Panarchy

Hello

I'm going to make a 10 boot system (by the end of the year, first I'm going to buy 2 500GB SATA Hard-Drives and put them in RAID0, and I don't think I can buy that till the Christmas sales).

The following OS's I'm going to install (includes 5 or 6 open source OSs);

1. Linux (Ubuntu 64-bit)
2. Linux (Kubuntu 64-bit)
3. Linux (SuSE 64-bit)
4. Solaris
5. OpenSolaris
6. FreeBSD
7. Mac OSX Leopard
8. Windows XP 64-bit
9. Windows Vista 64-bit

Which will mean I will need the following file systems (correct me if I'm wrong);

1. Ext3
2. Ext3
3. Ext3
4. ZFS
5. ZFS
6. ZFS
7. HSF+
8. NTFS
9. NTFS
10. Swap

So now that I've layed this out, please tell me the following;

1. Will any of these OSs (and/or filesystems) be adversely effectly by having them in RAID 0?
2. Which of the OSs need to be installed on a primary partition?
3. Will they all be able to (except the microsoft & apple ones) use the one swap partition?

Please answer my questions... also interested in comments about this 'project'.

Thanks in advance,

Panarchy

PS: Didn't include any Server OSs as for the Server ones, I am going to use VMWare. (please don't suggest VMWare for these other OSs unless for some important reason e.g. without using this OS in VMWare, you won't be able to hear audio or use the internet)

PPS: Hehehe, what do you think of my title? Well let's hope that I'll be able to boot! Hehehe... (non=9, as in the geometric shape, not as in non=not/no!)

wmorri

Hi,

This is a very ambitious project. I have two problems with it.
1: You are planning to install a Mac OS on a windows built computer. The main issue with that is by default you can't install a Mac OS on non-mac hardware. It is a breach in the EULA.

2: The other main thing is that Vista's Longhorn boot-loader doesn't play well with other.

As for your questions. The only one that I have an answer right now is that you will only need one swap partition, just make sure that it is about twice the size of your ram.

Cheers!

Panarchy

A very ambitious project? Thanks, I'm a very ambitious person!

1. How do you know I'm not attempting this on a mac?

2. Hmm... well maybe installing Vista last would be the best bet. That way I get to learn GRUB, then I install Vista and take the easy way out (EasyBCD).

Thanks

Panarchy

PS: Now, can my questions please be answered? (sorry if this sounds rude... probably should rephrase it)

wmorri

Hi,

If you are going to install it all on a mac then more power to you. I was just informing you. A lot of people don't know about that little important piece of info.

I would recommend that you install Vista, XP, OSX and one of the others. This is because you only have 4 primary partitions. All the rest have to be installed on extended partitions.

Is your RAID 0 setup going to be a hardware or software set up? This can make a difference with installing the different OS's.

Cheers!

Panarchy

Okay, thanks. Though isn't it that I can only use 3 primary partition and 1 more for extended which can hold logicals? Or 4 primaries, with NO logicals...

The RAID is going to be hardware.

Panarchy

Hello

Here is an idea for my partitioning schema (without partition sizes, I will decide that later);
__________________________
| Solaris Logical (for GRUB)
|_________________________
| XP Primary
|_________________________
| Mac Primary
|_________________________
| Vista Primary
|_________________________
| Linux Logical
|_________________________
| Linux Logical
|_________________________
| Linux Logical
|_________________________
| FreeBSD Logical
|_________________________
| OpenSolaris Logical
|_________________________
| Swap Partition
|_________________________

What do you think?

Did I make any mistakes?

Do any of the logicals have to be primaries?

Please reply with comments &/or answers to my questions.

Thanks in advance,

Panarchy

EDIT: Forgot to add the swap partition!

wmorri

Hi,

I think that you need to get your terminology correct. A logical partitions is the same thing as a Primary partition. See Disk partitioning for more info on that.

Everything looks good to me. I just don't know how the well the boot-loaders are going to play with each other. I know that you won't have a problem with GRUB. But Longhorn doesn't always play nicely. It will be interesting to see.

Cheers!

ufg1234

hi
thanks you for your post, you help is appreciated

Mcninjaguy

if you install windows vista last it'll installl its default boot loader

always install windows first then linux so you get that nice grub lloader

Panarchy

Okay, thanks... but what about Solaris, OpenSolaris and Mac?



I'm pretty sure I need to install Solaris (or OpenSolaris) last, because they have modified there GRUB to be able to work with ZFS...

Please reply

Thanks in advance,

Panarchy

Mcninjaguy

which ever has the best grub loader that's the one I'd install last.

This in my opinion might take a couple days to get everything in working order.

maybe this program will help you GAG loader
http://gag.sourceforge.net/

or this page?
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilit...managers.shtml