[techtalk] multibooting vs. VMWare?

Caitlyn Martin caitlyn at netferrets.net
Mon Nov 8 12:47:41 EST 1999


Hi,
>
> I've heard good things about the Caldera dist. Will the install also
> non-destructively re-partition the drive for you?

With some real limitations, yes.  It's not a full blown version of Partition
Magic.  So... if you have a single Windows partition, and want to shrink it
to add a Linux partition, it will do it well.  If it's more complex than
that, get a real copy of Partition Magic.

The main things I don't like about Caldera for relative newbies who are
coming from a Microsoft (or Mac or OS/2) environment is that it lacks some
of the easy graphical tools that Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSe, and some others
give you.  For example, you don't have printtool, and will get to edit your
/etc/printcap file manually to get your printer(s) right.  For the command
line purists who eschew graphical stuff anyway, this isn't a problem  :)
>
> Aha. So, here's my current thought:
>
> 1> get the place that's building my PC to install 98 on it and save me
> some time. fork over the $100 for a 98 CD.

If you need '98, that actually makes sense.
>
> 2> get Partition Magic or similar and partition the drive like so:
>
> /hda1 win98 C: , minimal size (200MB? what's realistic here?)

Depends on how much will get dumped into C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM and C:\WINDOWS.
If you are only installing a limited amount of stuff into '98, 200 MB is
fine.  You'll need 100MB of *free* space for when you do your NT install,
though, so I'd go a bit bigger.

> /hda2 winNT C: , for future use when I get around to it, 200MB

This one is too small, since most Windows apps want to add things to
C:\WINNT and the like.  NT is much bigger than '98.  I'd recommend no less
than 500 MB here.  Also, remember that NT can install directly on to a
secondary drive, second partition, logical partition, and so on.  This does
*not* have to be at the beginning of your drive.  I'd put this after the
Linux \boot partition and the Linux swap partition.

> /hda3 linux /boot, 200MB

Red Hat claims /boot need to be no larger than 16 MB.  In my experience with
Red Hat, this is true.

> /hda4 win98 D: , for putting applications/games on
> /hda5 winNT D: , for applications
> /hda6..X linux /home, /usr, /usr/local, /var, and the rest

Thee is a limit of four primary partitions. I'd do these all logical.  You
need the fourth (and last) primary partition for your swap space.  These
will end up being 6, 7, and 8.
>
> 3> install linux and get it running happily as my OS of choice. Use 98
> occasionally for games.

That part makes a bunch of sense.
>
> 4> when i get around to it someday, buy System Commander and NT and
> install them, but this is no big hurry.

That, again, makes sense.  You don't even need to create an NT partition at
first.  Just shrink the data partitions when you get around to this using
Partition Magic.
>
> Does this sound feasible?

Yep.

Good luck!
Caity




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