I have in this case some 5 partitions (but this can vary of course), wich I use for doing things with one linux distro
from day to day (for instance Mint8) and for experimenting, searching and learning with other partitions.
In this case I used Mint 6 with the bootloader to switch between all partitions (ext3 Grub1) and to have redundancy.
It has helped me a lot in the past.. It is comfortable to be able to mount other partitions with whatever OS you like.
Then there is an old PCLOS 2007 Minime, which I build some years back to a full PCLOS (ext3 Grub1).
Now this is for administrative things.
There was an Ubuntu-version on a partition (ext3 Grub1) and Mint 8 which I made ext3 (not ext4) with Grub1.
No problem at all.
Mint 9 also is able to do it on ext3, so this would not be a problem. But about Grub I'm not sure; I suspect
sometimes in the future this will be default Grub2 in Mint and Ubuntu. I don't know about Debian.
Ext4 is not compatible with ext3 and Grub2 not with Grub1. And the advantage is not enormous.
The menu-list of Grub1 was by the programmers in Grub2 transformed in grub-conf and /etc/grub.d and I don't
know anything about it. I've seen what is in it, but it is not a rather simple, clear case like menu.lst.
When I search on the web and see what problems people have and what manuals there are to be able to
work with Grub2, I'm off.
With Grub1 it is simple to make a multiboot system.
Make only a bootloader on your system for instance for the central 'day to day distro' (or an old one for the
menu-switch on boot) and in menu.lst there will be the menu you see at bootime. Ubuntu and Mint did this
very well and I loved this feature always. I mean Grub updating what is on the HD.
Are things wrong do a new install with a remaster livecd or do a (great) 'redo MBR' like there is in PCLOS.
Then one can addept menu.lst and on we go with more than two OS's.
With Grub2 and/or ext4 this is impossible as far as I know and as far as I have seen.
It is also not quite clear, how the new Grub-situation works with livecd remasters. I have seen here, that a Mint-remaster
which has been made on ext3 can not be installed on ext4. When Grub is handled by install at the end, the install
halts with an error. This is not right and not nice..
So what is my solution for this moment? For the time being I use PCLOS 2010 (Gnome fine OS as far as I can see
for this moment after 5 days) as my new central distro which is simply ext3 and Grub1 and has the switch-menu at boot
for itself and the other OS's, and I have on my other partitions Mint and whatever I like.
It's alright and works fine. But I don't quite understand this move of KXUbuntu (and Mint), which gives people a lot of
trouble. Why this incompatibillity forcing in? It is so unfriendly.
).