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The installation DVD wants to format both the first two partitions.

Don't let it. As your case is special, you have to use the "expert" setting and choose your exact requirements.

Thanks for your reply. But I have a lot to learn. Where do I choose the "expert" setting?

Another thing you will have to decide is where and how to install the boot loader. My choice is:

- one distro installs grub in the MBR -> primary grub - the rest install grub in the boot record of their root partition, and the primary grub chainloads the secondary grub:

I'm not sure how to do that either. Will the installation offer those choices? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 13:56, Steve Swezy wrote:

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Unless you have a special love for Ubuntu or it supports some hardware that the others do not support, I would wipe Ubuntu as well.  See the windows comments below for why.

OK, you convinced me on that one.

You can always install Ubuntu afterwards...

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When you install WinXP, it is going to overwrite the MBR. You'll then need to reinstall grub to get the Linux installs to boot. You can use the Windows bootloader to boot Linux, there are instructions on this floating on the web. The prefered order for installing Windows and Linux on a machine is install Windows first, then add Linux as you see fit. Remember that Windows needs to be installed on a primary partition. If adding more than one Linux distribution, make sure that grub for the secondary Linux install is on the partition of that install and mot the disk MBR, You can then amend the grub of the primary Linux install to chainload the grub of the secondary install. Also note that you may need a swap partition for the Linux install. This swap partition can be shared between the different Linux install.

Hope you are not overwhelmed by the info here. Remember, you can always search the mailing list archives for info. Most of the problems you are going to encounter have already been solved ages ago and we are here to help newbies who seen the light ((-:

Thanks for your help. It looks like I should just start over. I need to study up to learn about the MBR, what a swap partition is, how to put the grub in and how to chainload them.

Should I format the whole HD, install Win, and then use openSUSE to create more partitions...or create two addl. partitions with Windows? Starting over would be easier, especially if you are not currently using that machine to read this list. I would start by installing windows into a partition created by windows. Then install oS11.1[1]. You only two partitions for this. One for / and the other for swap. / can be 10GiB and swap 1 or 2GiB dependent on the amount of ram you have. As Carlos noted, you will have to use the 'expert' mode to create your partitions in oS11.1. Just take your time and read the options on each screen. If you install Windows 1st and then oS11.1 it should pick up the Windows installation automagically and add it to grub. The grub for oS11.1 should be installed in the disk's MBR as Carlos said. When you install FC10, tell it to install grub in the partition where it, FC10, is installed. You will then have to amend the oS11.1 grub to chainload FC10. But first get the windows and oS11.1 install done, play around in oS11.1 to familiarize yourself with linux, and then do the FC10 install.

This is what appears in my primary grub.conf from FC3: title openSUSE Chainload rootnoverify (hd2,5) chainloader +1 My /boot/grub/menu.1st then has: title openSUSE 11 Old root (hd2,5) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.16-0.1-pae root=/dev/sdc6 vga=869 noprobe initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.25.16-0.1-pae title openSUSE 11 root (hd2,5) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.20-0.1-pae root=/dev/sdc6 vga=869 noprobe initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.25.20-0.1-pae Yours will be different, but you can see what we are trying to get across. HTH [1] oS = openSUSE ne... -- Registered Linux User # 125653 (http://counter.li.org) Now accepting personal mail for GMail invites. Samuel Goldwyn - "I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead." -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 11:08 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

On Wednesday, 2009-04-01 at 15:38 +0100, ne... wrote:

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it should pick up the Windows installation automagically and add it to grub. The grub for oS11.1 should be installed in the disk's MBR as Carlos said.

Hum... I forgot about Windows.

When there is a windows install involved, it is safer to have a "generic boot code" in the MBR, which is what windows installs. It is safer to repair, even with windows tools.

The trick is:

 - have (or leave) generic code in the MBR  - mark the Linux partition as bootable with almost any partitioner. Only   one partition can be marked, and has to be a primary.  - have each Linux install their boot code in their respective root   partition.

When the system is booted, the generic mbr code looks up on the partition table for which partition is marked as bootable, and boots that one. This partition will have grub there, so grub will run, and will ask what to boot, Linux or windows.

Now, suppose a windows tool "repairs" the system, marking the windows partition as bootable. "My Linux is lost!". Calm... just use a windows partitioner tool to mark again the partition where Linux is, and you are back on business.

However, if you had grub on the mbr, you have to use a Linux repair disk to reinstall grub, which is more complicated: you need to issue some cryptic grub commands >:-)

- -- Cheers,       Carlos E. R.

Is having a small /boot partition out of favor now? I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread. I still use one when I setup multiboot. But I'm normally doing windows and one or two suse versions. I have not ever installed Ubuntu or Fedora. Greg -- Greg Freemyer Head of EDD Tape Extraction and Processing team Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

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Is having a small /boot partition out of favor now?

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread.  I still use one when I setup multiboot.  But I'm normally doing windows and one or two suse versions.  I have not ever installed Ubuntu or Fedora. I thought that was only needed for really old bioses. I haven't done this in ages.

I do it because it isolates the boot logic from the distros. So if I decide to blow away a distro, I just do it, then clean things up in my /boot partition. If I had several distros installed and a /boot on everyone it seem more difficult to experiment, but I have never tried that. Greg -- Greg Freemyer Head of EDD Tape Extraction and Processing team Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Wednesday, 2009-04-01 at 11:19 -0400, Greg Freemyer wrote:

Is having a small /boot partition out of favor now?

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread. I still use one when I setup multiboot. But I'm normally doing windows and one or two suse versions. I have not ever installed Ubuntu or Fedora.

I said nothing about that, because /normally/ it is not needed, but as a matter of fact, I do use it. Old habits O:-) For instance, I have a /boot on hda and / on hdd. It is still needed to boot an LVM system, I understand, or a raid 5. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAknTqzMACgkQtTMYHG2NR9XFAgCeNFO2yPP/C6+Li5O3XXjA6io3 mvIAoI3S5yc2pFOqJbJ3+PqxHSiYiLK3 =O3mQ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

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I am trying to install openSUSE 11.1 and Fedora 10 on 2 separate already existing partitions on a newly installed 120 GB HD.

How did those partitions get there? I made the first two 10 GB partitions with gparted in the Ubuntu installation. Then I installed Freespire and made another with it's

Thank you to all of you who have responded to my post. You have all given me a lot of good info and things to educate myself about. partition editor, leaving a 90 GB. Freespire is the default distro. Neither of them has a driver for my wireless card. I had an older laptop (which I bought used) whose HDD died. I just use it for travel for email and internet. I used another WinXP disk to reinstall Win but the CD key on the laptop didn't work, So I thought this would be a way to save $ and try out Linux, which I have been wanting to do anyway.

What type are they (1-4 are primary, above 4 are logical)? Give us the output of 'fdisk -l' while booted to Linux. Sorry, don't know how to do that. I'm looking as I type.

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I actually created 3 partitions of about 10 GB each, using a LiveCD Ubuntu 8.04, and installed Ubuntu on the first one and Freespire 2.08 on the second.

Any particular reason why those sizes were chosen?

I read somewhere online to use 10GB for each Linux partition. Somewhere else I read about 4GB each.

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I have a third empty partition of 10 GB and the last partition of about 90 GB on which I want to install Win XP Pro.

Again, why, both OS choice, and size choice?

I read a bunch of reviews about distros and these sounded good. As you know Ubuntu gets a lot of press! One said Freespire was like Windows, and easier for Win users. But my wireless card didn't work with either, so I kept looking and reading and downloading distros.

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Neither Ubuntu nor Freespire have drivers for my wireless card, but it seems that openSUSE 11.1 and Fedora 10 do.

Why not Ubuntu 8.10? You think drivers are missing there too? Anyway, there are good reasons to prefer openSUSE to Ubuntu anyway. ;-)

Didn't try U 8.10. But openSUSE and Fedora both had utilities and drivers to set up my wireless. I just couldn't figure out how to put them in my existing partitions.

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So I want to install openSUSE on the secong existing partition and Fedora on the third existing partition.

Again, why Fedora, which is a cutting edge distro (meaning not well suited to newbies)?

A techie friend recommended it. He's gonna help me install Win w/o buying a new OS disc. I'll see if he can help me with the Linux installs also.

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But I am totally confused by the installation DVD choices. Do I do Partition Based or LVM based?

In single disk systems with a reasonably small number of operating systems, traditional partitions are simpler for non-experts.

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The installation DVD wants to format both the first two partitions. Can't I leave the existing partition with Ubuntu already installed and just format the 2nd one (that has Freespire on it) and install openSUSE on that one?

