Linux Help
 
Forums: » Register « |  User CP |  Games |  Calendar |  Members |  FAQs |  Sitemap |  Support | 
User Name:
Password:
Remember me
Go Back   Dev Shed Forums > Operating Systems > Linux Help
Reload this Page

linux install - multiple OS - 2 questions

Discuss linux install - multiple OS - 2 questions in the Linux Help forum on Dev Shed.
linux install - multiple OS - 2 questions Linux Help forum discussing topics including usage, troubleshooting, modules, and distributions. Linux is an open source OS, based on UNIX.

Reply
Add This Thread To:
  Del.icio.us   Digg   Google   Spurl   Blink   Furl   Simpy   Y! MyWeb 
« Previous Thread | Next Thread »  
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
 
Unread Dev Shed Forums Sponsor:
Get inside! Sample the range of functionality easily built with JMSL Library for Time Series Data Analysis, Heat Maps, Portfolio Optimization, Monte Carlo Simulation, Stock Price Charting and more. Download Now!
  #1  
Old June 10th, 2002, 10:28 PM
scream scream is offline
Contributing User
Dev Shed Newbie (0 - 499 posts)
  
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 441 scream User rank is Just a Lowly Private (1 - 20 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 22 h 59 m 38 sec
Reputation Power: 9
Send a message via ICQ to scream
linux install - multiple OS - 2 questions
I've decided I want to add Red Hat Linux to my PC currently running Win2000. I have two questions:

1.) For Linux, do I create a primary or extended partition?

2.) I don't want to mess with a Linux boot disk. Should I use LILO or GRUB? Which partition or boot record do I install one of those to?

Thanks!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old June 11th, 2002, 11:50 AM
mrTed's Avatar
mrTed mrTed is offline
Contributing User
Dev Shed Newbie (0 - 499 posts)
  
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: a northern town
Posts: 74 mrTed User rank is Just a Lowly Private (1 - 20 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 23 m 49 sec
Reputation Power: 7
Hi,

Depending on what version of Redhat you are putting on, I think it can do the partitioning for you during the install? (I know suse7/8 does?). The other easy option is Partition Magic which will create the partition and format it to ext2.

If you create an extended partition on your hd (Backup * first!) then run the RH install, it will ask you about where you want to install RH. Just select the extended partition you have created.

LILO has always been ok for me when doing this, but i haven't used any other boot managers (There are a load out there!) so I cannot say what is better/worse? The RH installation will add LILO to your system during setup, so it is fairly easy to manage. You will need to put it in the MBR so it can load win as well.

If you are unsure of anything though, have a good read of the docs, as it will probably keep you out of trouble.

Regards, Ed.
__________________
/* measure twice, cut once */
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old June 11th, 2002, 02:43 PM
scream scream is offline
Contributing User
Dev Shed Newbie (0 - 499 posts)
  
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 441 scream User rank is Just a Lowly Private (1 - 20 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 22 h 59 m 38 sec
Reputation Power: 9
Send a message via ICQ to scream
Thanks for the advice. I ended up using partition magic to create a blank 10 primary partition. Then I used the auto-partition feature in the Red Hat installer. It all worked.

As far as the booting goes, I was scared to write something to the master boot record, so I decided not to install a boot loader, and just use a floopy disk. However, it's slow to boot that way and it will get annoying keeping up with the disk. If I write LILO or GRUB to the MBR, won't it destroy the way Windows 2000 boots? How can I do it?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old June 11th, 2002, 02:58 PM
Hero Zzyzzx's Avatar
Hero Zzyzzx Hero Zzyzzx is offline
11
Dev Shed Demi-God (4500 - 4999 posts)
  
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Lynn, MA
Posts: 4,632 Hero Zzyzzx User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Hero Zzyzzx User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Hero Zzyzzx User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Hero Zzyzzx User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Hero Zzyzzx User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Hero Zzyzzx User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Hero Zzyzzx User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 4 Days 23 h 12 m 33 sec
Reputation Power: 77
Send a message via AIM to Hero Zzyzzx
Ooh. It would've been easier to just let redhat write to the MBR during the install, it's never bungled a dual boot installation of mine, and I've done dozens.

Basically, what you've got to do is edit "/etc/lilo.conf" and set the proper parameters dependent on your hard drive geometry and partition layout.

After you've got lilo.conf in shape, you run "/sbin/lilo" and it applies the changes to the master boot record you define with the "boot" parameter.

This isn't that easy for linux newbies. . . Do a search for "lilo how-to"

Here's a short tutorial.

Here's a sample lilo.conf from my working dual-boot Sony VAIO SRX-77C laptop. . .

