Worth triple booting?

[RageBoXx]

I have Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04 installed. I'm thinking of compiling Gentoo. Is it possible. And is it worth it? And will I be able to triple boot all three OS's through GRUB2?

Also. I'm a n00b. Installing Ubuntu itself was a little hard with the Win7 bootloader going missing, and then the grub2 menu going missing, etc.

So, Gentoo. Worth it?

[Segfault]

Sure. Maybe.
Have a look at Gentoo Linux Documentation -- Gentoo Handbook. If you can understand it, go ahead. If not, wait a little.

[oz]

Is it possible. And is it worth it?
And will I be able to triple boot all three OS's through GRUB2?
So, Gentoo. Worth it?

Hello and welcome to the forums!

To answer your questions... yes, and maybe, and yes, and maybe.

Put another way, all of this is certainly possible, as users do it every day, but whether or not it's worth it has to be decided by each individual user. If you found dual-booting with Windows and Ubuntu difficult to achieve, you should find triple booting by including Gentoo in your OS boot list even more challenging, but you can add as many distributions as your drives can successfully hold.

Let us know if you decide it's worth it to you.

[RageBoXx]

Thanks for the replies folks!

I think I'm gonna try it. The reason I wanted to try Gentoo in the first place was because folks talked about how it was pretty hard. But I thought it wouldn't be possible to have three OS's. Since I now know I'm wrong, I'm gonna go ahead and try it out.

Also, I thought you needed to have a very good knowledge of Linux and the terminal commands and stuff - but reading the handbook, it seems like you can learn as you go. So yeah!

[oz]

Gentoo isn't really intended for new Linux users, but there are new users that install it every day, and with success. Other new users might have to attempt the install a number of times before success comes, while others give up and move on having no success with it. From what I understand, Gentoo is easier to install than it was a few years back, so perhaps you'll be one of those that get it right on the first attempt. It's been about 5 years since I last installed Gentoo but I used and enjoyed it for a few months before moving to another distro that I personally like better.

Best of luck to you with your own Gentoo install.

[Segfault]

Since you already have Linux installed you can use Ubuntu to install Gentoo.

[MikeTbob]

They have a howto for that too!
Gentoo Linux Documentation -- The Gentoo Linux alternative installation method HOWTO

[RageBoXx]

Thanks for the replies!

I have a question - there are a LOT of steps just to install it right? And some folks said that it took them like a week to get it right. So does it mean that once I start, until I finish installing it, I won't be able to use my machine and go on Win7 or Ubuntu? Must I complete the entire installation of Gentoo first? Or can I do it slowly? Like, do a couple steps, then reboot the pc, go on Win7 or Ubuntu, etc, etc. Is that possible?

[Segfault]

You can take a break, no problem. To continue just do the chroot thing again and carry on.
If you do install from Ubuntu - and that's the best way to do it since you intend to keep Ubuntu - then you obviously do not need to reboot for Ubuntu.

[Jonathan183]

If you do install from Ubuntu - and that's the best way to do it since you intend to keep Ubuntu - then you obviously do not need to reboot for Ubuntu.

Unless you intend resizing the Windows partition to make room for Gentoo then it is better to resize partitions using a live CD ... the Ubuntu live CD will do for this

Good luck with the install ... and if things don't quite work out first time then give it another try. I have Gentoo running but I made quite a few mistakes mistyping ... got there after a few goes.