You can do what you want, if you know what you want. In this case, it may depend on the answer to my first questions above.

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And then install Fedora 10 on the 3rd, leaving the 4th empty for Win XP?

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I have looked at several LiveCDs of several distros and they all have different procedures regarding the existing partitions, and I am lost. openSUSE (installation DVD) does not seem to allow me to choose a particular partition to format and install into.

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Am I being too ambitious?

You probably just need to spend a little more time on multibooting background in order to better understand some ramifications of what you seem to want, and maybe better plan to accomplish understood objectives. Start with some boot loader, partitioning & multiboot background:

http://en.opensuse.org/Bugs/grub#How_does_a_PC_boot_.2F_How_can_I_set_up_a_w... http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Prefered_bootloader_options http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Partitioning_for_SuSE_Linux http://fm.no-ip.com/partitioningindex.html http://fm.no-ip.com/install-doz-after.html

Note there is a long tradition of making multiboot more difficult than necessary. I have around 30 working systems, most of which are multiboot with more than two OSes, several with more than 10 OSes each.

1-In a single HD system, installing Grub to the MBR is unnecessary, and creates opportunity for trouble down the road that dependence on non-standard MBR code brings with it.

2-NTLDR can chainload Grub, while Grub can chainload NTLDR. This means it needn't matter which primary is active once you've accomplished enough configuration steps to enable both starting the other. Of necessity for this to work for you requires at least two primary native partitions, one for Windoz to use for C:, and another where Grub can live, and be mounted as a Linux /boot partition.

3-All partitioning tools are not created equal. Life can be much easier if you choose one and only one to use to create all partitions, and use the partitioning tools included with OS installation programs exclusively for choosing how to use the partitions you've already created. The one I use is non-free, but runs natively and equivalently no matter what I boot, including Mac, DOS, Doze, Linux & OS/2.

4-At least one separate partition for Linux /home makes it easier for installing, reinstalling, or testing additional Linux distros, and saving your work while reformatting partitions which you've decided to redo.

At this point, I recommend doing more background reading, planning and implementing your ultimate partitioning scheme by starting from scratch. Adding and/or moving partitions after installing makes life complicated.

Once you have your plan firmed up, post back here for comments.

I will study up with those links. Thanks hugely for your help. It is fun to learn about Linux and it's communities of supportive experts. Steve Swezy -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On 2009/04/01 19:49 (GMT+0200) jdd composed:

Steve Swezy a écrit :

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of 'fdisk -l' while booted to Linux.

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Sorry, don't know how to do that. I'm looking as I type.

please, if you never used fdisk, don't fiddle with partitions, you will probably erase your disk.

'fdisk -l' is a perfectly safe way to convey partitioning information in answer to a help query. To do damage requires getting fdisk to make an inappropriate change and then save it to disk.

be aware that new sata driver don't allow more than 15 partitions gran total and most Linux default ask for 3 (root, sawp, home) and only swap can be shared between distros.

As of kernel 2.6.28 the libata 15 partition limit is history. I have a Factory install on a 30 partition system that sees everything just as the legacy drivers did, other than the names are sdaX instead of hdaX.

For openSUSE 11.1, heavily used, 10Gb is not enough for root. 15 is good, 20 better.

Size is purely a matter of judgement and what you expect do with it. I have supported versions of openSUSE living on partitions of less than 4.8G. Last I checked, Ubuntu recommended as little as 3G. For multiboot primarily for the purpose of testing various distros, smaller is considerably less wasteful, though on small sizes like this it's best to use a small block size of 1024 instead of accepting the typical default of 2048 or 4096. For a normal operating /, more than 10G might be grossly wasteful if your personal files, including temporary media files, all live on a separate /home.

http://wiki.tldp.org/Partition-Mass-Storage-Dummies-Linux-HOWTO

the complete one, work in progress:

http://wiki.tldp.org/Partitions-and-mass-storage-HOWTO -- "The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty." Proverbs 21:5 NIV

Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 01 April 2009 13:37, Steve Swezy wrote:

-snip-

A techie friend recommended it. He's gonna help me install Win w/o buying a new OS disc. I'll see if he can help me with the Linux installs also.

If you find out how, please send me the (Windows) instructions. I don't think you'd be permitted to post them here, however. --doug

-snip-

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http://fm.no-ip.com/install-doz-after.html -snip- -- Blessed are the peacemakers ... for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A.M. Greeley -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org