how do i set up a triple-boot?

[jnev]

right now i'm dual-booting ubuntu and winxp, but i'd like to try some other distro's. how would i set up a triple-boot with grub? a while ago i tried making another partition and installing to there but it didn't work (i forget the error). would i need another swap space, or can i use my current one for ubuntu (i would make the partition on my other hd so the swap would be on another drive, is that ok?)?

thanks

[jens]

right now i'm dual-booting ubuntu and winxp, but i'd like to try some other distro's. how would i set up a triple-boot with grub? a while ago i tried making another partition and installing to there but it didn't work (i forget the error). would i need another swap space, or can i use my current one for ubuntu (i would make the partition on my other hd so the swap would be on another drive, is that ok?)?

thanks

Works the same as with a dual boot.
Swap can work for all OSes, but it's very recommended to have swap on all your hard drives (!!!even if you only have one distro!!!).
To make it easier, make the space you plan to install your new distro "free space" and let the installer install it there. If you want to be very safe, you could simply not change the bootloader and first boot with your installation disc (if everything work you can add it in Grub or LiLo later).

[budman7]

To setup a multi-boot system.
1. you need to have a unformatted partition ready for the new distro to go into.
2. When you install the new distro, do not install the bootloader to the MBR, install it to the root partition or the superblock.
3. When you reboot, you will not see your new distro on the list, you will need to add it to your current bootloader.
A. Open up a terminal, type su and your root password.
B. Then type "mkdir /mnt/new distro"
C. Then "mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/new distro" modify hda1 to suit your needs.
D. Type "cd /mnt/new/boot distro"
E. Look for the name of the kernel, it should look like vmlinuzxxxxxx, if you see a initrdxxxxxx you will need to add that to the menu as well.
F. Use a text editor to open menu.lst or grub.conf. Hopefully you are not using Lilo, the next few directions won't be correct.
"nano -w /boot/grub/grub.conf"
add this
title new distro
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuzxxxx root=/dev/hda1
initrd /boot/initrdxxxxx
Hit CTRL + x and save your work
Reboot and finish setting up the new system.

[jnev]

ok, here's how comp is set up, i have two 80gb harddrives:

sda: | 502mb swap || ~75gb ntfs |

sdb: | 1gb swap || 30gb root || 808mb swap || 44gb fat32 |

on sdb, that second 800mb swap was created when i installed ubuntu, for some reason it didn't like the 1gb swap i already had on the disk. anyways, i want to install another distro (probably slackware) on sda. now, i have no clue where grub is located (which disk it's on) or the mbr. how should i set it up?

thanks

[budman7]

You will need to resize sda, I am not sure if Slackware has qtparted or not. After you start the install process with Slackware, just type "qtparted", if it is there it will come up.
If not, you will need to get Knoppix, which does have qtparted on it. Knoppix is a livecd that runs off of your cdrom.
After you get it resized, just follow my previous directions.
Add "ro" so the line will look like
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuzxxxx ro root=/dev/hda1

[jnev]

awesome, i installed debian sarge, and grub even detected both ubuntu and windows so i didn't have to edit the grub.conf file at all.

thanks for the help.

[budman7]

Pretty cool huh?