multi boot distros and WinXP set up

Greetings. Here I go. It's time. I have a Dell GX620 and just installed 4 gig of memory and also a second SATA drive (320 gig)

Boot drive (80gig) is booting WinXP. Partitioned in half and second part. is NTFS for Win data.

Second drive is partitioned in half. They are both approx 149 gig. The SECOND partition is NTFS Windows Data and will remain that way for the time being.

The first partition is currently NTFS but I will reformat that for my Linux installations/distros. I will start by merely deleting this partition with a distro loader.

I want to start with several distros of Linux. (maybe most of the popular ones in time, I also endeavor to tackle Linux From Scratch - in time)

I wish to have a multiboot screen at boot up which gives me the choice of Win and each distro installed. I do not wish to set up so that if I sign in with a different user I get a different distro, want the selection on the multiboot screen.

I understand that I only need one swap partition for all distros, so my Linux Swap partition should be twice the memory amount,
in other words 8 GIG? Or is this overkill?

For the time being I think I should have each distro run in its own set of partitions other than the swap file. Later on I can combine a data partition when I am better versed.

What is the best way to go about this? I haven't yet decided which distros to start with but it will be among Mandriva OpenSUSE Kubuntu PCLinuxOS, etc.

How do I set up the Grub thing without getting confused in the beginning. I still get a little confused when I read about the partition naming conventions and which goes where.

Please feel free to suggest and point me to tutorial data so I will know about the partition naming conventions and what they are and what goes where.

Am I making it too hard in the beginning? Perhaps I can add each distro a bit at a time, but I want the boot screen to give me all the selections (and I think I can figure out how to make sure Windows is the FIRST selection on the list)

I also need to know how much space for each partition etc.

Well you folks that are versed know better what I need to know here for starters.

Thanks!

:: Shell-Shocked :: Tutorial: Multiple Linux Distros

Installing*Multiple*Linux Distributions*on*the*Same*Box

The second link I gave you is viewable as a pdf doc. I gave you the html link to get the address.

Looks like some useful tips in links rokytnji posted ... in addition to this my suggestions ...
Maximum swap I would use is 1GB ... use 2xRAM upto 1GB only.
I'd start with about 5 to 10GB for each distro you install. You will need to create an extended partition with distros on logical partitions ... if you use primary partitions you can only have 4 per disk.
Consider disconnecting Windows drive while you do the installs to avoid overwriting the mbr of that disk ... then change BIOS boot order to get Linux drive to boot.
Backup your data and get yourself a copy of SuperGrub before you start installing.
Do the default grub install (to disk MBR) and use chainloader or configfile in grub menus to link each distro config file.

You may have problems with Mandriva and the other distros because I think it uses grub2 while other distros you have listed use grub legacy ...

Thanks, all, for the info. I will digest all this.

I am sure I will have some more questions :grin: