Dual boot Fedora & Mint | Linux Mint Community🍵 | Page 1

errant steeple Sep 29, 2025, 9:37 PM

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I need a stable X11 session for my drawing tablet to work right, so I want to dual boot alongside my existing Fedora install. I would like to have an entry for Mint added to GRUB bootloader, so I can restart and easily switch between Fedora and Mint.

Currently my partitions are /boot/efi, ext2 /boot, btrfs / on a 128GB M.2 SSD. I can shrink Fedora / during liveboot. Am I able to reuse the EFI partition? Do I need to add a new /boot partition for Mint? Suggested filesystem for Mint /?

2016 Asus ROG G752VT

silver turret Sep 29, 2025, 9:40 PM

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ext2..?

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Anyways, generally you have to dedicate a partition to the new mint install. Minimum 40 GB. (20 Base install + other 20 for your stuff)

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You can do this with the Mint installer

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But a 128GB drive is way too small for 2 OSes

silver turret Sep 29, 2025, 9:45 PM

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silver turret You can do this with the Mint installer

You need to take the free space into a new partition, then allocate your /, /boot and swap and click on install now.

sleek lotus Sep 29, 2025, 9:51 PM

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yes just have the fedora installer do an 'alongside' install

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u can probably get away with as little as 40 Gigs dedicated to Fedora. just .. be conservative. dont install flatpaks AT ALL on that shit

errant steeple Sep 29, 2025, 9:53 PM

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silver turret ext2..?

It was what was suggested to me, and I couldn't find too much info on "ext2 vs ext4". Still learning!

sleek lotus Sep 29, 2025, 9:53 PM

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wtf

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dont use ext2

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i mean use it by all means, but it's not journalled. so one power failure, u can suffer after

errant steeple Sep 29, 2025, 9:55 PM

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I already have Fedora installed, I'd be adding Mint. I also have a second 2TB SSD for storage needs, so it's not an issue. Just didn't think it was relevant to what I was asking

sleek lotus Sep 29, 2025, 9:55 PM

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u dont need a /boot partition AT ALL unless ur life depends on encryption.

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else _ NEVER ENCRYPT

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YOU WILL cry wen system cant boot.

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wait...

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...just wait

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u have a 128 GB drive

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and u want to split such a TINY SHIT for two big OS?

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when u have terabytes of other drives?

errant steeple Sep 29, 2025, 9:58 PM

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You are not being helpful

sleek lotus Sep 29, 2025, 9:58 PM

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anyway. u can install mint in as little as 20 gigs

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just choose install alongside. done.

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it'll give sizer box

silver turret Sep 29, 2025, 10:01 PM

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sleek lotus just choose install alongside. done.

oh yeah that works too

errant steeple Sep 29, 2025, 10:04 PM

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silver turret You need to take the free space into a new partition, then allocate your `/`, `/...

Most of the programs are gonna be on my Fedora partition. Mint is mostly gonna be for drawing, so I can make it's partition(s) very small. /home is mounted on my secondary 2TB SSD, and I can mount Flatpaks there too if I really need to.

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I mostly wanna make sure I'm making the partitions correctly, not just assuming automatic mode is gonna do everything for me correctly. I already have a /boot/efi and /boot partition for Fedora. Do I need to make another /boot/efi or /boot partition for Mint as well?

cunning pumice Sep 30, 2025, 8:30 AM

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errant steeple I mostly wanna make sure I'm making the partitions correctly, not just assuming ...

dont think about it. as stunner said. just pick 'install alongside' in the mint installer

errant steeple Sep 30, 2025, 8:42 AM

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Alright fair enough. I'm testing a VM as a last resort, and I'll install this suggested way if the VM fails

cunning pumice Sep 30, 2025, 10:38 AM

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errant steeple Alright fair enough. I'm testing a VM as a last resort, and I'll install this su...

why vm? just install mint

half heron Sep 30, 2025, 1:47 PM

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errant steeple I need a stable X11 session for my drawing tablet to work right, so I want to du...

no need to dualboot to access X11, though. only gnome workstation edition is having x11 removed in next release.

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if you use kde plasma, you can install the plasma-workspace-x11 package. most other editions should have x11 enabled by default i think. keep in mind plasma is depracting x11 now so it will get more and more buggy as time goes on. you can always install a diffrent desktop like mate.

errant steeple Oct 3, 2025, 5:18 AM

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half heron if you use kde plasma, you can install the `plasma-workspace-x11` package. most ...

You are the only person to even mention this as an option, but this is what I went with. This is much better than having to fully reboot, so thank you for suggesting it! Hopefully by the time it's too unsupported, Wayland will have the tablet support I need

half heron Oct 3, 2025, 5:23 AM

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glad you got it working 👍

#Dual boot Fedora & Mint