UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I'm a reasonably experienced linux user and would now like to try some different systems. I have a laptop with 80 gb hd which will be the candidate. However, can I have several OS's installed on a single hd? I was thinking of 5-6 OS's (4 linux systems, one BSD and on WINdoze). My question is: will it work? And also how should I partion my disk? Ideas and suggestions are apprecieted...

Regards
Richard

Funny you should ask. I lost the drive on my laptop. I have a new 100 GB drive and I will soon rebuild it with as many OS's as I can shove in. I will post a detailed article explaining what steps I used after it's done.

What you want to do is a piece of cake. You will need a really good partition manager like Partition Magic. I am using Acronis Disksuite which is almost as good and a bit cheaper. Most bootloaders will short out if you try that many O S's. But Grub can handle it easily. I have heard of a product called "Boot It!" that might be able to as well. I even downloaded a trial version. But once I understood grub, I will never switch. That is the hard part...grub's documentation is terrible.

Some clues: before you start gather all of the documentation that you can about your hardware. Some of the installers will blindside with questions like "what is the vertical sync rate of your monitor?". One by one, install each OS is a dual boot config with windows. You will learn how much disk space is needed, what questions it will ask, and any other surprises will be exposed. Take notes on how much disk space was consumed in the filesystems with your installation choices. Also, audition the OS to see if you really want it on the final setup. If you can't get each of them to work in a dual boot config, you won't have a chance with the multi config.

The really hard part is the limited number of primary partitions. But you won't even consume them all. Use logical partitions where ever possible. Start with windows in a primary partition using NTFS and also with an E drive in a logical partition using FAT32. Linux can mount that too, possibly as /driveE to pass stuff around among the O S's. Consider having a logical partition for linux swap and for a (ext3) /tmp. All of the linux's can share these saving disk space. Linux will happily install completely in logical partitions. This will leave you with two free primaries. Install BSD in one of them. I don't let grub boot BSD natively, I chainload to the BSD bootloader, but it's your choice.

You will have a primary partition left over! If you have the disk space you can install another BSD or Solaris.

Well I actually would like to install as many systems possible (maybie not but at least very many) so suggestions are welcome. I know for sure I'll install: Archlinux, openSUSE, probably slack and some *BSD variant. But I don't know which BSD variant is most compatible with Acer laptops (I'd guess freeBSD though). So if you think of any systems in mind for combating please let me know. And please send me the article when it's done.

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btw, I don't have Partition magic nor money to buy it. Isn't there a non-costly way of partitioning?