On 12/08/12 07:37, Istvan Gabor wrote:

2012. augusztus 11. 15:41 napon Basil Chupin írta: [.....]

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Before I go and install oS 12.1 in sda7 I would like to know where do I tell GRUB to boot from - extended partition, just like oS 12.2, or do I use the 12.1 "/" entry for Grub's configuration? If I use the Extended Partition will it overwrite whatever is there for the 12.2 installation? [...........]

Hello:

I always chainload all my different operation systems. In practice this looks like when you turn on the machine it offers a grub or lilo (or other) boot loader menu where you can choose which system to boot. If the chosen one is linux then it directs to another boot loader where you can select from kernel versions or failsafe mode etc. In case of Windows it is booted directly (at leas in my case).

Have a look at this message / thread:

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse/2012-01/msg00985.html

Istvan

Many thanks to you, Dennis and Carlos for your help. I now "get the idea". The bit I was really missing was that the additional system has to be manually added to menu.lst. What was throwing me was that I naturally assumed that when I installed 12.2 after XP and grub automatically recognised that there was another operating system installed and made an entry for it in the menu.lst that it would the same when I install more systems - ie, create the correct entry/ies for it/them. But not so - one has to manually edit (the very first) menu.lst to add the additional systems. Thanks again for your help. BC -- Using openSUSE 12.2 x86_64 KDE 4.8.4 & kernel 3.5.1-2 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 12/08/12 12:08, Carlos E. R. wrote:

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On 2012-08-12 03:56, Basil Chupin wrote:

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What was throwing me was that I naturally assumed that when I installed 12.2 after XP and grub automatically recognised that there was another operating system installed and made an entry for it in the menu.lst that it would the same when I install more systems - ie, create the correct entry/ies for it/them. But not so - one has to manually edit (the very first) menu.lst to add the additional systems. Yast assumes the system you are installing is the main one, the boss. That one would have entries for the rest. Thus you have to tell yast not to do that, and then add the entries on the first system.

Yast of the first system might add entries for the rest, though.

Hi Carlos, Let me get this right. Are you saying that if I were to install now openSUSE 12.1 into sda7 (with XP already in sda1 and oS 12.2 already in sda5) then the new install 12.1 will recognise and make the correct entries for these already-existing systems? And if this is the case, then when I boot the computer I will see the grub menu for 12.1 which will have 12.1 as the first entry on this menu with XP and 12.2 further down the menu? And if this is correct then all one need to do is to edit the menu.lst for 12.1 and rearrange the order of the systems shown so that instead of seeing 12.1 as the first entry it shows, say, 12.2 (or even XP)? BC -- Using openSUSE 12.2 x86_64 KDE 4.8.4 & kernel 3.5.1-2 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 On 2012-08-12 04:24, Basil Chupin wrote:

On 12/08/12 12:08, Carlos E. R. wrote:

Hi Carlos,

Let me get this right.

Are you saying that if I were to install now openSUSE 12.1 into sda7 (with XP already in sda1 and oS 12.2 already in sda5) then the new install 12.1 will recognise and make the correct entries for these already-existing systems?

What _HE_ thinks are the correct entries. There is a difference. :-)

And if this is the case, then when I boot the computer I will see the grub menu for 12.1 which will have 12.1 as the first entry on this menu with XP and 12.2 further down the menu?

Perhaps...

And if this is correct then all one need to do is to edit the menu.lst for 12.1 and rearrange the order of the systems shown so that instead of seeing 12.1 as the first entry it shows, say, 12.2 (or even XP)?

Sometimes... HTH ;-) - -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 11.4 x86_64 "Celadon" (Minas Tirith)) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iF4EAREIAAYFAlAnG4sACgkQja8UbcUWM1y4zwEAiUimF/66df0UwIfMG24Vd8zQ 26gtdncWl8BZXUYj/tIA/3giVIPvpli0ewtu76q1lcKxkL90qL9GXUcNfcBcpR8K =HfNR -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 12/08/12 12:57, Carlos E. R. wrote:

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On 2012-08-12 04:24, Basil Chupin wrote:

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On 12/08/12 12:08, Carlos E. R. wrote: Hi Carlos,

Let me get this right.

