EOS is really good. Now I want to install three Linux distributions on one hard drive under UEFI.
My installation should look like this:
UEFI Boot Partition
Home Partition for all three distributions
Linux Mint
Debian
EOS
I now install Linux Mint and create an efi partition.
this is mounted under /boot/efi
Debian does the same. Only under EOS I have the problem
that the UEFI partition is mounted under /efi. I can therefore
EOS without the other two distributions in the boot partition to delete ?
How should I proceed to have all three distributions in one boot menu appear
Thanks… in advance
The reason you are seeing EOS mounting the EFI partition at /efi is because that is the default for the installation if you choose the systemd-boot bootloader. If you switch to Grub you will see it also mounts the EFI partition at /boot/efi like the others.
Even if the distributions have different mount points for it, it’s no problem for them to share the EFI partition.
A consideration you should bear in mind is the EFI partition should be oversized if you keep EOS on systemd-boot, because it will need to store the kernels and initramfs images on the EFI partition. 1 GB is a good size for most people. If you install a Grub distro first, it will probably not make it quite so big unless you do it manually.
Any way you do it, probably the simplest setup will be to decide which distro’s bootloader you prefer and make that the default. Then get the other distros added to that boot menu, and away you go.
It seems to me that @micky1067 is relatively new to Linux in general (looking to have 3 distros, so he didn’t make up his mind yet.) I am just guessing. I hope @micky1067 tells us a bit about this and why he needs 3 distros.
I would just suggest he sticks to systemd-boot to avoid the hassles and dissapointments he might get from Grub breaking and being unbootable.
I do not think it is a serious issue if it takes a large partition, but this is a little price to pay for peace of mind.
I won’t pretend to know how should he do it, increase the partition? reinstall and make a large partition for systemd-boot to take 3 distros?
I will leave this for the experts.
But my general advice, no Grub.
I hope this helps him to have a great Linux experience, and he won’t see Linux as “difficult” or problematic.
I like to install three distributions on one SSD. I can switch between them for testing. I’m not a Linux newbie anymore. I have been using it for 15 or more years. I mostly used Linux Mint. And now I just wanted to try something different. Especially something to take with me to
show friends different systems without installing them directly on their computers.
And… I love Linux. It is much more comfortable to work with than Windows. It’s enough for me if I have to use it in the office.
@pebcak Mhhhhmm I don’t want to have a lot of data redundancy on this test SSD. But I know it is better to use a home partition on each root partition for a static installation with different systems. On my production system, this is how I use it.
@colin Sure is also a way. But I take this ssd with me and connect it to their computer via usb.
So I do not have to install on site. I am lazy after all. hahahaha
So. it works. I used grub and enabled /boot/efi there. That works now. Thanks again to all for the kind help.
WOW! Sorry for my wrong guess then. I never thought you are “marketing” Linux… this is a good thing.
I’ve been on Linux since 2000!
I really wish to hear your experience (maybe another thread)
It is for sure… Linux just works. Peace of mind.
So, if you are experienced with Linux, then of course it is up to you to decide on Grub or systemd-boot. I liked Grub myself (especially the possibility to boot from previous snapshots) but finally settled on systemd-boot to avoid the hassles I’m sure you know about.
Please let us know how it goes with you regarding more than one OS, since 2003 I am only on one distro at a time, absolutely now Windoze!
IMHO that may fail if their hardware configuration is different from yours.
Maybe more reliable way to show different Linux distributions on different computers without installation is to copy several live iso files and make them bootable from grub menu.
Several years ago I did that for my external HDD according to this wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Multiboot_USB_drive
You can find some other tools and grub configuration files for the same purpose:
