Dual Booting on 68Ks?

[Elfen]

Since I'm getting a few more of my machines up and running, I notice that I have a mix of Systems per machine. For example I have 1 LC with System 6.07 and another LC on System 7. I would like to be able to boot from one system or another on a given machine with similar software set ups.

This means I might have to partition the hard drive into 3 or more partitions, 1 for each system and 1 for applications and personal data files. In the least this would be difficult with smaller hard drives.

So, what do I have to watch out for, as in a case of a Mac being able to boot from either System 6 and System 7? And is there another way of doing this other than partitioning a drive?

 

[onlyonemac]

I boot System 7.1 and System 7.5 on my Mac (due to software compatibility reasons) using System Switcher (or something like that) and two System Folders (the less-used one has got a different name) all in a single partition. People have always done just that to dual-boot System 6 and System 7 back in the day. It's only when you're working with operating systems with different architechtures (like the Macintosh operating system alongside Linux or A/UX or something like that) that you need to start worring about partitions.

 

[Elfen]

I'll look into "System Switcher" on Google.

Years ago I heard about an issue in such dual booting systems in that the booting system would often go into "Rebuilding Desktop" mode, which slows down the booting process by a lot. It is something I would not want. What's your experience on that?

 

[finkmac]

6.x can't use 7.x desktop files without a certain INIT.

Without this INIT, it'll rebuild the desktop whenever you reboot back into 7.

Also, these system switcher apps will not work with multiple partitions.

 

[bse5150]

Since I'm getting a few more of my machines up and running, I notice that I have a mix of Systems per machine. For example I have 1 LC with System 6.07 and another LC on System 7. I would like to be able to boot from one system or another on a given machine with similar software set ups.

Why?  It sounds like a whole lot of work for little or no return.  Just saying...

 

[galgot]

It's System Picker :

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Picker

 

[Elfen]

Thanks Galgot, I got a copy courtsey of scrapping the dark sides of the Interweb with the Google Scrub Pad!

And thank, OnlyOneMac and FinkMacUNIX for your inputs as well!

Why?  It sounds like a whole lot of work for little or no return.  Just saying...

Many reasons. Like my old copy of Comic Works only works on System 6, but crashes hard on System 7; while Freehand 5 works better on System 7 than on System 6 so instead of having to swap floppies about, just save and reboot into the other system and continue working from there.

Unlike some people I know who torrent every copy of Photoshop ever created just to it occupies space and they say that they "own it", I own my own software and use it across my many machines.

 

[bse5150]

Many reasons. Like my old copy of Comic Works only works on System 6, but crashes hard on System 7; while Freehand 5 works better on System 7 than on System 6 so instead of having to swap floppies about, just save and reboot into the other system and continue working from there.

That's not what I mean.  You said that you had an LC that boots System 6 and an LC that boots System 7.  Why do you need to dual boot both LCs?  Sounds like a waste of time to me.

I don't see what people downloading photoshop has to do with anything.

 

[Elfen]

Sorry to get that mixed up.

Again, to make both machines as close to each other as possible and keep software compatibility between the two the same. It will make it easier to have both machines compatible to each as 100% to other if they ran the same systems and with other machines on other systems while have everything networked together.

I will also have to consolidate a lot of my software so the machines are even across the board with the same if not similar software set.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

As far as I'm concerned, multiple partitions is the way to go. You can use small partitions for OS and a large partition for your files.

That said, I've never tried System Picker. The first thing I've done with any Mac I ever used IRL, was to install a larger, faster HDD, internal or external, initializing/formatting/partitioning all my drives with FWB's HDT(ooKit) instead of Drive Setup.