Leopard with Vista, XP and Linux

[ssj4gogeta]

Hi all

 

I'm a noob when it comes to OS X and this is my first try. So please bear with me.

 

I'm currently dual booting Vista and XP off a 200 GB drive. I have another 80 GB drive, in which I keep windows page file and some other data. I want to try out Ubuntu and OS X. I want to install these on the 80 GB drive and I've already partitioned the drive as shown in this figure (I haven't installed Linux or OS X yet, just partitioned.):

 

 

 

 

I've currently set the BIOS to boot from the 200 GB drive (disk 1). I once installed Linux on the 80 GB drive and tried to use EasyBCD from Vista to add it to the Vista boot loader, but it didn't work.

 

If somebody has enough time to walk me through installing and setting up the boot correctly, it'll be greatly appreciated. (Or you can just point to an appropriate guide.)

 

 

Besides the booting part, I also have some other questions:

1) What do I select: GUID or MBR? (I need to boot Linux from the same disk and also access the other partitions through windows)

2) Do I need to select some particular options while installing OS X according to my hardware?

 

I did some research for what I'll need and have downloaded the following:

• Kalyway 10.5.2 Intel AMD SSE2/SSE3
  
• HDA patcher for audio
  
• NVInstaller V.41.pkg for nVidia 8600GT 512MB
  

My hardware:

• Intel P4 Prescott 3.06 GHz 519k (SSE, SSE2, SSE3)
  
• 2 GB DDR2 667 RAM
  
• ASUS P5GC-MX/1333 mobo
  
• XFX 8600GT 512 MB DDR2 graphics
  

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[inimicus]

See my signature.

 

You'll need to begin by formatting your Leopard and Linux partitions to FAT32. You'll later format to (typically) ReiserFS and HFS+ in the installers.

 

MBR is fine.

 

Unplug the power to your 200GB HDD to make sure you don't touch it inadvertently.

 

First install Leopard. Once you're successful there, install Linux.

 

Install GRUB at the end of the Ubuntu installer. I believe the default is hd0. Leave it as is, it usually works fine here.

 

Once all installs are done, you can plug your 200GB HDD back in.

 

Search teh interwebz for how to modify GRUB's menu.lst to add XP and Vista (and Leopard if it didn't already add it) to the boot menu. You'll now be able to choose from Leopard, Ubuntu, XP and Vista at boot.

[ssj4gogeta]

I'll give it a try and post back.

thanks again

 

EDIT:I burned the DVD and installed Leopard. I had some problems with a partition on that disk getting unallocated, but I fixed it with partition table doctor and recovered the data.

Mac seems to be working fine except for the sound. Things are a little different from Windows, but it looks cool! I have the patchers, but I don't know how to install them. I'll try installing Ubuntu today and post back.

 

Thanks again for your help.