tripple boot??

OK, so I know people have done dual boots (as have I) but that was a long time ago. This is my current setup:

160GB Intel SSD: Windows 7
250GB WD SATA: Windows 8 developer

I'd like to mess around with linux again so I was wondering what people thought. Currently I have the bios giving me the option as to which OS to load with. My questions is:

Can I do a triple boot with Linux?

-if so-

Can I install it on the same HDD or would people recommend a separate physical HDD?

Way back when I had mandrake and XP installed there were constant conflicts. I'd like to install it on the 250GB that's currently housing Win 8 Developer.

I am not sure how you have your system setup but I have a case with one of those external docks and have a rack. I gave Ubuntu installed on a spare HD completely separate from my Windows install. I would recommend doing it that way if you can. That way there is zero conflict. As soon as HD's come back to reasonable prices I might install Windows 7 on a 3rd HD but the only reason I have to upgrade is DX11.

I have xp, win7 and linux all on one disk, works fine ...

You can install linux on a separate drive but most releases are very stable and the graphical partition managers make resizing partitions easy as pie. You can comfortably install linux on a separate partition of the disk. The likes of ubuntu are very easy to work with.

After you install linux, go to my computer > boot > grub > grub.cfg (not that you will need to, linux should detect all your current os's). That is the linux equivalent of the boot.ini file. In there you can make changes if you need to change boot priority, delete or add OS's to boot from.

I'm using the ubuntu installer for windows.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/windows-installer

Should I do a different type of install?

My Hard drive configuration is setup as follows (per Manager)

DISK 0: Intel 320 160GB SSD: Windows 7
DISK 1: WD 250GB SATA: partition 1 139GB (Windows 8 developer) / partition 2: 93GB (Ubuntu) (doing right now)
DISK 2: WD 500GB SATA: Installation files, drivers and updates/patches
DISK 3: Seagate 1TB: MEDIA AUDIO/VIDEO files cubase, Acid 8.
DISK 4: WD 1TB: partition 1 (500GB: documents/reference files)/ parition 2 (500GB: Random data transfer)

ooooo I like this ubuntu.. It's very nice.. Although I'm not too thrilled by the MAC OSX desktop interface.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kujoe2002

ooooo I like this ubuntu.. It's very nice.. Although I'm not too thrilled by the MAC OSX desktop interface.

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If you want something more windowy yet similar to ubuntu try Linus mint 9 (one Im using which is stable).

I always use live discs, trying before installing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wh666-666

If you want something more windowy yet similar to ubuntu try Linus mint 9 (one Im using which is stable).

I always use live discs, trying before installing.

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I read this: http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastruc...61700639OPSWUB

and it seems like Linux mint is the same as Ubuntu. I think that using the the windows GUI mods will resolve the issue.

Any real benefits to using mint over ubuntu?


And a really crazy thought, what about instaling ubuntu AND mint?

It is very very similar, however when you scratch the surface, there are some differences. Mint does have a release based on debian btw instead of fedora, just incase you're a debian fan. I just prefer Mint, or xubuntu but it's less compatible with hardware Ive tried it on. I usually hate distros using gnome, so Mint is a rare exception.

You can always install two or more distros at a time. Im unsure if there is any theoretical limit to the number of OS's in win/grub boot files, but I havent run in to it.

If you can though, always try to get live dics instead of win installers. Lets you try it out a bit and see if you like the environment. Everyones tastes vary.

I used to like dreamlinux, but they started screwing around with it and Im not a great fan now.

well now I have 4 OS's installed (2x Windows and 2x Linux)

However, how can I configure it so that I get the boot selection option in the bios?

DISK 0: Intel 320 160GB SSD: Windows 7
DISK 1: WD 250GB SATA: partition 1: 139GB (Windows 8 developer) / partition 2: 43GB (Ubuntu) / parition 3 and 4: 54GB(Linux Mint)



When I installed Windows Dev and even Ubuntu, the bios screen automatically put the different boot options. So in the past when I started the computer, I would get on the bios screen:

please make your selection:

Windows 7
Window 8
Ubuntu.

And this would let me pick any OS I wanted to boot with. For some reason Mint did not set this up automatically..

Thoughts?

When i get home I'll find a screenshot but there is an option to tick saying something like use grub bootloader which might not have been ticked. If it is still using a win bootloader but doesn't list mint, you can boot from the last installed win os disc and do a fixboot and fixmbr. That should solve it, if not adding it to the boot.ini manually would work. A screenshot/pic would be helpful.

well also, I was reading in another site. When I created the partition for MINT, it setup as OXL 4 or something. There were versions 2, 3 and 4. Will that cause a problem? I'm going to try to load via mint and see if it works

update:

when I tried running the mint4win setup in windows 7 it asked me if I really wanted to uninstall ubuntu.

I tried gettin XOSL:

http://www.ranish.com/part/

but it's giving me problems with installation

Maybe it's just me, but I like to keep things simple.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817994074

I use the ICY DOCK mounted rack to swap out OS hard drives as needed.
Storage gard drives stay mounted internally and is accessible by whatever the OS on the mounted hard drive.

I have 7 boot options on the machine I'm on right now, including Mint and Ubuntu 11. There doesn't seem to be a limitation to the number of bootable OS's allowed. I should kill off Vista, but it isn't worth the hassle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kujoe2002

ooooo I like this ubuntu.. It's very nice.. Although I'm not too thrilled by the MAC OSX desktop interface.

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Unity?

It's nice, but still vastly inferior to Aero-Glass. The only issue I have is that it's sluggish. Mint "pops," Ubuntu 11 sort of "saunters." Over all though, neither distro really gives me any reason to stray from Windows. The Aero interface is still years ahead of Gnome or Unity.