I Was Forced To Install Windows 10

[Aupmanyav]

Yeah, compaptible or non-compatible, all on one computer with a shared /home dir. For Mx I had to use a second 1 GB boot partition. I do not know if it was necessary or not, but I did it for the sake of safety. I think I will need that when it comes to non-compatible OSs. Will I need to use Samba or just Nemo share will suffice? I am not connecting to any other computer on net. Next step is Solus. That is a Fedora derivative.

 

[dybmh]

Yeah, compaptible or non-compatible, all on one computer with a shared /home dir. For Mx I had to use a second 1 GB boot partition. I do not know if it was necessary or not, but I did it for the sake of safety. I think I will need that when it comes to non-compatible OSs. Will I need to use Samba or just Nemo share will suffice? I am not connecting to any other computer on net. Next step is Solus. That is a Fedora derivative.

This would be a much more user friendly setup with VirtualBox. And it would be "safer" and I think you will save disk space, too.

Is there a reason not to use VirtualBox?

 

[Aupmanyav]

I wholly agree with you. Just that I would not be experimenting.
Basically, it is not of much use to have many distributions on the computer. We will end up with one favorite. And then, one will have to update each distribution separately. Furthermore, downloads and work will only be on the favorite distribution, which in my case is Mint.
Though the current version 19.3 disappoints me. It is slower and dark, foreboding. I do not know why they have not used a more attractive art work.
Of course, people would change it to their liking.

 

[dybmh]

I wholly agree with you. Just that I would not be experimenting.
Basically, it is not of much use to have many distributions on the computer. We will end up with one favorite. And then, one will have to update each distribution separately. Furthermore, downloads and work will only be on the favorite distribution, which in my case is Mint.
Though the current version 19.3 disappoints me. It is slower and dark, foreboding. I do not know why they have not used a more attractive art work.
Of course, people would change it to their liking.

OK. I have the shared home folder working. It's accomplished by copying the home folder using 'rsync -aSX /home/username /home/distro/'; then, edit the /etc/passwd file to point ot he new location. No changes need to be made to /etc/fstab...

So far, I have only 2 distros installed ( Solus and Fedora ). I'm going to start installing Mint now...

 

[Aupmanyav]

It's accomplished by copying the home folder using 'rsync -aSX /home/username /home/distro/'; then, edit the /etc/passwd file to point the new location. No changes need to be made to /etc/fstab ..

I am stuck at this point.
I have two Home Dirs for Mx on a second install. I got the first by changing etc/fstab which made Mx inoperative. so
/home/Mx in sda6 (which is inoperative), and /home in sda8 (which is operative).
On forums I see experts advising against forceful deletion of inoperative Dirs. They suggest a sym-link (something like 'ln -s /dev/sda6//home/Mx /dev/sda8/home').
Of course, I would like /home/Mx in sda6 to be operative so that I can delete /home in sda8.
What is your suggestion?

All five distros are working fine. Mint, Lubuntu, Sparky, Mx and Zorin; the four except Mx using common home partition. Lubuntu is the fastest loading.
Installing Mint on Solus and Fedora should be interesting.

 

[dybmh]

What is your suggestion?

Boot into mx
open a terminal
sudo -i
rsync -aSX /home/$(whoami) /home/mx
( assuming nano is installed.... ) nano /etc/passwd
locate the line at the bottom with your username and edit that line pointing to the new home directory /home/mx/{your username}
shutdown -r now

That's it... no editing fstab is needed or symlinks.

To test it, go download something and see where it defaults to. I've tested it on 3 distros so far, Solus, Fedora, and Mint.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Oh, you have added Mint! Did you face any problems there?

 

[dybmh]

Oh, you have added Mint! Did you face any problems there?

No problems at all.

 

[Aupmanyav]

No problems at all.

Very surprising. I have had to reformat the whole things many times. I will try once again.

 

[dybmh]

Very surprising. I have had to reformat the whole things many times. I will try once again.

Yes, I was very specific with the partitions during the install. Are u choosing custom when it gets to that point?

 

[Aupmanyav]

Yeah, with already five distributions, I have to choose custom.

 

[dybmh]

Yeah, with already five distributions, I have to choose custom.

Here's how I setup the partitions during Mint installation:

I started with a 320 GB Hard Drive, then, used gparted in solus-live to partition it before installing any distributions. Here's what that looks like. The first partition is swap; the next is /home; then there's a large extended partition; then inside that are 4 logical partitions where I have been installing each distribution and mounting as root ( / ).

 

[Aupmanyav]

Here's how I setup the partitions during Mint installation:

I am close to success, Dybmh. I have loaded the distribution but did not save boot loader to the USB. Now I am trying that. Otherwise I will reinstall Solus and save boot loader on USB. Should not be a problem. Thanks again for mentoring me.

 

[dybmh]

I am close to success, Dybmh. I have loaded the distribution but did not save boot loader to the USB. Now I am trying that. Otherwise I will reinstall Solus and save boot loader on USB. Should not be a problem. Thanks again for mentoring me.

Bootloader on the USB?

That's a significant difference between my setup and yours. I have been installing that on /dev/sda.

 

[Aupmanyav]

This option was not available when I installed Solus, only the USB option was available.

 

[dybmh]

This option was not available when I installed Solus, only the USB option was available.

Hmmmmm.... I would probably wipe all the partitions and start from ground zero. It sounds like the boot loader has been a problem for multiple installs, and I wouldn't want to keep booting to the USB.

Getting the partitions correct from the beginning, I think, will make everything go more smoothly.

Boot to solus-live. Then launch gparted. Wipe all the partitions. The swap goes first, then home, then a large extended partition, then logical partitions in the extended partition. Then do the install. Manually choose the mount point /home and root ( / ). And when promoted install grub on /dev/sda.

It should work, and then you don't have to boot from USB.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Not again, dybmh. Get partitions right, install one distribution, download all other distributions (I have just one 16GB USB), make changes in them according to my choice, sync Firefox for all of them. That will take two days. I have to look for a short-cut. What about boot-loaders?

 

[dybmh]

I have to look for a short-cut.

If you are looking for a short-cut, that is a problem. Sorry. Having 4 ( or more ) distributions will require a rigorous precise approach to installation from the begininng. The partitioning must be correct. From the beginning.

Anything else will be heartache, trials, and tribulations.

That will take two days

How much time have you spent fighting with MBRs and bootloaders? Start over, my friend, that's the best way.

Very surprising. I have had to reformat the whole things many times. I will try once again.

The current method is failing. repeatedly. It's time to abandon ship, captain...

Start over with Virtualbox... try it, you'll like it...

 

[dybmh]

@Aupmanyav ,

It looks like the easiest way to accomplish your goal is using VirtualBox. I tested it with a Lubuntu Host and a Lubuntu guest. I'll continue testing with Solus, Fedora, Mint, and maybe Kali... but I'm 85% sure that I can get to work on all 4.

There are 2 peices to the puzzle:

1) How to share the home folders
2) Redirecting the firefox profile

Both are easy to do.

For sharing the home folders: There a multiple ways to share the home folder on the Host OS. I've been using the Shared Folder feature within Virtualbox. But one could also use samba or nfs or ssh and others.

For redirecting the firefox profile: This is accomplished by editing the "profiles.ini" file in the .mozilla/firefox folder in the user's home folder. Or by launching firefox from the terminal with the '-profilemanager' parameter.

If you would like more details on precisely how to get this working, please let me know.

 

[dybmh]

Here's a time saver... installing 3 distributions at the same time:

Spoiler: Large Screenshot