> Minh Van wrote:
>
> yeah i figured.
>
> what i'm trying to do is boot os/2 warp 4, dos/win95, nt, beos, minix &
> linux off the primary master.
You're obviously very disturbed! With Linux, what do you need all that other
junk for? ;)
(Says he, a compulsive OS installer, until recently. Trying out new OSes all
the time is like having takeaway all the time, and finally realising that
you should tell your partner that their cooking stinks. SO, yes, I
understand your problem, and I'm here to help.)
> for two things that make my life difficult - os/2 says my partition table
> is incorrect or corrupt, and NT has a hard time figuring fat32.
OS/2 is particularly fussy about these things, or it used to be. In these
situations, you should work out the best install order and physical layout
for the chosen operating systems.
So, let's make it easy:
1) Leave room for a primary /boot partition at the start of the drive.
Before each of the following points, HIDE ALL EXISTING PARTITIONS ON THE
DRIVE (explanation later):
2) Install OS/2 in a primary (HPFS).
3) Install NT in a primary (NTFS).
4) Make an extended partition and put your Linux / partition in it (this is
so it will always end up as hda5, no matter what you do with your
primaries).
5) Install 9x in a logical partition.
6) BeOS and Minix I'll assume can handle being in logical partitions. If
not, remember you've only used three primaries thus far.
7) Install the One True OS (and I'm not talking about VMS either!)
using the /boot and / partitions you made - if you use other data
directories, now would be a good time to create them. Make lilo install
to the BOOT PARTITION *not* the MBR.
8) I always used to have an applications drive for NT/9x use. That way, you
can install apps to it from both OSes and not use lots of space. You can't
do this with "system-level" apps though (notably IE if you're installing
it under NT and 95). It's always nice to have a shared FAT32 [*] data drive
between the two.
9) Grab yourself a copy of GAG (found on Freshy) which will let you boot
each OS with (funky icons) and (passwords). The advantage to GAG is that
it doesn't need a partition for itself, as it's written in assembly and
gladly fits in the MBR itself. Make a backup floppy, because ruthless
cruel operating systems (not names) have a tendency to write over the MBR
when you do so much as move the mouse.
10) I would have made this a 12-step, but it was too easy.
How's that for a plan? Have fun!
- Jeff
[*] Yes, you naysayers can go walk your dogs. NT can talk to FAT32
partitions, you just need a driver to do it, which you can find at
SysInternals website, which is probably at www.sysinternals.com but I
must admit I haven't been there in so long because I'm really trying to
keep my uptime going which is a challenge with all these tasty new
pre-kernels coming out all the time.
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