what Larry said. Delete that fat32 partition. Then your Sabayon installer should enable you to make a 13 GB logical partition to install to, then create a 42 GB fat32 logical partition if needed.

ok so logical goes inside extended i can do that with the swap

is there a speed difference from primary-extended/logical?
would it boost the speed of my fat32 partition by changing it to extended/logical?

by changing both i could enable a quad boot... what would be a good 4th os? considering i already have a gaming os (XP) a development os (ubuntu) and a pretty/source based os (saybyon)-{gotta love beryl+gentoo}

would debian work as a better development os (asuming i was developing games)

speaking of which, what is the best combination of software for freeware game development i was thinking debian because it probly has better susport for progams like GCC and k3d

the programs im using for ubuntu are
k3d=animation (great gui, i hated blenders gui..)
geany=C++ compiler
i have not found a sound builder i liked yet (but i have not looked)
any suggestions?
gimp=photo editing/background images (think ff7)
dose gimp support wrapping images to models? (think textures or skins)
i have not found/looked for a movie builder(to develop cgi movies/ cutsceans) any suggestions?

BTW: best linux forum i have found to date (i get answers next day rather then next week)- and i hate how every new site i go to calls me a noob (in some way shape or form) for the first week im there

ohh well, just one of those things u gotta prove to people, befor they belive u

thanks for posting

If you have an extended (meaning if you have any logical partitions) then you can only have three primary partitions. If you have no logical partitions, you can have four primary.

IIUC, you already have four primary. I wasn't sure you understood you need to delete one primary in order to create an extended in which you can then have several logical partitions.

No.

No.

I have read that Windows needs to boot from a primary partition. Linux doesn't care. Long ago (Windows NT) I used many bootable Windows partitions, mostly extended on one disk with my own multi boot code. I expect that is still possible (that there is some way to boot Windows from an extended partition). I haven't wanted to in a long time, so when reading all the places that say you can't, I at least conclude it is harder than it would be worth unless you really need to.

...shadow;

I suggest that you remove your e-mail address from the first post. You are inviting a bunch of SPAM. Also, most forum members will not contact you privately---the whole idea is to have the Q and A open so everyone can benefit.

[QUOTE=johnsfine;3286403]If you have an extended (meaning if you have any logical partitions) then you can only have three primary partitions. If you have no logical partitions, you can have four primary.


so i need swap and my fat32 partitions to become extended/logical befor i can make a 3rd primary saybyon partation

why dose making a extended/logical take away one of my primarry partitions?

dose every one of my extended partitions take away one primary partition?

so swap and fat32 needs to be under the same extended partition but under the different logical partitions

can i still set disk labels under logical? i dont like remembering which partition dose what . i much perfer having names for each partition

linux will boot from a logical partition but not windows?
interesting

keymap={}priimary []logical <>extended

{XP} {ubuntu} <[swap] [fat32]> {saybyon}

dose grub need its own place to call home?
i have alwayes told it to save its self to the master boot record
any problems with this?

one swap partition can be used on multible linux os's right?
i dont need a 2nd swap?...right?

guess i wont get a quad boot ohhh well tri boot is geeky enough i guess...

thanks and its verry nice to meet all of you

An extended partition counts as a primary, but you can have a few (how many?) logical partitions within the extended one. So you could quad boot, or multiboot any number providing you had the space. Yes, a swap partition can be shared.

On SATA you are limited to 15 or 16 partitions in total. Somewhat more under IDE, but I don't recall the number.

Sounds OK, but why does it matter to you whether the saybyon partition is primary?

Because the partitioning design is based on a much older design that only allowed four partitions. The first data structure used is still the one from that older design and it just allows four partitions. So one of those four must be used as an extended to provide a link to the data structures used for all the logical partitions.

There is no reason to have more than one extended partition. I don't know what the Linux partitioning tools would do with the data structures if you did have more than one. In older partitioning tools I have both placed multiple extended partitions in the first data structure where each takes one of four slots and placed extended partitions inside an extended partition where they don't take up more of the first four slots. But I don't think any method of having more than one extended partition is appropriate to what you're doing.

yes.

Only the beginning of grub can go in the MBR. Most of grub should go in one of your Linux partitions. It can still be used to boot other OS's in other partitions.

right.

If you wanted quad boot, why not do it? I thought you wanted only one windows and the rest Linux, so you only need one primary partition. Any of the others could be logical.

its more along the lines im leaving the first two primary because i have important data there
and i dont feel like reinstalling them and finding all my shit again

why dose saybyon need to be primary?
its more for me then it is the computer, so i rember what dose what

now that i know all this useful information, i know i can quad boot but i wouldnt have anything to put there

i was hoping some one would give me a good suggestion (see earlier post)

well im off to build my tri-boot

sabayon installed in the correct place (now i just half to configure it)

but grub isnt loading ubuntu

how dose one fix this?
answer: Supergrubdisk awesome tool
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

for some reason i have 2 instances of grub the one installed with ubuntu and the one installed with sabayon
they seem to be fighting for supremiacy
the only way i can choose is if i insert my super grub disk and chose which linux i want...weird

Note: Sabayon is HUGE!!!i ether gotta give it more space or kill it

You have all the Grub files in Ubuntu and Saboyan but only one of them is in the mbr, only one can be. That's the stage1 file of Grub. If you are booting from Saboyan, the /boot/grub/menu.lst file for Saboyan needs a corect entry for Ubuntu. If you are booting from Ubuntu, it's /boot/grub/menu.lst needs a correct for Saboyan. Since you installed Saboyan last, I assume it's stage1 is in the mbr but, I'm only guessing. You can get the correct entries for Ubuntu to put in Saboyan by booting Ubuntu and copying it's entry in menu.lst to the Saboyan menu.lst.

Don't know your disk structure or menu.lst entries so it's not possible to be more specific.

i ran out of room on my hdd for the 3rd operating system

then a few days later everything crashed

that same day i discovered Ubuntu SE (Satanic Edition)

it gave me none of the usuall issues ubuntu did

and it ran compez better then sabayon so i left it and have been happy with it

but thanks for all the usefull info, i did use your advice btw i turned my swap and fat32 partitions into one extended-logical-logical partition

and distributed the old sabayon space to ubuntu and XP

everything is happyer that i got rid of sabayon

once i get a bigger hdd i will experiment again untill then good luck to all

Note: dont close the thread someone may need this info sooner or later
and it might be me