Ubuntu

[Karl Larsen]

Beartooth wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:48:16 -0700, Karl Larsen wrote:
>
>   
>> I have tried to load this software as another to keep an eye on, but
>>     
>                                      ^^^^^^^^^^^
>   
>> when I do load it it takes over Grub! I didn't see any way to stop it
>> from doing this. Has anyone else had success? If so let me know what to
>> do.
>>     
>
> 	I take that to mean what you really have is neither a straight 
> Fedora problem, nor a straight Ubuntu problem, but a multi-boot problem 
> involving both. Right?
>
> 	After much effort and with lots of help online, I have just 
> managed to make my testbed machine triple-boot, reliably, with Fedora 8, 
> Ubuntu 7.10, and CentOS 5.1; I'm not quite sure what I did, nor how, but 
> I can outline it.
>
> 	First, back up your data; the next step will wipe *everything* -- 
> leaving you with not even an OS.
>
> 	Now download and burn a CD with DBAN, boot to it, and tell it 
> autonuke. It will take several hours.
>
> 	Then partition the hard drive; use knoppix, or gparted or 
> qtparted on a live CD. I made a separate /boot partition first, then one 
> for each OS, and a swap partition. 
>
> 	Boot from the install medium for the first OS; do the manual 
> install, making sure you install only into the partition you want; let it 
> build you a grubbery in /boot. I did CentOS first. Make a note of what in 
> in any grub.conf a/o menu.lst you can find.
>
> 	Install gparted or qtparted or both in each OS as you go -- not 
> to partition with, but to look with. Keeping track of what's on which 
> partition is going to grow into a major pain.
>
> 	Now do the like with the second OS -- I used Fedora. It will 
> probably wreck your ability to boot to the first one.
>
> 	So boot to what you can, and command mkdir /TEST. Then start 
> running "mount -t ext3 /dev/sdax /TEST" for x = 1 to whatever your last 
> partition is. (In CentOS and Ubuntu, use hda, not sda.)
>
> 	Whenever a partition does mount, do "cd /TEST," then ls, and 
> drill down to find any grub.conf a/o menu.lst in any OS but the one 
> you're running.
>
> 	In another terminal or terminal tab, su to root, and do the same 
> inside the one you're running.
>
> 	Copy and paste, adding each OS's boot data to the boot record for 
> the other. It should now boot to both.
>
> 	If you add a third, as I did, expect it to wreck your ability to 
> boot to at least one of the others. Apply a similar remedy.
>
> 	As I said, I'm not sure; I *think* the above is what I did. But I 
> notice that what's in /boot is *not* all the boot data, but that for one 
> OS (the last, iirc), and some directions to chainload.
>
> 	You may have to do something similar to all the above *again* 
> whenever one OS updates its kernel. Or the chainloading from the 
> dedicated /boot partition may spare you that. Be sure at least that you 
> do save the boot data for the new kernel, where you can get to ti even if 
> not to its OS.
>
> 	It's not pretty; but if you put the testbed -- *after* all the 
> installing -- behind a KVM switch along with your main machine, it's very 
> convenient once it's running.
>
>   
    Well, I follow almost everything but what you actually did. I do not 
plan to re-load F7 and F7-64 and F8 just to load Ubuntu. That is stupid. 
I think there might be a way to get Ubuntu to set up it's grub on it's 
partition. Then I can chainload it when I want.

    If it takes over over (hd0) I can just re-direct it to it's partition.

Karl


-- 

	Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI
	Linux User
	#450462   http://counter.li.org.
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