Call me crazy... 5 OS's on one computer

So I have this rediculouslly crazy idea to install 5 operating systems on my laptop;
Inspirion 6000, 60 GB hdd, 512 MB Ram

The OS'es
MS:
Vista Ultimate Beta2, Windows XP Home
Mac:
OSX Tiger 10.4.3 x86
BSD:
(Probally FreeBSD, have not decided yet)
Linux:
(Also have not decided which distro yet)

Things I need to do: (aside from back up data)

partitioning:
needed:
a standard FS that each filesystem and run on, and hopefully one that all and read/write to as shared

OS:partition type
Mac: HFS+
XP/Vista: NTFS (extended with 2 logical partitions)
BSD: (BSDFFS)
Linux: ResiserFS or EXT3

now i noted i need a r/w space for all which as far as i can tell would be best suited to fat32, i do not have spaced for another primary partition, if that is the case ill just have to use my external HD for that space

install order:
TBA: (but heres what im thinking)
XP -> Vista-> OSX -> BSD -> Linux
bootloader:grub (what im most familiar with)

other apps... etc. :
bsd: Cedega (cross platform app launcher)

just some stuff im thinking about doing, need to decided on a linux/bsd so i can download/burn the cd/dvd

feedback on things to consider: alternate FS/boot orders, distro sugestions, seeing a therapist, going on a strike from thinking ever again, reconsidering why have 5 operating systems on 1 computer when i can only use one at a time.

i got a some free time over the next week so i thought id do this, might be an interesting challege, or just retarted time, and feedback will tell. yes im going to follow up as much as i can.

Hmmm have you looked here?

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showt...hreadid=143973


Only comment.. I dont thing a x86 Mac OS is on the street.. and certainly not OSX tiger.. .. a emulator.. would be your best option..

Personaly I use VMware for my many Win OS's but if I had to I would use it for my *nix installs .. instead I have dedicated boxes for the *nix.. oh and a G3 to play with OSX (not Tiger though)

OOOPS:

it is an emulator... for mac on pc
http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/
http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkonther...l_os_x_on.html

[q]Only comment.. I dont thing a x86 Mac OS is on the street.. and certainly not OSX tiger.. .. a emulator.. would be your best option..[/q]

well actually my neighbor in the dorm is downloading a copy onto his server right now, havnt checked the integrity of it though (at about 55% i think he said)

thanks for that site, would save me a shitload of fun later with problems on primary boot's being needed for some, and i think im going to add Solaris to the list see if theres a way to work that in too, maybe drop xp if it wont work on an extended partition. and run grub off one of the primary solaris or bsd boot

just downloaded solaris 10 after i got the idea to add that, so for now it looks like
primarys 1-3 are: solaris, freebsd, vista
while ill put xp and (a couple?) linux distros on an logical partition along with a swap and maybe some shared fat32 space

still trying to decide on which linux distro's to try on this, hmm maybe ill try elive, one of my friends was mentioning something about it and its still in beta or something, why not give that a shot heh

You do know you can only have 4 partitons on a single hard drive?

You do know you can only have 4 partitons on a single hard drive?

Errrrr, I think that you can have more if they are not primary ?

True. You can have more partitions that aren't primary. My Slackware Free BSD dual boot box has 3 or so primary partitions, then add to that about 10 non primary partitions.

If you REALLY want 5 OSs on your computer.... Well, you're not using a laptop. You need something with multiple HDs in it. I have software here that allows me to use 100 or more OSs on a single system. I know people have done 100 or so at least before because I've seen it. But you're going to need more than one HD.

My personal record of OSs booting, is on this box, which I had Windows 98 SE, Free BSD, and Mandrake Linux on.

You're crazy.

Hi,
Well, if you really want a challenge, why don't you try to do a Linux From Scratch project where you basically build your own Linux system? www.linuxfromscratch.org Have I done it? No. And it will probably be a long time before I actually attempt it, if I do. Still, if you want a challenge....... I guess you could get a lot of opinions on your project. Right now, it seems like mastering one OS is hard enough for me.

What would be the point of having 5 OS's on a single machine if you can't run them simultaneously? I would recommend you get VMWare... you can simulate whole networks as well...

VMWare takes up to many resources for some boxes.

well so far, its got 3 on there so far (Solaris 10, FreeBSD 6.0, and Win XP), i forgot to grab my friends vista trial key so i cant put that on there over xp yet, the mac installer seems to not work. guess i need to find one with a cracked kernel =/

and i havnt put the linux boot on yet, was saving that for last as im sure id have the most sucess putting that on a logical partition as im hoping would be suffecient for the mac boot (if i can get that working).
if i cant get them to install i think im going to try booting into BSD and doing a dd to copy over everything on the drive to the next parttion and seeing if that will boot

Do not attempt to load the Vista betas..................

"Jensendied"....................yes, from an overdose of stupidity

;) :cool:

haha, stupidity for now. the good new is that this isnt leathal, so that when/if i survive ill know more reasons to tell somone theyd have more fun playing five finger fillet that doing this =D

I don't find many reasons to actually run 5 OSes. But if you are are you intending on doing a full install on each? I would find that interesting. Also the sharing of the HDD space might become interesting.

Just honestly why do you want to run 5 OSes on one box? I don't personally see any point in putting more than 2 oses on one box. That is what having multiple computers or atleast multiple processors is for.

Hey JensenDied

Serious matey, please stay away from betas on your production box..............

Get a spare or two to mess with, but not a beta on anything serious...............

:shocked: