Multibooting(Not Dual) Must Be The Hardest Thing To Achieve

Multibooting(Not Dual) Must Be The Hardest Thing To Achieve

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Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Saturday 25th February 2017
quotequote all
Over the years I have learnt much from the internet, on and off over the past 3 years I have studied multibooting, I have easily set-up dual booting by first installing that famous rubbish OS and then installing Linux along side it
Once I managed to set-up that famous rubbish OS and 2 x Linux OS's using a Boot Manager named GAG, installing a fourth Linux OS broke the former
During the last 3 years I have been all around the internet studying this subject yet have not once come across a step by step guide that starts off from the beginning to help people achieve multibooting several OS's when having the following set-up

BIOS = Legacy - MBR Booting (Not EFI)

1 x New SSD that Windows 7 needs to be installed to

1 x 1 Tb HDD That several Linux OS's need to be installed to

Should there be any enthusiasts that visit here, I am convinced that should you build a website that explains the above and also all other scenarios using step by step guides, you will receive lots of hits through Google

For some reason unbeknown to me many tutorials take it for granted that someone new to Linux booting etc knows how to achieve much of the above hence not all the procedures are explained in detail

Windows 7 is the end of the line for me, I object very strongly about what Microsoft has included in Windows 10 as default and I will not be using Windows 10 in the future. I must now start learning more about Linux

Attempting Multibooting is a nightmare for me

Please point me in the right direction to achieve the above, thank you in advance

xRIEx

8,180 posts

147 months

Saturday 25th February 2017
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Forgive my ignorance (as I'm inexperienced in both these dual-booting and VMs) but would virtualisation achieve your desired result?

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Saturday 25th February 2017
quotequote all
xRIEx said:
Forgive my ignorance (as I'm inexperienced in both these dual-booting and VMs) but would virtualisation achieve your desired result?
Thanks for the suggestion, virtualisation will not be good enough for me, you have come up with a good idea

ladderino

727 posts

138 months

Saturday 25th February 2017
quotequote all
Agreed, multibooting is a PITA.

Do you really need multiple linux distros though? Could you just settle on a single install of Ubuntu, as this is probably the most accessible of the lot, and the Ubuntu installer will install the Grub boot loader for you as well.

I think the problem you're hitting with the multiple linux distros is that each flavour may have a preferred boot loader, some like Lilo instead, so are bound to conflict with others.

If you really need additional distros - then I'd look at using Live CDs or Live USBs if this is an option - in this way, the entire OS is loaded from a bootable CD or USB with nothing installed on the disk. I use this approach on my Mac for the rare occasions that I need to use GParted, as it saves me from needing it permanently installed.

Final option - you've said that virtualisation is out, but have you considered using wine to emulate the Windows apps you are using? Could you potentially scrap Windows altogether and just use Wine on a single linux install to run Windows stuff?

Buffalo

5,435 posts

253 months

Saturday 25th February 2017
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I've been lookin at rEFIt as a possible option for a boot loader to get from Linux to windows. I'm toying with idea of of going fully linux laptop but need to be able to boot into windows in replace of bootcamp on my current Mac.

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Saturday 25th February 2017
quotequote all
ladderino said:
Agreed, multibooting is a PITA.

Do you really need multiple linux distros though? Could you just settle on a single install of Ubuntu, as this is probably the most accessible of the lot, and the Ubuntu installer will install the Grub boot loader for you as well.

I think the problem you're hitting with the multiple linux distros is that each flavour may have a preferred boot loader, some like Lilo instead, so are bound to conflict with others.

If you really need additional distros - then I'd look at using Live CDs or Live USBs if this is an option - in this way, the entire OS is loaded from a bootable CD or USB with nothing installed on the disk. I use this approach on my Mac for the rare occasions that I need to use GParted, as it saves me from needing it permanently installed.

Final option - you've said that virtualisation is out, but have you considered using wine to emulate the Windows apps you are using? Could you potentially scrap Windows altogether and just use Wine on a single linux install to run Windows stuff?
Thank you for your suggestions, I hadn't even considered running my Windows software with Linux Wine, you've got me thinking
I really am finding it difficult to accept that Microsoft have blown it in such a big way and the idea of having multiple Linux OS's was going to be for back to back testing until I have found what suits me best
I understand what you mean about conflicts with bootloaders
Now that you have mentioned that Ubuntu will install the grub bootloader (I had forgotten this), I am wondering if installing Ubuntu will help me with multibooting as I have read many articles that mention Grub

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Saturday 25th February 2017
quotequote all
Buffalo said:
I've been lookin at rEFIt as a possible option for a boot loader to get from Linux to windows. I'm toying with idea of of going fully linux laptop but need to be able to boot into windows in replace of bootcamp on my current Mac.
I am trying to keep away from EFI for now until I understand it better although the chances are that Linux OS's will all be using it now or soon

rxtx

6,016 posts

209 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
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Grub has nothing to do with Ubuntu, grub is just a boot loader you can use with pretty much any Linux installation.

I'm not sure why you'd ever want to be able to boot into multiple operating systems, grub lets you do that of course, but why? You say it doesn't suit your needs, what are they? You will see zero benefit over a bunch of virtual installs with vbox or similar, you'll just be rebooting more.

You seem to think that different versions of Linux will offer you different things. This is incorrect. Linux is just a kernel, the difference between distributions is what packages are available for that distribution, what package manager is used, and where some files (mostly config) are kept.

davepoth

29,395 posts

198 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
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If all you want to do is try out multiple linux distributions to see which one you fancy, download unetbootin:

https://unetbootin.github.io/

And make a bootable USB dongle of whatever distribution of Linux you're looking at. It's a bit slow but by no means unusable, and it'll give you a good idea of each flavour.

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
rxtx said:
Grub has nothing to do with Ubuntu, grub is just a boot loader you can use with pretty much any Linux installation.

I'm not sure why you'd ever want to be able to boot into multiple operating systems, grub lets you do that of course, but why? You say it doesn't suit your needs, what are they? You will see zero benefit over a bunch of virtual installs with vbox or similar, you'll just be rebooting more.

You seem to think that different versions of Linux will offer you different things. This is incorrect. Linux is just a kernel, the difference between distributions is what packages are available for that distribution, what package manager is used, and where some files (mostly config) are kept.
I might prefer one OS for certain functions and another for other functions
Yes I know Grub is for booting but Ubuntu would install it
Thank you I will look into VBox

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
davepoth said:
If all you want to do is try out multiple linux distributions to see which one you fancy, download unetbootin:

https://unetbootin.github.io/

And make a bootable USB dongle of whatever distribution of Linux you're looking at. It's a bit slow but by no means unusable, and it'll give you a good idea of each flavour.
Thank you for the suggestion

rxtx

6,016 posts

209 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
Penelope Stopit said:
I might prefer one OS for certain functions and another for other functions
Yes I know Grub is for booting but Ubuntu would install it
Thank you I will look into VBox
They will work in exactly the same way though. Grub is just a bootloader, you can install it from any version of Linux.

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
rxtx said:
Penelope Stopit said:
I might prefer one OS for certain functions and another for other functions
Yes I know Grub is for booting but Ubuntu would install it
Thank you I will look into VBox
They will work in exactly the same way though. Grub is just a bootloader, you can install it from any version of Linux.
OK Thanks
Can I have more than one desktop within a Linux OS?

ladderino

727 posts

138 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
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Yes, you can choose the desktop environment when you log in.

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
ladderino said:
Yes, you can choose the desktop environment when you log in.
Thanks. Can I save different things to different desktop environments so that they are there next time I login and select one of them?
Can I change desktop environments without having to log out?

Magic919

14,126 posts

200 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
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Have a look at Mint as an Ubuntu alternative. Quite a few newbs I know went from Ubuntu to Mint and preferred it.

I can see the argument for trying more flavours, as desktops and package managers (for example) vary across distros. Some people play with live distros on a stick to get the feel of them. If you start caring about these things and the nuts and bolts, you could probably still find a distro that suits.

You could roll your own using something like Gentoo, but it's not really for beginners.

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Magic919 said:
Have a look at Mint as an Ubuntu alternative. Quite a few newbs I know went from Ubuntu to Mint and preferred it.

I can see the argument for trying more flavours, as desktops and package managers (for example) vary across distros. Some people play with live distros on a stick to get the feel of them. If you start caring about these things and the nuts and bolts, you could probably still find a distro that suits.

You could roll your own using something like Gentoo, but it's not really for beginners.
Thank you for your suggestions
Although I am grateful for all the suggestions posted here I am still hoping that someone somewhere knows of a foolproof step by step guide starting with an empty SSD and HDD using MBR legacy BIOS settings

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Monday 27th February 2017
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Penelope Stopit said:
Thanks for the suggestion, virtualisation will not be good enough for me
Can I ask why?

I can't believe in this day and age - and with VT so prevalent - that people are still faffing around with multibooting!

I happily boot into Windows 10, which starts a Kali VM at the same time. I also have FreeBSD and (another) Windows 10 as virtuals, should I need them.

The notion that I'd have to reboot to switch OS seems... a little barmy.

Penelope Stopit

Original Poster:

11,209 posts

108 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Rawwr said:
Penelope Stopit said:
Thanks for the suggestion, virtualisation will not be good enough for me
Can I ask why?

I can't believe in this day and age - and with VT so prevalent - that people are still faffing around with multibooting!

I happily boot into Windows 10, which starts a Kali VM at the same time. I also have FreeBSD and (another) Windows 10 as virtuals, should I need them.

The notion that I'd have to reboot to switch OS seems... a little barmy.
What I have been reading is informing me that virtual machines can be slow and SSD's don't operate them very well

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Penelope Stopit said:
What I have been reading is informing me that virtual machines can be slow and SSD's don't operate them very well
I run all my VMs from SSDs and they're incredibly fast - zero performance difference. Hyper-V in Windows 10 is also a pretty damn good hypervisor for something which is baked-in and free.

So long as your CPU supports VT, you'll be fine, especially for the vast majority of Linux distros.

I think you need to revisit this option. I strongly recommend it. smile