this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
29 points (100.0% liked)

Linux

47557 readers
722 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

im currently dual booting endevouros with windows, and i have a lot of free/unpartitioned space on my drive. can i install another linux distro alongside endevour and windows? i have a separate home partition as well. do i only keep one linux/grub boot partition? im not too scared of nuking everything but id obv rather not. thanks!

all 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Synthead@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Sure. After you've installed it, add its entry to your bootloader.

There really isn't any technical limit of how many OSes you can install aside from space. Have 500 Alpine installations if you want. All good.

[–] Cosmonaut_Collin@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

500 Alpine installations? Are you trying to turn their computer into a forest?

[–] mangaskahn@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Doesn't alpine refer to the part of the mountain above the forest, above the limit of tree growth? So maybe they are trying to deforest OP's computer?

[–] pascal@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

"500 Alpine installations? Are you trying to turn their computer into a ski resort?"

Better now? 🤣

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

ok thank you 🙂

[–] atlasraven31@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Gparted should help you manage your partitions. Be very careful to pick the right partition to format. Also, Windows is known to sometimes mess up dualboots, it thinks it is the only OS.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

thanks. if i never update windows (even if it tries to force me to), is it possible for it to break it ?

[–] init@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would never ever recommend not updating windows, but if it is maybe just a dedicated gaming OS and you don't use it for internet browsing or anything else, you might be able to get away with it.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i never use it. i only keep it around on the off chance i need to run some proprietry garbage for school

[–] Synthead@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

You might consider moving the installation into a VM, instead. From what it sounds like, this would be more convenient for you.

[–] dallen@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In my experience this only happens when (re)installing Windows, not updating. Can be easily fixed via live USB.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

cool! thanks

[–] atlasraven31@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Under those conditions probably not.

[–] NegativeLookBehind@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Containers or VMs sound like a much easier solution. But I guess a good question is, why do you want multiple OSs?

[–] thelastknowngod@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But I guess a good question is, why do you want multiple OSs?

Agreed. Is it cool you can do this? Sure.. why not. Is it valuable/useful in any way? No.

I'm an old grey beard at this point though.. The days of being interested in the latest OS or distro hopping are long loooong behind me.

[–] jameskirk@startrek.website 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Out of curiosity, which one did you stick with?

[–] thelastknowngod@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Mint with Cinnamon on the desktop because it's not flashy or unique in any way. I have actual work to get done and I just need the OS to get out of my way. I'll customize my shell environment but only for productivity.. I'm not spending hours tweaking my DE theme or color palette or whatever.

Server side, where I spend the overwhelming majority of my time, the base OS doesn't really matter. I am entirely in kubernetes so that's mostly all abstracted away.

[–] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

My usual setup is two distros, sometimes also Windows. I use one home partition, one swap partition, one EFI partition (Windows creates one in EFI mode) and each OS its own root partition.

Some people won't recommend sharing a home partition, but it has worked for me for a long time now. Some years ago I'd have an additional data partition, with symlinks from each home folder of each distro for Videos, Documents, Images, etc. Each distro was contained, even home, in the root partition.

Also, you can have several bootloaders in the EFI partition as long as you don't wipe/format it. Usually, you can choose which one to use in the firmware settings.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

whats the advantage of multiple root partitions?

[–] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Multiple distros, of course. You really must not share a root partition between distros. Wouldn't even know where one starts or the others end.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

sorry i mixed up root and boot 😅

[–] Ashiette@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can. Be aware that using one home partition for numerous distros is not recommended because of config files conflict. You can however symlink between home partitions.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

i hadnt thought of that :/

[–] Certainity45@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

If you're not seeking virtualisation as an option, then I'd recommend the second distro for minimal Arch/Artix/Gentoo/Void/Alpine setup and learn to configure Sway or DWL as your WM.

(Because Wayland is the solution)

[–] pascal@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Depending on what's your usecase, or what you want to achieve, running different distros on different virtual machines may be the best solution for you.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

thats what im doing right now. its not as sexy as running baremetal, but boy do i love not worrying about bootloaders