[NTLUG:Discuss] Red Hat 7.1 And Mandrake 8.0 On The Same Disk

[A.L.Lambert]

> Is It Possible To Have Red Hat 7.1 And Mandrake 8.0 On The Same Disk
> Both And Boot From Either

	Yes.  Although getting it working may try your patience unless you
are fairly familar with Linux system architecture. :)

	Basic description of what you need to do:

Install both distro's in a format something similar to this (this is only
an example, I can think of dozens of variations on this theme that should
work):

/dev/hda1	/boot	# global boot directory
/dev/hda2	swap	# global swap partition
/dev/hda3	/home	# global home partition
/dev/hda5	/	# mandrake root partition
/dev/hda6	/	# redhat root partition
# add other partitions as you feel the need for, but remember, you
# probably can't share system files betwixt the two without a lot of
# work-arounding, so a single partition per distro is probably your best
# option unless you know you need otherwise.

	Edit lilo.conf for both install's something like this:

image=/boot/rh-kernel
        label=redhat
        read-only
        root=/dev/hda6

image=/boot/m-kernel
	label=mandrake
	read-only
	root=/dev/hda5

(of course, run "lilo" when done).

	I personally recommend trashing the default kernel of _ANY_ Linux
distribution, and compiling the latest version from virgin sources, and if
you do so, you can use the same kernel for both lilo.conf entries.

	You will also probably want to setup Mandrake to mount the RedHat
root partition as say "/redhat", and RedHat to mount the Mandrake root
partition as say "/mandrake".

	As always, your mileage may vary, the above may not work for you,
and most importantly, I've only setup such a system years ago with (IIRC)  
RH 4.2 and Debian (unrecalled version), and I've never used RH 7.x or
Mandrake 8.x, so my directions are mostl likely incomplete given the
'funky' things that have wormed their way into the latest distro's in the
name of "user friendly".

	Cheers!

-- A.L.Lambert
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Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
	-Einstein
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