triple boot

[nicrnicr]

Hi everybody,

I have Kubuntu 14.04 & Windows 7. I would like to add another Kubuntu 14.04.
Please, do you know if I just need to boot from a flash drive and to install the new Kubuntu on the free space? Or do I have to pay attention (in a way or in another?) to a swap or anything else?

[Silent Observer]

You should be fine booting from USB or DVD and installing into a blank partition. If you have a swap partition, you can reuse it (i.e. multiple Linux versions will recognize and use the same swap partition without conflict), and as long as the user names are different, you can share your /home partition (assuming you set up that way) as well. I currently have MEPIS 11 and Kubuntu 14.04 sharing a home partition, and to save space, both have download folders that are a symlink to a different, actual download folder that's not inside either user folder (reduces the number of things I have to remember to move or copy if I need to reinstall something, too).

Do pay careful attention to which partition you're installing to -- if you mistakenly overwrite your existing Kubuntu, you're likely to say impolite things...

[oshunluvr]

Generally, Linux installs co-exist very well. "Silent" is correct in that the swap can be used by both Kubuntu installs without problems. How you handle the separate installs is up to you. You can share homes really well if both installs are the same distro/version. I usually don't share /homes this way. I create a separate data partition and put docs, pics, videos, etc., on the data partition but keep the main homes within each install. That way configs are kept separate and you can run two or more installs cleanly without one config messing up the others. This helps a lot when you upgrade to the next release because the older version isn't messed up when you upgrade the other.

[Silent Observer]

You can share homes really well if both installs are the same distro/version. I usually don't share /homes this way. I create a separate data partition and put docs, pics, videos, etc., on the data partition but keep the main homes within each install. That way configs are kept separate and you can run two or more installs cleanly without one config messing up the others.

This is why I specified "different user names" -- during installation, the user folder (/home/user/, also abbreviated ~/) is created with the user name you've given the installer; as long as that doesn't duplicate the name of an existing user folder, all the stuff with settings goes into a new user folder which can share the /home partition without issue, with different versions, different update levels, even completely different distros (I haven't done it, but I have no reason to believe there'd be an issue with Debian and Fedora -- about as different as two Linux distros can get -- sharing in this way).

If you give the installer a username that matches an existing one stored in the same physical /home partition, it'll either overwrite all the hidden settings files, causing the previous install to start failing in more or less spectacular ways, or (because you told it not to) it won't, most likely causing the new install to fail at similar levels. But as long as the user names differ, all the settings files will be neatly separated, and you can use symlinks to share a download folder, Wine prefixes (haven't tried it, but it should work), etc. Given I've got a Wine prefix with multiple GB of game data in it, I'd have done this by now if I had more than one distro I used regularly...

[oshunluvr]

This is why I specified "different user names" -- during installation, the user folder (/home/user/, also abbreviated ~/) is created with the user name you've given the installer; as long as that doesn't duplicate the name of an existing user folder, all the stuff with settings goes into a new user folder which can share the /home partition without issue, with different versions, different update levels, even completely different distros (I haven't done it, but I have no reason to believe there'd be an issue with Debian and Fedora -- about as different as two Linux distros can get -- sharing in this way).

If you give the installer a username that matches an existing one stored in the same physical /home partition, it'll either overwrite all the hidden settings files, causing the previous install to start failing in more or less spectacular ways, or (because you told it not to) it won't, most likely causing the new install to fail at similar levels. But as long as the user names differ, all the settings files will be neatly separated, and you can use symlinks to share a download folder, Wine prefixes (haven't tried it, but it should work), etc. Given I've got a Wine prefix with multiple GB of game data in it, I'd have done this by now if I had more than one distro I used regularly...

I don't suggest different usernames and a separate home for multiple installations because your data is now scattered among several directories or you have to decide which home will host your data. In my view it's much saner to have photos, documents, etc, on a separate mounted partition (I use /data) and leave /home within each install. Then your data files stay in a specific place all the time regardless of how many distros you install or delete. With your method, if you have your data in one /home and link from the others - that works fine - until you delete the install within which the data files are stored. Then you must move them to some other install's /home and re-link all the others. You can use this method other information as well, like your email folder, etc. You just have to be aware of version differences if they exist for things like wine installs.

Additionally, backups are simpler with my method. All your personal data will always be within /data and all your distro specific settings will be housed with the distro under /home. One backup to save important data and another to save any or all your installs.

In the case of multiple users, you can enter the symlink to the /data folder in the skel settings and any additional users created will automatically follow the same setup.

Finally - a very minor point but still a point - using my method you can use the same username for every install which makes it easier to remember.

BTW, I'm not attacking you or your ideas: either of our suggestions work as well as the other. I just wanted to point out the differences that might make my idea better for some. I've multi-booted for a decade or more so I've been through a lot of trial and error!

[Silent Observer]

You have some valid points relative to ease of backups and being able to use the same username for multiple installs -- though I think you're slightly misunderstanding how mine is set up.

I have this tree:

/home/
          /Kubuntu-user/
                                /various files and folders
          /Mepis-user/
                             /various files and folders
          /AllUsers/
                        /Downloads
                        /Documents
                        /Music
                        /Wallpaper
etc.

