Lucid dual boot with Itrepid

[g7ewo]

Hi All

I currently have Kubuntu 8.10 running on my system with a separate /home partition.

When Lucid is finally released i want to install this onto a spare 20gb partition so as not to upset my 8.10 installation.

What is the best way to do this?
Will i have any problems with config files in my home directory?
Do i need to config a chainloader in my existing GRUB menu.1st, or is it best to boot from the new install with the option to load the old version?
Will Lucid detect my existing version and edit GRUB accordingly?

Any advice appreciated

Graham

[claydoh]

Re: Lucid dual boot with Itrepid

During the install process, you will have the option to install it alongside your existing OS(s), as well as the ability to manually choose partitions to use. This is the option you want to take, and it is pretty simple to do. Just specify your extra partition as the "/" (root) drive, and select your existing /home partition as your /home again - just make sure you don't choose to format that one

You may want to have a different user name for the new Lucid install, there are I think enough KDE-specific config file differences between Intrepid and Karmic/Lucid that could cause some problems with your existing settings, backing up is a good idea in any case.

The installer will detect all your operating systems and set up grub for you automatically. Lucid will become the first choice in your boot menu.

Overall, doing this is quite common and safe, and is the same as if you were installing another flavor of Linux

[hunkirdowne]

Re: Lucid dual boot with Itrepid

The installer will detect all your operating systems and set up grub for you automatically. Lucid will become the first choice in your boot menu.

You seem to have better success with Grub than I do.

I have yet to see Grub2 add any operating system other than the one I'm in session with. I have always had to add it via /etc/grub.d/40_custom. In the past with Grub-Legacy *buntu would do a great job of detecting and properly adding entries to menu.lst such that I changed things only to tweak, not to enable. Other distros (including Debian) would regularly either miss a distro or hose the settings (usually calling /dev/sda3 as /dev/hda3).

I do get tickled when I read that Grub2 is supposed to be easier than Legacy. While my initial trepidation with hacking Grub2 has subsided, it doesn't yet appear easier to me than hacking the menu.lst especially since Legacy quit requiring update-grub after hacking the list. I would just back up the file, hack it, double-check ownership and permissions, and leave it for the next reboot. Now that my Grub2 teeth are getting cut, hacking the 40_custom is almost as trivial {without getting into differences between (hd0,2) and (hd0,3) [and shouldn't it be (hd1,3)?] :P}.

But back to the point of the OP, I have one /home per machine but choose unique usernames for each distro installed. I hadn't thought about linking one firefox to another but it's not a bad idea at all and could certainly save space depending on how much caching you allow.

[Qqmike]

Re: Lucid dual boot with Itrepid

Just be ready in case there's any slip with GRUB 2 -- You can always fix the bootloader GRUB 2 after installing the new OS and without having to reinstall that OS.

Worst case, you may simply have to "reinstall GRUB 2," and that can be done from either of your two OSs (whichever one you can boot into!) or from your Kubuntu live CD.

Also, if necessary, assuming GRUB 2 is installed where you want it to be installed, if the boot menu isn't correct, you can always try to generate a fresh boot menu using sudo update-grub. These two topics are covered here (no need to read too much right now, just keep it handy):

-- GRUB 2 A Guide for Users
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3106368.0

(Another how-to to keep handy...)
And by drs305, this:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1195275

[claydoh]

Re: Lucid dual boot with Itrepid

The installer will detect all your operating systems and set up grub for you automatically. Lucid will become the first choice in your boot menu.

You seem to have better success with Grub than I do.

I guess I must. I currently have a triple boot fedora, hardy, and Lucid. Lucid (and Karmic before it) detected and set up grub2 for me, adding the other OSs with no problem, over a number of test installs.

OT, but I like how grub2 handles it now. I have to make any edits I need in /etc/default/grub and anytime a new kernel is installed, those settings are automatically updated for it, (I have to disable ipv6 as my dsl modem does not like it- tho Lucid's latest kernels seem to not need me to do that anymore)

[hunkirdowne]

Re: Lucid dual boot with Itrepid

Also, if necessary, assuming GRUB 2 is installed where you want it to be installed, if the boot menu isn't correct, you can always try to generate a fresh boot menu using sudo update-grub. These two topics are covered here (no need to read too much right now, just keep it handy):

-- GRUB 2 A Guide for Users
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3106368.0

(Another how-to to keep handy...)
And by drs305, this:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1195275

I've browsed through the first link and think I get the gist -- not a bad reference by any means. I am however more familiar with the second link. Although I don't recall if I actively participated in the discussion (being too lazy to go through all 11 pages) I did have an experience very similar to one of the respondents.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1195275, 5. "Grub 2 Files & Options", "/etc/grub.d/",
30_os-prober: Searches for Linux and OS's on other partitions and includes them in the menu.
(emphasis mine)

OS Prober can find my other installations just fine, it just doesn't include them in the menu. But I can manually add them via 40_custom so I'm not too worked up about it. A quick hack and then I move on.

I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling Grub2, running grub-mkconfig, update-grub, etc. but no-go. Until very recently I would simply do a legacy "grub-install" and go back to the menu.lst way of doing things. But on this beta I was determined to make Grub2 work for me and it is usable but not what I would consider ready for mainstream. I'm not shy about hacking config files if I know what I'm doing, but I wouldn't assume a Linux newbie would be so inclined (at least not initially).

[Qqmike]

Re: Lucid dual boot with Itrepid

Sounds like we are on the same page and that you've done your end of this, probably know as much about it as anyone.

"I was determined to make Grub2 work for me and it is usable but not what I would consider ready for mainstream."

Can't really argue with that too much, based on anecdotal indicators.

[g7ewo]

Re: Lucid dual boot with Itrepid

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the advice and info regarding Grub2, I am fairly confident in hacking grub menu.1st but have no experience on Grub2.

I will have to read up on Grub2 before i try anything.

I was considering trying to share some of the data files during the transition period, but i have binned the idea in favor of testing the new install with some test data before moving the live data over to the new user.
I do a daily backup to a spare drive, plus a copy of my /boot dir, so if all else fails i can always restore back to a previous state.