more operating systems?

[mtotho]

Currently i have dual booted Windows xp and OS x succesfully, on my hardrive i have set aside 4 primary partitions which are about 30gb each, 2 of which have and operating system already on them(Windows xp and os x as i said above) and a logical partition for data. I was wondering if on those other 2 partitions i could just install vista on one and linux on the other. from the darwin bootloader wouldnt i just be able to choose one without messing around with any settings? thanks

[dashaund]

Currently i have dual booted Windows xp and OS x succesfully, on my hardrive i have set aside 4 primary partitions which are about 30gb each, 2 of which have and operating system already on them(Windows xp and os x as i said above) and a logical partition for data. I was wondering if on those other 2 partitions i could just install vista on one and linux on the other. from the darwin bootloader wouldnt i just be able to choose one without messing around with any settings? thanks

 

Yes and no. Yes, you can load more OS's on your other partitions. No, Darwin boot loader won't recognize anything but Windows (in my experience recently). There are a couple of ways to get it working. Check out the OSX86 Wiki for some installation guides. I'm currently running XP, OSX86, and Ubuntu linux on my machine. First off, make sure you have OSX86 on a Primary partition...I assume you do. Pick a flavor of linux. I've used Fedora/Red Hat for years and recently starting tinkering with Ubuntu. I like it, but, there's a flavor for everyone. It's free, so why not try them all, right? You can use the GRUB boot loader, like one of the install guides specifies. You'll have to go in manually to edit the GRUB config file and add the OSX86 partition. OR, you can do like me, and use Acronics OS Selector. It's pretty, it's easy, and it works. No messy configuration...it does it itself. The trick, if you're going to use Acronis, is to NOT let linux install GRUB (or LILO) on the MBR! Make it load the boot manager on the first sector of the partition. That way, you won't screw up OSX86 and Windows and have to reinstall them to be able to boot them. And, yes, if you're wondering, I learned this the hard way If you're installing Ubuntu, when you run the installer, there's an "Advanced" box you click on right before it starts formatting stuff, and you can tell it where to install GRUB. If you're going to use GRUB, then let it install to the MBR. Pretty easy once you get it right...be careful or you'll pull your hair out. If you're careful, you should be able to do it without reformatting everything. But I'd back it all up anyway because you could screw up...if you're anything like me, haha.