The stuff that isn't specific to a particular install (like config files) goes in folders that are links to something in /home/AllUsers. I could/should even do that with Wine prefixes (I think that would work). I think the real difference between my way and yours is including /home in the root partition vs. having all of them in a single /home partition -- and I'm starting to think your method is better (the /data partition can even go on a different physical drive).

Edit: Hmmm, I thought Code tags would put the contents in monospace (which would prevent mangling my nice tree diagram).

[oshunluvr]

When I developed my method, it was during a time when I regularly had three to five installs. I also have multiple hard drives (four or more) so it really was easier (and necessary) to keep data separate. When you throw in a couple other less-savvy users it became mandatory.

My data drive was structured just like home

/data/
  /user1
     /Documents
     /Music
     ...
  /user2
      /Documents
      /Music
      ...
...

and then linking to folders. Another interesting option is using bind mounts rather than symlinks. The only real difference is the folder behaves link a mount rather than a link - different icons and different response to ls and some other commands. At one point I had the bind mounts connect at log in and dis-connect at log out, thus securing one's files from all other users. I included a shared Public folder that mounted and dismounted to each user when logged in. It worked fine, but took a bit to get working right.

I'm no longer distro-banging like I was, but I still have three installs - all Kubuntu! I keep the last install as a backup, use the current install, and have a blank install to test out the latest version. Once the latest version is ready for "prime time" I set it as the default boot, keep the previous version as my backup, and remove the oldest. That way I have a current but stable desktop, a backup, and a playground.

A bit off-topic but worthy of mention: If you like having several (or even many) installs and their installer supports btrfs at install time you should really consider switching to it. btrfs has amazing features including subvolumes and snapshots. Subvolumes allow you to install multiple distros without partitioning at all and snapshots freeze your data in place and revert to a previous state quickly. You can also add or remove drives or partition from the group on the fly (without un-mounting). It's really cool.

[nicrnicr]

Thank you very much Silent Observer & oshunluvr!!! :-) :-) :-)

[vinnywright]

I also follow a similar approach to @oshunluvr

my 14.04 ~/

vinny@vinny-Bonobo-Extreme:~$ ls -l
total 32988
drwxr-xr-x 2 vinny vinny     4096 Oct  9 18:01 Desktop
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vinny vinny       27 Oct 10 22:48 Documents -> /mnt/disk/kubuntu/Documents
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vinny vinny       27 Oct 10 22:48 Downloads -> /mnt/disk/kubuntu/Downloads
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vinny vinny       26 Oct 12 20:06 dwhelper -> /mnt/disk/kubuntu/dwhelper
-rw-rw-r-- 1 vinny vinny 33688483 May 18  2011 GoogleEarthLinux.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vinny vinny       23 Oct 10 22:48 Music -> /mnt/disk/kubuntu/Music
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vinny vinny       28 Oct 13 23:17 MyMachines -> /mnt/disk/kubuntu/MyMachines
drwxrwxr-x 3 vinny vinny     4096 Oct 10 23:22 None
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vinny vinny       26 Oct 10 22:48 Pictures -> /mnt/disk/kubuntu/Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 2 vinny vinny     4096 Oct  9 18:01 Public
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vinny vinny       23 Oct 12 21:12 steam -> /mnt/disk/kubuntu/steam
drwxrwxr-x 3 vinny vinny     4096 Oct 12 21:02 Steam
drwxr-xr-x 2 vinny vinny     4096 Oct 10 23:18 Templates
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vinny vinny       24 Oct 10 22:48 Videos -> /mnt/disk/kubuntu/Videos
-rw-rw-r-- 1 vinny vinny    65917 Oct 13 19:25 wallmart.pdf

/mnt/disk is a 1TB HD

vinny@vinny-Bonobo-Extreme:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3        52G   28G   21G  58% /
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev            7.8G  4.0K  7.8G   1% /dev
tmpfs           1.6G  1.3M  1.6G   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            7.9G  152K  7.9G   1% /run/shm
none            100M   20K  100M   1% /run/user
/dev/sdb1       917G   82G  835G   9% /mnt/disk
vinny@vinny-Bonobo-Extreme:~$

Kubuntu-14.04 is one of 3 installs so far ,,,,,,,,,,,,, all will be linked like this in the end (new box)

vinny@vinny-Bonobo-Extreme:~$ sudo parted -l
[sudo] password for vinny: 
Model: ATA HGST HTS725050A7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End    Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      8225kB  323GB  323GB   primary   ext4            boot
 3      323GB   379GB  56.3GB  primary   ext4
 4      379GB   496GB  117GB   extended
 5      379GB   436GB  57.0GB  logical   ext4
 6      436GB   496GB  59.8GB  logical   ext4
 2      496GB   500GB  4295MB  primary   linux-swap(v1)


Model: ATA HGST HTS721010A9 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name     Flags
 1      1049kB  1000GB  1000GB  ext4         primary

/sda1 is Ubuntu-14.04
/sda3 is Kubuntu-14.04
/sda5 is Kubuntu-14.10
/sda6 is <undecided>



VINNY