Code:
prompt
timeout=50
default=linux
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message
lba32

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-3
	label=linux
	initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.18-3.img
	read-only
	root=/dev/hda6

other=/dev/hda1
	optional
	label=DOS
Last edited by Hero Zzyzzx : June 11th, 2002 at 03:01 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old June 14th, 2002, 06:13 AM
Redlum Redlum is offline
Junior Member
Dev Shed Newbie (0 - 499 posts)
  
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 15 Redlum User rank is Just a Lowly Private (1 - 20 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: < 1 sec
Reputation Power: 0
1) Logical partitions reside within an extended partition... Linux doesn't care if you install on a primary or logical partition so it doesn't really matter what you do.

The issue here should be how many partitions you want for windows. I believe you can only use primary partitions for windows so that gives you a maximum of three (and linux on the last).

Here's a scenario:

Part. 1 - Primary (ntfs, system)
Part. 2 - Primary (ntfs, school stuff)
Part. 3 - Primary (ntfs, cooking tips library)

Part. 4 - Extended (no filesystem)
- Part. 5 - Logical ( ext2, / )
- Part. 6 - Logical ( ext2, /home )
- Part. 7 - Logical ( ext2, /var )
Last edited by Redlum : June 14th, 2002 at 06:22 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old June 14th, 2002, 08:07 AM
christo's Avatar
christo christo is offline
Introspective
Dev Shed Loyal (3000 - 3499 posts)
  
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: London, UK
Posts: 3,296 christo User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)christo User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)christo User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)christo User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)christo User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)christo User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)christo User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 3 Days 1 h 5 m 42 sec
Reputation Power: 101
Send a message via ICQ to christo Send a message via Yahoo to christo
my experience
I'm sort of in a hurry and I haven't read all the replies, so sorry if I repeat something....

anyway, I installed redhad 7.2 on a win2000 machine. I partitioned first with PartitionMagic - created an extended partition, with an ex2 and swap.

Lilo did cause some grief, but I think that's because my new os was beyond cyliner 1024. The end result was something like:

Kernel panic: unable to mount root filesystem on Hda5.

The end solution to this is to make sure LILO passes kernel parameters at boot time, to say where the root partition is: use the append directive to do this, eg
append="root= /dev/hda5" in your lilo.conf

I suggest you look it up, though, cos I'm rattling off the top of my head...

back to work now!
Christo
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old June 14th, 2002, 09:09 AM
Onslaught's Avatar
Onslaught Onslaught is offline
/(bb|[^b]{2})/
Dev Shed Demi-God (4500 - 4999 posts)
  
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Somewhere in the great unknown
Posts: 4,834 Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 1 Day 23 h 30 m 30 sec
Reputation Power: 88
Send a message via ICQ to Onslaught
Why doesn't anyone use grub? It is easy enough and installed flawlessly on each install that I have done.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old June 14th, 2002, 09:32 AM
scream scream is offline
Contributing User
Dev Shed Newbie (0 - 499 posts)
  
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 441 scream User rank is Just a Lowly Private (1 - 20 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 22 h 59 m 38 sec
Reputation Power: 9
Send a message via ICQ to scream
Can you tell me how to configure GRUB?
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old June 14th, 2002, 09:46 AM
Onslaught's Avatar
Onslaught Onslaught is offline
/(bb|[^b]{2})/
Dev Shed Demi-God (4500 - 4999 posts)
  
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Somewhere in the great unknown
Posts: 4,834 Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 1 Day 23 h 30 m 30 sec
Reputation Power: 88
Send a message via ICQ to Onslaught
If you are doing this from the RH install, it will configure it for you automatically, the same as lilo. Otherwise the info page for grub has excellent info on how to do this. An example is:
Code:
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10)
    root (hd0,0)
    kernal /vmlinuz-2.4.7-10 ro root=/dev/sda7
    initrd /initrd-2.4.7-10.img
When I get home, I will post the configuration that I currently run there, which is configured to run windows xp and RH 7.3
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old June 14th, 2002, 07:20 PM
Onslaught's Avatar
Onslaught Onslaught is offline
/(bb|[^b]{2})/
Dev Shed Demi-God (4500 - 4999 posts)
  
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Somewhere in the great unknown
Posts: 4,834 Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level)Onslaught User rank is Second Lieutenant (5000 - 10000 Reputation Level) 
Time spent in forums: 1 Day 23 h 30 m 30 sec
Reputation Power: 88
Send a message via ICQ to Onslaught
Here is the exact grub.conf file on my home box:
Code:
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd1,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdb5
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-4)
	root (hd1,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-4 ro root=/dev/hdb5 hdd=ide-scsi
	initrd /initrd-2.4.18-4.img
title Windows XP
	rootnoverify (hd0,0)
	chainloader +1
Reply With Quote
Reply

Viewing: Dev Shed Forums > Operating Systems > Linux Help > linux install - multiple OS - 2 questions

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Thread Tools  Search this Thread 
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes  Rate This Thread 
Linear Mode Linear Mode
Rate This Thread:


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
View Your Warnings | New Posts | Latest News | Latest Threads | Shoutbox
Forum Jump


Forums: » Register « |  User CP |  Games |  Calendar |  Members |  FAQs |  Sitemap |  Support |