/boot and multiple Fedora instances questions

[kazakore]

I have my laptop set up multi-boot but think I should maybe go for a slightly different approach.

Currently I have:
WinXP
Data
F15 Main
Swap
F15 Test (scratchpad)

Now the reason for this is that trying to install CCRMA core for F15 has so far killed much of the system. Same with there being problems with trying to get the nVidia drivers working properly. Hence I thought the idea of having a basic partition I can wipe and try from fresh, or try out other distros too if I feel like it at a later date, was a good idea.

Problem I've found is that installing F15 for the second time seems to reinstall Grub and run it from the last installation. I have managed to get it so I can boot all three, just telling it at installation to use the correct sdax didn't boot but I could copy the arguments from the second install as they were the same (after running yum update.)

Now this seems that Grub is always taking the grub.conf from the latest install, thus it will be wiped each time I want to try something new, which is obviously a bad thing. This leads me into thinking I should change my partitions to have a /boot separate and shared across any linux installations I may have.

So what size is recommended for a /boot?
What actually goes in this directory? Previous session? Any possible problems from having different linux distros sharing the same /boot?
Will this actually prevent Grub from writing a new grub.conf file on a new installation of Fedora?

Also, I changed the test install name to CCRMA but after running updates that include a kernel update it automatically renamed to Fedora (Kernel info) at the boot screen. Is there a way to get it to keep what you have named it and just append the kernel information on a update?

[jpollard]

I use a GB, but I only share it between F13 and F14. (F15 is just too buggy still)

[kazakore]

So 1-2GB and I should be fine?

Any answers to the other questions? Especially a quick look at this page makes it look like I am likely to come into problems with multiple installs of the same linux version as the kernel resides in there. I'm guessing the recommended way would be to manually add a Grub entry on the second install for the later kernel then update everything else separately, or is there a better way to do it?

Part of Planet-CCRMA is the RT kernel (once it's finished and working) but also some other updates and changes. But it seems to be many of the other packages which it has killed the couple of times I've tried it so far (such as completely taking out the network widget.)

[jpollard]

Shouldn't be.

The kernel names include the release number.

I have a Fedora 11 and 14, along with a a generic kernel I was testing:

$ ls /boot
config-2.6.30.10-105.2.23.fc11.x86_64
config-2.6.35.11-83.fc14.x86_64
config-2.6.35.13-91.fc14.x86_64
config-2.6.35.13-92.fc14.x86_64
efi
grub
initramfs-2.6.35.11-83.fc14.x86_64.img
initramfs-2.6.35.13-91.fc14.x86_64.img
initramfs-2.6.35.13-92.fc14.x86_64.img
initramfs-2.6.36.img
initrd-2.6.30.10-105.2.23.fc11.x86_64.img
initrd-plymouth.img
lost+found
System.map
System.map-2.6.30.10-105.2.23.fc11.x86_64
System.map-2.6.35.11-83.fc14.x86_64
System.map-2.6.35.13-91.fc14.x86_64
System.map-2.6.35.13-92.fc14.x86_64
System.map-2.6.36
vmlinuz
vmlinuz-2.6.30.10-105.2.23.fc11.x86_64
vmlinuz-2.6.35.11-83.fc14.x86_64
vmlinuz-2.6.35.13-91.fc14.x86_64
vmlinuz-2.6.35.13-92.fc14.x86_64
vmlinuz-2.6.36