i have just installed studioubuntu (among others)... i knew there was a reason i loved ubuntu despite other failings.... it automatically detects all other opperating systems (it seems from
all menu.lst (or bootloaders') files in all partitions i think)... that is something which many other distributions, including some major ones, completely fail to do at all (or try, but botch it up calling them all "windows1, windows2, windows3, etcetcetc. or missing loads).
with a little more help from
saikee's legendary thread, particulalry the bits there and around:
The mother of all booting schemes - Grub in a data-only partition
(scroll down a little from the link
... I have now got my grub on hdb3
(the first two primary partitions saved for later opperating systems that love to have the first or primary partitions), my menu.lst sorted (mostly) and i've learned, much. some of the operating systems boot, some dont. and i detected the pattern... those who when installed, installed to the mbr, no longer have their own boot, as the mbr has been getting overwritten, and thus, in this method, cannot be booted until they get their own um... boot sector (~ is all my lingo and terminology correct and understandable? ~)
since ubuntu is so kind as to collate all the menu.lst options for me, i shall be using it as a tool simply for this very job from now on should i need such a feature again (though i expect an oldskooler wud know how to do such a simple task with a command line... if only they could draw a picture explaining it for the benefit of all us poor saps to get unstuck from something gui).
Quote:
Originally Posted by arubin
The problem with all these distro installations is that if you let them install grub they will then produce a grub which refers to there own menu.1st in there own /boot/grub/. They won't know about your old menu.1st and might botch the entries to the new one. My guess is that you need to work out which menu.1st your grub is looking at. Then have a look at the menu.1st on the Suse 10.2 partition and you will find what the appropriate menu.1st entries should have been.
My approach is to never let an installation install grub. My grub was installed from slackware running in sdb3. If I install another distro on another partition I do not let it install grub. Instead I manually edit menu.1st on sdb3 to add an entry for the new distro. This works fine as long as I know what the entries are for the new distro.
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i like saikees method because for the most part, all i need to know is
Title MarklarJingbangLinux
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
where "(hd0,0)" represents my hard drive (hd), first number which drive, second number which partition.
(oh how it benefited me early on when people would actually explain little things like that)
in the above example, I actually change
root to
rootnoverify, it sometimes seems necessary, and i havn't noticed it hurting anything yet.
also in the above example, I write
boot on the next line after
chainloader +1. i dont really know why... it just seems a touch more sure.
right, where was I... oh yes...
how do i, "work out which menu.1st your [my] grub is looking at"?
on a tangent:
i have a plan (came up with on the phone to my dad) to clone my dad's PC (this one) onto a new partition on my terabyte usb sata hd.
then run a free (gnu/gpl) virtualisation environment (VirtualBox, Qemu, VMWare, Xen) to run it and all the software within (hopefully, but not essential).
once this is achieved successfully, i'll do a full format and thorough wipe of his hard drive, with as many of those sorts of tools i can find. i'm looking for better than military grade stuff to wipe those hard drives, if you know what i mean. then do a clean install of a SECURE ( and i DO mean SECURE SECURE SECURE) Linux. Then in that light and fast and speedy and quick and stable and reliable Linux, install the best virtualisation software from before (and probably a couple backups at least), ||with this windows (or another of dad's choosing) back on it, and his essential software, restore his personal data and settings, and install
my collection of essential software alternatives (y'know the sort of thing... ye' just keep all those little apps that sort out a few of windows bumps, add some extra functionality or improve workflow.)