Installing two distros on one HD

d4d4n9 · 12-30-2003, 08:20 PM

I have one 20GB hard disk that I divided into 2 of 10GB partitions.
In one partitions I installed MDK9.2 with /swap, / , /boot, /usr and /home linux partitions.
If I want to install another distro into the 2nd 10GB partition, do I have to make /swap, / , /boot , /usr and /home partitions or can I just leave the distro to prepare itself ? Does the second distro also use /swap partition of MDK9.2 or have to own its /swap?

slakmagik · 12-30-2003, 08:51 PM

In increasing issues, you can definitely share swap, and also boot and even home. Home can be an issue with config files - screw up one, you screw up all, and if there are incompatibilities from version to version that could be an issue. Not really sure why boot would be a problem but I have heard people express reservations. And swap's a slam dunk. /, /usr, and so on, need to be separate.

One of those 'what I say, not what I do' things - don't look at my box - I've got several systems but it's all a mess.

d4d4n9 · 12-30-2003, 10:20 PM

Thanks for advice digiot.
Thought that I will try to make a separate linux partitions for each distro and cross my fingers not to mess up the box

Ajarn · 12-31-2003, 03:10 AM

for what's it worth to you.
I have a 20gig drive.
I have installed 3 distros with no problems
mandrake 9.1--mandrake 9.2--libranet 2.7
*each*has a 200mb swapfile..nb: swap gets barely used. have 512mb ram
Hadn't one problem with booting .

d4d4n9 · 01-01-2004, 10:42 PM

Thanks Ajarn for your advice.
BTW, do you also have root , /usr , /home partitions for each distro ?
What about lilo ?
TIA

Ajarn · 01-02-2004, 01:05 AM

No, I have **choosen**. to take the default settings
/ (root) swap home.
This is good enough to learn whats going on.
your temp--usr--dev--etc will al be in the root directory.

Once you know what you are doing, you always can change it , if you have a good reason for it.
separate partitions certainly have their uses, but for home use, I personally don't think it is necessary

About lilo : I hadn't a problem, ans also didn't lift a finger to configure it.
everything happened automatic.

wldkos · 01-02-2004, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ajarn
for what's it worth to you.
I have a 20gig drive.
I have installed 3 distros with no problems
mandrake 9.1--mandrake 9.2--libranet 2.7
*each*has a 200mb swapfile..nb: swap gets barely used. have 512mb ram
Hadn't one problem with booting .

you do know they can all share the same swap file instead of wasting 400mb. No biggies, just letting you know.

wldkos · 01-02-2004, 02:23 AM

another suggestion for the thread started, if this is all linux, you can use /home as one partition and all distros can share that as well.

d4d4n9 · 01-02-2004, 03:19 AM

Hi Ajarn and wldkos,
Thanks for all advices that I got. They help me understand how linux uses the partitions. Like I try to let the installation to arrange for default setting.
( But can I be assured the my already installed system does not go haywire ? )
TIA.

Ajarn · 01-02-2004, 06:15 AM

widkos

Yes, I am well aware of the possibility of only one swap for diff installs.
I choose this because *right now* I don't care about space-waste
Thanks

BUT, your idee about one /home I like that.
What are the difficulties in doing so ?
thanks

hpnadig · 01-02-2004, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by d4d4n9
Hi Ajarn and wldkos,
Thanks for all advices that I got. They help me understand how linux uses the partitions. Like I try to let the installation to arrange for default setting.
( But can I be assured the my already installed system does not go haywire ? )
TIA.

for that, you need to edit your lilo.conf and add your old distro img onto the boot list...

its very simple

use

other = /hada_old_linux/boot/boot_img
labe = "My old Linux"

make sure you store your bootloader in the native partition and not MBR...
If you're installing mandrake, you'll be asked for the option ...

root3d · 01-02-2004, 09:49 AM

Quote:

make sure you store your bootloader in the native partition and not MBR...

If I have two hdd's, one with xp pro, the other mandrake 9.2, can I install mdk on the MBR on my second hdd (my first hdd having xp pro) ? Because I don't want to spend 50-80 bucks for trios.

What would I have to do to dual boot with lilo?

Thanks.

hpnadig · 01-02-2004, 10:05 AM

'cos linux treats every device as a file, there shouldn't be any pbm...

having said that, I would suggest you to try and catch somebody who's tried that before if you really don't want to mess up with it... or do a bit of experimentation...

wldkos · 01-02-2004, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ajarn
widkos

Yes, I am well aware of the possibility of only one swap for diff installs.
I choose this because *right now* I don't care about space-waste
Thanks

BUT, your idee about one /home I like that.
What are the difficulties in doing so ?
thanks

with the /home partition, there is nothing distro specific on there, unlike /bin; /sbin and ;/usr (/usr/src/linuc - diff kernel)

with the /home partition, you can use any distro to mount that /home and everyone can have their /home/user files just on a diff distro.

Mugatu · 01-02-2004, 08:39 PM

i've put 2 different distros on the same computer. i put mandrake 9.2 on one hdd and suse on my second. i told suse to use the swap file on the 1st hard drive and it seems to work fine. i tried to tell it to use my /home partition on the other drive but it wouldn't do it cause the /home partition was ext3 and it said that the kernel wouldn't support it or something. i didn't try to fix it cause i was just messin around. but like i said it seemed to use the swap file (even one on a different hdd) just fine.