Are you saying that if I were to install now openSUSE 12.1 into sda7 (with XP already in sda1 and oS 12.2 already in sda5) then the new install 12.1 will recognise and make the correct entries for these already-existing systems? What _HE_ thinks are the correct entries. There is a difference. :-)

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And if this is the case, then when I boot the computer I will see the grub menu for 12.1 which will have 12.1 as the first entry on this menu with XP and 12.2 further down the menu? Perhaps...

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And if this is correct then all one need to do is to edit the menu.lst for 12.1 and rearrange the order of the systems shown so that instead of seeing 12.1 as the first entry it shows, say, 12.2 (or even XP)? Sometimes...

HTH ;-)

You should have more faith in openSUSE. I just installed 12.1 the above way and it works flawlessly :-) . grub for 12.1 picked up XP and 12.2 correctly and I can boot into all 3 without any hassles :-) . All I need to do now is to rearrange the order re what appears in whcih order in the grub boot menu. I think that there should be a qualification to this just for the record: the above is working the way described above with GRUB LEGACY and not grub2. (I wonder if it will work in the same way with grub2? I'll find out sometime in the future no doubt when grub2 becomes operational in oS.) BC -- Using openSUSE 12.2 x86_64 KDE 4.8.4 & kernel 3.5.1-2 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 12/08/12 16:53, Felix Miata wrote:

On 2012/08/11 23:41 (GMT+1000) Basil Chupin composed:

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I don't want to use VirtualBox or VMWare. I have a 1TB HDD which is crammed full of empty and unused space. I want to put this space to some use by playing around with more than one systems and distros.

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I have created (for now) following partitions on this HDD (sda):

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sda1 Windows XP ntfs [INSTALLED EARLIER TODAY] sda2 Extended partition sda5 openSUSE 12.2 [INSTALLED EARLIER TODAY] sda6 swap sda7 (For oS 12.1) sda8 (For os 12.1 - just for the heck of it)

Not an ideal multiboot arrangement if you plan on having more Linux installations. You don't want new installations stomping on existing installations' bootability by overwriting a pre-existing Grub. And, you don't want the inevitable reinstallation of Windows to stomp out all else's bootability, even if it takes an experienced user only a minute or two at most to fix it afterward.

The most reliable way to set up multiboot is to create a smallish primary to be the real or master boot partition. Windows won't mess with it, yet it works with generic Windows-compatible MBR code. Once Grub is installed to it, it doesn't get mounted to /boot, and only you touch it, which means it can't get mangled unless you mangle it yourself. All Windows will do is move the boot flag to its own partition, which you move back after the Windows reinstall is complete. Or you can even keep Windows as the primary bootloader by creating an entry for NTLDR to use to chainload to your primary Grub. http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/install-doz-after.html explains.

http://fm.no-ip.com/Tmp/Dfsee/gx620L01.txt is a single HD layout designed for 4 distros plus both Windows and DOS and a huge partition for A/V files.

http://fm.no-ip.com/Tmp/Dfsee/gx280L02.txt is a single HD layout designed for Windows and Dos and 9 Linux distros on a much smaller HD.

http://fm.no-ip.com/Tmp/Dfsee/gx260L0f.txt is a single HD layout designed for Windows and Dos and 19 Linux distros on a much smaller HD, with freespace remaining to add several more.

