Complex Multi-Boot

[Slekvic]

I have three purposes I want my computer to fulfill:

Games
Development
Local Security
Network Security
Recovery

The only way I can achieve the best of all three of these aims is by installing four different operating systems.

Games - The first will be Windows XP.
Development - The second will be Ubuntu, or Linux MInt.
Local Security - The third will be Ubuntu with full disk encryption and USB bootdisk authentication, similar to the subject of this link.
Network Security - The fourth will be BSD.
Recovery - The fifth will be Damn Small Linux

So far I plan to have 4 regular root partitions, one encrypted root, one ntfs data partition, one data partition for development, one encrypted data partition for development, a boot partition, a recovery partition, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I have three hard drives. Two of them at least half a terabyte each, but one of which has only 10 GB capacity.

I welcome your comments, flames, ideas, jokes, the occasional well-considered response, etc.
I strongly suspect that I have bitten off more than I can chew, but my paranoia will not allow me to make my technical notes in an insecure location. I have only one computer.

[otama71]

Try virtualbox, satisfies my curiosity of different operating systems

[reed9]

It's not clear to me why you want an entirely separate Ubuntu install just to have encrypted partitions, nor what exactly you hope to gain with the BSD install for "network security".

Lastly, Damn Small Linux is a dead project, so I would generally recommend going with something currently maintained. I assume by recovery, you want something you can go into and fix/deal with issues that might crop up on the other installs. I personally keep a copy of Parted Magic on CD and USB for such purposes. (Is there a reason you would want it traditionally installed to your harddrive, rather than a live CD?) I also like System Rescue CD and grml. (And I use grml's zshrc in my Arch install.)

Other current micro distros include TinyCore or Slitaz.