[wplug] Double your fun?

[Bob Schmertz]

On Sun, 2003-03-09 at 12:34, Ryan Kaulakis wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
> 
> I am thinking of adding a second Linux distro to my computer
> (likely Slackware or Debian, maybe even YOPER), which is 
> currently running Red Hat v.7.3 using the GRUB bootloader. I
> was wondering: How should I go about installing this second 
> system? Right now I'm thinking that I should add a new 
> partition and install to there, but past that I'm clueless.
> Most of the HOWTO's and guides I've found thus far only deal
> with installing Linux with Windows or as a standalone. Any
> advice you have would be appriciated.
>

I don't think there's really a whole lot to think about.  You have a lot
of options.  The only thing I would worry about is if you have a /boot
partition by necessity; I think in this case you will have to squeeze
all the kernels you need for both OSes into that one boot partition, and
somehow do this without overwriting the existing stuff.  That's
unexplored territory for me.

If you have a separate /home partition, you could save disk space and
convenience by re-using it for the new OS install.  This is not without
its dangers, though, especially when it comes to all your config files
and directories.  What happens if the new OS has newer versions of stuff
some software, which has some different settings that the old one didn't
have, or, worse, has a different or extended format for its config
files?  I actually haven't done this in years, so maybe someone else who
has experience with this could chime in.

Whatever you do about that issue, be sure, if possible, to create mounts
for your original OS's partitions onto the new OS, at install time. 
This should be easier than waiting until you get the new one installed
and then going and editinig the fstab to create the new mounts.  For
example, you might create a mount point called /mnt/Red_Hat to mount
/dev/hda2, if /dev/hda2 is where the root partition for your Red Hat
install is.

-- 
Cheers,
Bob Schmertz