Many thanks for this, Felix. I like it. The first option will do me quite nicely as I cannot see myself installing more than 2 copies of openSUSE and then 2 other distros just to keep in touch with other attempts at getting Linux to the world :-) . What I want to set up then is this on one HDD: XP openSUSE 12.2 openSUSE 12.1 (which will be replaced by 12.3 when it is starts to take shape) Distro-1 Distro-2 But I am trying to come to grips with what is shown in the first URL you provided. I think it is pretty clear to me that sdc7 to and including sdc10 contain the 4 Linux distros, and sdc16 contains the A/V files. I am also assuming that sdc11, 12 and 13 are partitions for the Windows installation. I am also assuming that sdc2 is the active partition for Windows where the NTLDR will go, and that sdc3 is the common /boot partition for the 4 Linux distros. But what are sdc14 and especially sdc15 which is only 1GB big? From the above (first URL example) I am concluding that what I should be doing is: a. create a 500MB Primary partition with 32FAT to act as C:/ for Windows and which I will make ACTIVE; b. create a 200MB Primary partition called /boot formatted ext3 for use by Linux distros; c. create an Extended partition from the remaining space, and then create within this logical drives for- 1. swap (common to all distros) of 4GB; 2. partition for oS12.2; 3. partition for oS 12.1; 4. partition for Distro-1; 5. partition for Distro-2. Now, installing XP is not a hassle, and installing oS 12.2 is OK as well - I assume I install grub legacy to the common /boot; and I then also install the subsequent distros to /boot as well - is this correct? In your URL example above, this common /boot would be (your) sdc3, correct? BC PS BTW, I don't intend to re-install XP ever as it will be there only to remind me of what crap looks like :-) . -- Using openSUSE 12.2 x86_64 KDE 4.8.4 & kernel 3.5.1-2 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 13/08/12 00:31, Felix Miata wrote:

On 2012/08/12 19:20 (GMT+1000) Basil Chupin composed: [...........]

I am also assuming that sdc2 is the active partition for Windows where

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the NTLDR will go, and that sdc3 is the common /boot partition for the 4 Linux distros.

It's a single HD system. There is no sdc.

Many thanks for the clairifications you give below. But, re above, from the first URL: # fdisk -l /dev/sdc Disk /dev/sdc: 1500.3 GB, 1500301910016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 182401 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0xdf5ee107 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 * 1 51 409626 b W95 FAT32 /dev/sdc2 52 116 522112+ 1b Hidden W95 FAT32 /dev/sdc3 117 142 208845 83 Linux /dev/sdc4 143 182401 1463995417+ 5 Extended /dev/sdc5 143 665 4200966 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sdc6 666 926 2096451 1b Hidden W95 FAT32 [..............]

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be doing is: From the above (first URL example) I am concluding that what I should

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a. create a 500MB Primary partition with 32FAT to act as C:/ for Windows and which I will make ACTIVE;

You probably only want it active while installing Windows, unless you plan to chainload from NTLDR to your master Grub or other Grubs on every boot. If it's not active when you begin Windows installation, it will be when it's over, until you switch it back.

500M is on the tiny side for XP's operating files, probably too small. Around 40M is enough for its boot files and temporary installation files. 3GB or more is what XP needs for the OS, paging and basic software, but with 4G of real RAM it will always be virtually void of freespace due to XP's brain dead calculation of needed paging space. You'll want to disable its paging, or set it to a minimal size, if you're not going to give it a much bigger operating partition.

Eh, I got myself all tied up at this point from this point :-( . I never[***] install XP into C:/ but always into D:/ which is why I create C:/ as 500MB and make it active and use whatever space (>20GB) for XP itself. Whenever I have done this, XP has always put the NTLDR into C:/. [***] EXCEPT in this particular instance where over the past couple of days to save some time I actually installed XP into one big C:/ partition (Primary); then created an extended partition from the remaining space and which I then broke up into logical partitions (a) swap, (b) linux-1, (c) linux-2, (d), linux-3, (e) linux-4 with openSUSE 12.2 sitting in (b) and openSUSE 12.1 now sitting in (c).

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by Linux distros; b. create a 200MB Primary partition called /boot formatted ext3 for use

Not an entirely good plan:

1-This should be your master Grub.

From this point onwards you lost me I am sorry to say :-( . But don't worry, I'll reread what you wrote until I "get it" :-) . What is throwing me off is that I have installed XP and also installed openSUSE 12.2. I then installed openSUSE 12.1 and it picked up XP and 12.2 so that when I boot my computer I get a grub menu which allows me to boot into any one of these 3 systems. I realise that when I boot I get openSUSE 12.1 (the last installed system) appearing as the first/default item which will be booted but I have already altered the menu.lst in oS 12.1 to boot not from "0" but "2) which openSUSE 12.2. Therefore what you are saying about a Master Grub and copying things all over the place is causing me brain damage :-D . But as I said, it will eventually sink in :-) . Some light is already starting to break thru but there is still some way to go :-) . [........] BC -- Using openSUSE 12.2 x86_64 KDE 4.8.4 & kernel 3.5.1-2 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org