Fedora vs. Ubuntu (hijacked: can I dual boot FC and Kubuntu?)

[Joel Rees]

On 2006/09/21, at 22:34, anthony baldwin wrote:

> Would I be able to install FC5 as my default OS, but install  
> Kubuntu on a slave drive and add it
> to Grub, and thus have access to both?

Mmmm? Should be a peace of cake.

I have run (under light load) Solaris on slave and FC5 on master.

I don't like the idea, because I am aware that many ATA controllers  
can't seem to keep master and slave out of each other's hair. But, if  
you aren't using both master and slave at the same time, it should be  
okay. (This may be out-dated caution, however.)

> Or, would it be better to install both OS on the first drive, and  
> keep all my data on the other, or
> some such configuration?

Well, in addition to the issue with potential conflicts between  
master and slave, you also have the problem of FC (and many other  
Linuxen, and Solaris, too) wanting to keep the boot partition in a  
base partition. But if it's just the two, then the only real worry is  
the master/slave conflicts.

I now use a second controller to make sure I don't have those master/ 
slave conflicts. ATA controller cards can be cheap if BIOS doesn't  
have to be able to boot from them.

SCSI is much easier to work with.

No idea yet how SATA fits into this.

> I´ve got a 15gb drive I could install the OS on, and a 200gb I  
> could use for data,
> although I´ve never done such a thing, and am not even sure how to  
> install in such a fashion
> that the OS (or in this case, both OSs) would recognize the home  
> directory on another drive.
> I´ve also just installed and kept everything on the same drive.  I 
> ´m wondering if two
> linux os can use the same home directory, or if I will have  
> permissions trouble accessing what
> the first installation calls /home from the second install.

FC5 finds my old partitions from FC4 just fine, if that helps you  
understand. The problem is not permissions so much as file system  
formats. (And format shouldn't be a problem either these days, as I  
understand things.)

> Any suggestions?

Play around with putting multiple OSses on the huge drive to get an  
idea of what's happening. Maybe even load a bsd on it to see how it  
goes. Get a second controller if twenty or thirty dollars is not too  
large of a cut into your budget.