On 1/29/06, Chuck Mattsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Sunday 29 January 2006 11:53, LinuxManMikeC wrote:
> Li> ...I'm using Fedora right now and I plan
> Li> to give Ubuntu and then SUSE a test run.....
>
> I asked a similar question in a different context "way back when," but with
> all of the "stuff" going on (or not going on, depending upon your
> perspective) with Mandriva of late, I'd like to revisit it.
>
> I currently have a dual-boot XP Pro/Mandriva cooker setup, but I want to
> install Ubuntu (or, more likely, Kubuntu) while leaving both XP and Mdv
> intact. I've searched around, and see scattered references here and there to
> setting up a triple-boot setup, but nothing [yet] that's dumbed-down enough
> for me, as I tend to freak out when it comes to the lower-level stuff like
> partitioning, file systems, manually modifying lilo, etc.
>
> Anyone have a pointer/URL to a decent, basic walk-through for setting up a
> triple-boot? FWIW, if it helps point me in the right direction, my current
> disk usage/setup is:
> hda1 NTFS XP Pro 14 GB
> empty unformatted empty 9.7 GB
> hda5 ext3 / 5.8 GB
> hda6 swap swap 499 MB
> hda7 ext3 /home 6.5 GB
>
> Ultimately, I want to run [I think] Ubuntu/Kbuntu, but need the others intact
> and operational for some time to come.
>
> ?
>
> TIA
>
> --
> Chuck MATTSEN / Mahnomen, MN, USA / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I have no idea where to find a good howto on this subject because I
figured it out myself, but enough of me tooting my own horn ;-)
One good thing I gathered from your partition setup is that your BIOS
can handle huge disks well. Since this is the case you can put Linux
almost anywhere on your disk and be able to point your boot loader to
it without having to deal with a /boot partition. One thing I like to
do when I install a distro I'm testing is to point my current distro's
boot loader to the new distro. Anyway, here are the steps.
1) Plan your partitions. I am assuming your free space (9.7 GB)
is physically located between hda1 and hda5. If this is the case you
can have a max of two more partitions, and therefore two test installs
of two different distros.
2) Boot the install disks of the distro you want to try and make a
root "/" partition for it in your free space and install to that
partition.
3) When you get to the boot loader installation you can do one of
two things. Install the boot loader to the install partition (hda2 or
hda3, whichever you used for root "/") and chain the boot loaders, or
install no boot loader and configure your current one to boot your new
distro. What I do and suggest for you is to install the new distro's
boot loader to the boot sector of its partition and chain your current
boot loader to that boot loader. This way your new distro will be
able to automatically set up any boot arguments for you in the boot
loader configuration.
To chain your current boot loader you use the same method as you use
for loading Windows. In GRUB create the following boot entry (change
the title and partition location as necessary):
title Linux Test
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
See
http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/Applications_GUI_Multimedia/Chainloading_in_Linux
for more info on this.
4) Boot the system and choose the new entry from the boot loader
and you will be taken to the 2nd boot loader where you can boot the
test install. You can install as many distros as you want and even
several copies of other operating systems if you want. Windows will
take a little voodoo to make work, but it will work.
If you need more help just ask or google for it,
Mike
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