partitioning - multiple linux

[Wofl]

hi guys

i was thinking about reinstalling my entire pc.

i was thinking along the lines of m$ xp pro for backup (i always seem to need to capy a dll from there...) as a fat32 at the back of the hdd

then i was thinking about going for debian testing, ubuntu feisty fawn, gentoo

then i would also have a swap at ~2 gb and a seperate /home, so that i got the same home everywhere...

now the thing is that i had tried to keep xp in an extended partition, but grub was not able to boot from it that way...

so now i am wondering how i should manage this with 4 os's, swap and /home

can linux boot even when it is in an extended partition???

my idea is like follows:

20gb debian primary (provides boot loader grub/lilo i dont care)
extended with:
20gb ubuntu
20gb gentoo
~2gb swap
150-20-20-20-20-~2=~68 /home
20gb fat32 xp


would i be able to boot into all systems without trouble?
or is there a better solution?
should i choose grub or lilo?
is my os list good? maybe add fedora? opensuse? or ...
how is it with installing gentoo lvl 1 without a wired network conection? i have to use ndiswrapper as of now...


my grafics is an ati X300SE
which one has the best support?


thx for all answers

[Dapper Dan]

Hi Wofl,

This won't answer all your questions but may help with some...
Link

[Wofl]

thanks, but what about the limit of 4 primary partitions???

windows didnt work in extended, but will linux?

[devils casper]

thanks, but what about the limit of 4 primary partitions???

windows didnt work in extended, but will linux?

Linux doesn't care about partition type. you can install it in Logical Partitions too. i have six Linux distros + Windows XP installed in SIngle Harddisk. Linux distros are installed in Extended Partition and Windows is in first Primary partition.