Multi-booting question

[tkbx]

I'm planning on building a computer fairly soon. I would like to have these installed:
Windows 7
Mac OS X.7 (Hackintosh)
Ubuntu Desktop 10
Ubuntu Server 11

Would this be possible and practical? If I need to, I could just have OSX and Ubuntu Server installed, and use a virtual machine for the other two, but it would be nice to have them all installed.

 

[Mu33rto]

How many hard drives are going to be in the system?

If only 1 then you might have some issues. Windows 7 needs 2 partitions, don't know how many hackintosh will use so lets say 1, Both the ubuntus will need 1 plus can share the swap partition.

If you have 2 hdd it will be easier since you can make the ubuntus boot off the secondary drives without any issues. If you want it to work with only 1 hdd I would use BootIt Bare Metal. Or use dual boot Win7/Hackintosh and run both linux under vm.

 

[Pyroflea]

I'm planning on building a computer fairly soon. I would like to have these installed:
Windows 7
Mac OS X.7 (Hackintosh)
Ubuntu Desktop 10
Ubuntu Server 11

Would this be possible and practical? If I need to, I could just have OSX and Ubuntu Server installed, and use a virtual machine for the other two, but it would be nice to have them all installed.

Why do you want Ubuntu Desktop and Server editions installed? Why don't you just install the packages from Server you want on the Desktop install? That alone would eliminate the need for one installation altogether.

One thing I would like to know before making any suggestions, is why do you want/need all these installations? Do you think you'll realistically use more than one?

Generally, I tell people to Virtualize rather than dual-boot. It's just a helluva lot easier, and performance is usually similar. You could install Windows 7, and then virtualize as many OS's as you want on top of that without having to muck around with conflicting bootloaders and partitions.

 

[Ijack]

Linux can be installed on an extended partition, so the number of partitions should not be a problem. If you have the persistence, skill, and knowledge, to get OS X running then the rest will be a breeze. But be prepared to do a lot of research before you settle on your hardware. And don't post back asking "what is the best m/b to run OS X?" or "how do I find OS X drivers for yyy hardware?" - that's where the research comes in, and it's down to you.

I'd agree with the others; go for virtualization rather than multi-boot. That way you'll be able to run more than one of the OSs at the same time. And, as said, there's no essential difference between Desktop and Server editions, just which programs are installed.

 

[tkbx]

Why do you want Ubuntu Desktop and Server editions installed? Why don't you just install the packages from Server you want on the Desktop install? That alone would eliminate the need for one installation altogether.

One thing I would like to know before making any suggestions, is why do you want/need all these installations? Do you think you'll realistically use more than one?

Generally, I tell people to Virtualize rather than dual-boot. It's just a helluva lot easier, and performance is usually similar. You could install Windows 7, and then virtualize as many OS's as you want on top of that without having to muck around with conflicting bootloaders and partitions.

Mac OSX: iOS SDK, this is non-negotiable
Windows: Windows-only software that doesn't really work with wine
Ubuntu Desktop: It's linux
Ubuntu Server: I guess not entirely necessary, do you know if there's a way to boot Ubuntu Desktop GUI-lessly?

 

[tkbx]

How many hard drives are going to be in the system?

If only 1 then you might have some issues. Windows 7 needs 2 partitions, don't know how many hackintosh will use so lets say 1, Both the ubuntus will need 1 plus can share the swap partition.

If you have 2 hdd it will be easier since you can make the ubuntus boot off the secondary drives without any issues. If you want it to work with only 1 hdd I would use BootIt Bare Metal. Or use dual boot Win7/Hackintosh and run both linux under vm.

I'm planning on a 2TB HDD for storage between all OSes, and a 64GB SSD for booting all oses, and some large files I want to load AQAP.

 

[audiovoodoo]

Why even worry about running the GUI in the background? Unless you're going to be using the system as a high load server there is negligible overhead in having it loaded. But if you must then it's easy enough:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/74645/possible-to-install-ubuntu-desktop-and-then-boot-to-no-gui

So you could just have two GRUB menu items, one for GUI and one for CLI and have all the server and desktop packages on the one install.