Triple Boot - Triple Drives

[guns90]

Hello. I have a dual boot with vista on disk 0 and ubuntu on disk1. I just installed a disk 2 that I would like to use to try out other distros. Ubuntu is the only linux experience I have had. I'm really not very good at all of this, so my questions before I start loading another distro are:

1. Does Fedora use GRUB as its installer?

2. When I installed ubuntu on disk 1 (sdb1), the install was very simple. I chose sdb1 for the install, it loaded it, and when it was done I simply had the choice of which drive to boot into. Will installing Fedora on disk 2 (sdc1) be just as simple, or will I encounter steps I must take to make it so that I have a choice of which disk/OS to boot into?

I sure would appreciate you guys' help. Thanks. Gary

[stoat]

Originally Posted by guns90

1. Does Fedora use GRUB as its installer?

Hello guns90,

Yes. It does.

Originally Posted by guns90

2. When I installed ubuntu on disk 1 (sdb1), the install was very simple. I chose sdb1 for the install, it loaded it, and when it was done I simply had the choice of which drive to boot into. Will installing Fedora on disk 2 (sdc1) be just as simple, or will I encounter steps I must take to make it so that I have a choice of which disk/OS to boot into?

The Fedora installer (aka Anaconda) has several default options and some check boxes for your drives to help determine what happens when you install Fedora. Pay close attention to the descriptions of the partitioning options. They will do exactly what they say they will do. And uncheck the boxes for drives that you definitely do not want involved in the Fedora installation. If you prefer to have more control of over how your drive is partitioned, then you can choose the option "Create custom layout". The next page after that is the so-called disk druid which is Anaconda's partition manager. You can use that to create partitions exactly how and where you want them.

Regarding the boot loader, every OS that I have ever installed sort of wants to take over boot loader chores. It's usually the default. Fedora is no different. If you allow its default boot loader option to happen, Anaconda will install Fedora's GRUB in the master boot record of the boot drive replacing whatever is there now (probably Ubuntu's GRUB). Anyway, Anaconda is very good at adding existing Windows systems to its menu. But it is notorious for overlooking existing Linux systems which have to be manually added to the Fedora GRUB menu (easy to do). Or, if you want to keep the current boot loader, then watch for and click on the "Change device" button on the boot loader options page. In the pop-up that appears, choose the option to install the boot loader in the first sector of the boot partition. That option will not disturb your current boot loader arrangement whatever it is. Finish installing Fedora and reboot as instructed. At first, your computer will boot normally, and its menu will be like it was before as though nothing had happened. But Fedora will boot when you add it to the menu of your current boot loader. Help is available for that as needed when (if) that time comes.

[guns90]

Stoat, I have everything working real well in both Vista and Ubuntu and I really don't want to mess that up. You're second option seems more appealing to me. It sounds like, if I do the 'change device' option, all I have to do after the install is edit my current menu list in Grub (or something like that. I will ask for that advice if I go that way.)

I'm just wanting to be able to try out other distros without messing up what has taken me a long while to get the way I want it. I had a stroke a few years ago and I just don't remember things very well. Thank you so much for your response. I appreciate it being so coherent. Gary

[stoat]

Originally Posted by guns90

I have everything working real well in both Vista and Ubuntu and I really don't want to mess that up.

That is completely understandable.

Originally Posted by guns90

You're second option seems more appealing to me. It sounds like, if I do the 'change device' option, all I have to do after the install is edit my current menu list in Grub (or something like that. I will ask for that advice if I go that way.)

You understand that correctly. Click the "Change device" button and then choose the option to install the boot loader in the first sector of the boot partition. After the installation finishes, then add Fedora to your existing boot loader menu. When you are ready for that step, help will come from every direction if you need it.