Hardware advice...true or bogus?

[Varsel]

I'm preparing to have custom-build shop create PC to my specs, and I'll be supplying most of the components. I want PC to have three hard disk drives (one for PC-BSD 8.1, one for Linux Mint, and one for XP Pro). Was told on another forum that "it's crucial" I pick motherboard and chipset that supports all three operating systems. Is this true? If so, is it actually possible to find motherboard/chipset that supports all three?

[TheGlasMan]

If all three are independent not a problem, disconect the other two while you load the OS on one. Press F8 (I think) during post and you will get hd priority screen and pick the boot drive you want. Write down the serial # of the drive till you know which is which if same type drive.
Linux I think will automatically set up a multiboot (put up a select screen after post) if an other OS is present.

The comment may have referred to if the OS supports your chipset/cpu. (has drivers) Windows does no problem (I have AMD x6 with 790 chipset that wern't invented when xp came out) you will have to research Mint and BSD. Also graphics card support.

Don't know BSD.
If you want to run at the same time (virtual) I don't know how many it can run but most if not all modern boards support it.

[Varsel]

If all three are independent not a problem, disconect the other two while you load the OS on one. Press F8 (I think) during post and you will get hd priority screen and pick the boot drive you want. Write down the serial # of the drive till you know which is which if same type drive.
Linux I think will automatically set up a multiboot (put up a select screen after post) if an other OS is present.

The comment may have referred to if the OS supports your chipset/cpu. (has drivers) Windows does no problem (I have AMD x6 with 790 chipset that wern't invented when xp came out) you will have to research Mint and BSD. Also graphics card support.

Don't know BSD.
If you want to run at the same time (virtual) I don't know how many it can run but most if not all modern boards support it.

Many thanks for the advice. If by "independent" you mean each having its own bootloader, that would be my plan...I hear there's some sort of bootloader manager software that simplifies start-up process, but not found it yet. Now if you mean 'dedicated' hard drives, then I intend Linux Mint to be alone on HDD#1, PC-BSD alone on HDD#2, and XP Pro partitioned with Browser Linux 400b5 on HDD#3. Don't know it it matters but planning on hard disk drives #1 & 2 to be regular/internal type, probably 500GB; HDD#3 mobile-rack sort, SATA or SATA2, and 750GB.

So if I understand correctly, you're saying instead of looking for motherboard/chipset that supports all three operating systems, I should ignore the motherboards, see what Mint & BSD drivers are available for the chipsets/CPUs & graphic cards (then match these to motherboards)?

Well I know I want either Phenom II (x2,x3,or x4) or Athlon II (x2,x3,or x4), as I'm reasonably certain XP Pro will run on any these. I'd like to have motherboard with 'dual-BIOS' (Gigabyte? Asus?) and onboard thermal sensor to monitor temperature. As for chipset, I've no idea...other than I'd like to try and avoid using Intel or nVIDIA if possible. Any idea how I put this stuff all together, and go about researching this on Google?

[AMDScooter]

^^^ As long as the hardware supports all 3 OS's, a slightly easier way to go than dorking about with the BIOS or BIOS boot options every time you wanna switch to a different OS might be hot swappable drive bays.

My2c.

[Hardware]

You don't :

- Need 3 hard drives

- Need native support for the hardware from all 3 OS

Let me explain:

- You can install one OS ( I suggest XP) and use the free virtualization app called virtualbox to play with other OSs.

www.virtualbox.org

- Alternatively you can do something called multiple boot whereby you install different operating systems on different partitions of the same hard drive and select which one to boot each time you start your PC. This is VERY common so if you install win xp first and linux mint second, mint will automatically install the boot loader for you so that you can choose an OS when booting up.

So just select any motherboard that is Linux compatible and you should be good to go. Windows will install on anything and if PC BSD isn't natively compatible you can run it in virtualbox.

Most mobos are Linux compatible so this isn't a difficult task. But if you absolutely want to make certain of it you can ask in linuxquestions.org for tips on what to avoid. For instance Nvidia is more linux friendly than ATI. Stuff like that.

[smoked trout]

I'd also recommend virtual with either virtualbox or vmware unless you really need to be able to boot each OS independently. I guess it depends on what your intended uses are.

Benefits of virtual are many, but just being able to switch over to another OS, or have it running in another window on your 'main' OS? Beats the heck out rebooting.

[moriarty99]

I'll third the recommendation for using VMs for the other OS beside Windows.

[Varsel]

You don't :

- Need 3 hard drives

- Need native support for the hardware from all 3 OS

Let me explain:

- You can install one OS ( I suggest XP) and use the free virtualization app called virtualbox to play with other OSs.

www.virtualbox.org

- Alternatively you can do something called multiple boot whereby you install different operating systems on different partitions of the same hard drive and select which one to boot each time you start your PC. This is VERY common so if you install win xp first and linux mint second, mint will automatically install the boot loader for you so that you can choose an OS when booting up.

So just select any motherboard that is Linux compatible and you should be good to go. Windows will install on anything and if PC BSD isn't natively compatible you can run it in virtualbox.

Most mobos are Linux compatible so this isn't a difficult task. But if you absolutely want to make certain of it you can ask in linuxquestions.org for tips on what to avoid. For instance Nvidia is more linux friendly than ATI. Stuff like that.

I've looked into the virtualization/emulator stuff a bit, and it looks too complicated for me....maybe in couple years I'd try it. I already know about the partitioning. As I understand it, if I install two or more OSs on one hard disk, and say XP Pro bites the dust, it takes down any other OS on the disk with it....but if I have each OS on separate disks, then if one OS goes into catastropic failure, the other two are unaffected.

[Hardware]

Sorry for the late reply. Actually virtualization is a lot easier and safer than multiple booting. I strongly suggest that you download virtual box that I linked to above and try it out. Its all point and click stuff and the best part is that you don't have to worry about boot loaders and partitioning.

You always have the option to natively install a second OS at a later date once you've gained experience. Take advantage of the fact that we live in an age where even desktop consumer grade CPUs have hardware virtualization support and use virtualization.

[Varsel]

^^^ As long as the hardware supports all 3 OS's, a slightly easier way to go than dorking about with the BIOS or BIOS boot options every time you wanna switch to a different OS might be hot swappable drive bays.

My2c.

"As long as the hardware supports all 3 OS's"...is exactly my question! How do I insure this? How do I pick components known to work well with all three operating systems, so I end up with PC that is certain to run PC-BSD, Linux Mint, and Xp Pro at optimal performance?

[AMDScooter]

"As long as the hardware supports all 3 OS's"...is exactly my question! How do I insure this? How do I pick components known to work well with all three operating systems, so I end up with PC that is certain to run PC-BSD, Linux Mint, and Xp Pro at optimal performance?

Think if you stuck to a fairly generic build you will not have issues. XP driver support is widespread. As to the other two OS's.. forum crawl is your best bet. See what others are running.