Installing Feisty on a disk as a 3rd Linux OS

[copycat]

Re: Installing Feisty on a disk as a 3rd Linux OS

Well, as the saying goes, YMMV – Your mileage may vary.

Actually, I do this all the time, even recklessly, with abandon, and never had that problem or any problems at Step 6, Advanced, GRUB. But stuff happens, and who knows why.

As I recall, you don't need that GRUB anyway, right? You can configure your existing GRUB menu list to include a boot entry for your new Feisty on (hd1,6). The How-To I mentioned tells you how (in the second post), but I have a feeling you've already had experinece with it

Oh yes, I've changed GRUB's menu quite a few times already. And no, I don't need Feisty's GRUB anyway. I just need to know what entry I have to put into my current GRUB to start up Kubuntu, that is, if I have all the necessary files to run it. Actually, that's one of the plus sides of SuSe's installation, you can skip GRUB altogether.

Here's my boot entries for a recent install of 7.04, in case you need to copy/paste this into a menu list (since you don't have a menu.lst in Feisty). Mine is on (hd1,4). Yours in on (hd1,6). And your UUIDs are different. You need to get that from your /etc/fstab file for (hd1,6) = sdb6. ***EDIT: (hd1,6) = sdb7 !!! ***
Just curious – check and be sure you do have a boot directory that looks ok, which you should with no issues: /boot (even though you may have no /boot/grub).

There are no UUID's in my SuSe fstab, that's for sure, and not in my GRUB config either so I'm still going to need some of your help. This is Kubuntu's fstab:
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sdb7
UUID=7744256b-ef9c-4f2b-9d3e-e313a7b5921f / reiserfs notail 0 1
# /dev/sda1
UUID=48B0C05AB0C04FDC /media/sda1 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
# /dev/sdb2
UUID=b223ea1a-6bcd-461b-be5f-c9e6ba82bfd8 /media/sdb2 reiserfs defaults 0 2
# /dev/sdb3
UUID=c2f15255-e07f-4cde-a6f8-b48a27b55e77 /media/sdb3 reiserfs defaults 0 2
# /dev/sdb5
UUID=bbdc260d-102c-453b-8d34-7eca03003a6a /media/sdb5 reiserfs defaults 0 2
# /dev/sdb6
UUID=f5e53d22-28d2-4887-8a62-a6818ccc0ba0 /media/sdb6 reiserfs defaults 0 2
# /dev/sdb1
UUID=2b42a9fe-ac8b-43a9-87eb-b4e4fb21eaf1 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdb /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0[/quote]

So, how do I go from there to my GRUB (in /boot/grub) config file, which atm looks like this?:
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE LINUX 9.2
kernel (hd1,2)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb3 vga=0x31a selinux=0 splash=silent console=tty0 resume=/dev/sdb1 desktop elevator=as showopts
initrd (hd1,2)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

### SuSE Linux version 9.1 ###
title SUSE LINUX 9.1
kernel (hd1,1)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb2 vga=0x31a selinux=0 splash=silent console=tty0 resume=/dev/sdb1 desktop elevator=as showopts
initrd (hd1,1)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Diskette
root (fd0)
chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE LINUX 9.2
kernel (hd1,2)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb3 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off vga=normal noresume selinux=0 barrier=off iommu=noforce maxcpus=0 3
initrd (hd1,2)/boot/initrd

Also, I've only got 'vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic' and an 'initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic'.

Tell me if these look OK to you:
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=7744256b-ef9c-4f2b-9d3e-e313a7b5921f ro quiet splash
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16 generic (recovery mode)
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=7744256b-ef9c-4f2b-9d3e-e313a7b5921f single
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic

What do 'quiet' and 'safedefault' do and what's the difference between 'ro quiet splash' and 'ro single'? And what's more important, do they work in my current GRUB?

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Feisty on a disk as a 3rd Linux OS

Yes, they look right. You've got the UUID right for (hd1,6)

quiet splash will cause a bunch of DOS-like scrolling text to be hidden from view as you boot into Kubuntu (I think?), and ro is read only, meant for the initial ram disk (I think) that starts the kernel boot up – it must start as ro (although later on, that is not required). I believe Herman @ bigpond has a table of these options somewhere on his site.

But right now, yes, your GRUB will read all that stuff.
Try it. Edit menu.lst, as you know, as root, and don't forget the File > Save and File > Quit when you are done.

Oh, savedeafault, gets into saving as a default the last used OS and must be used with default saved etc. I think it's a pain in the butt to use it. It's not activated, and won't do anything as it, but you can also just delete it.

When you get your updates (the red triangle down in the notification tray), you'll get -16.

[copycat]

Re: Installing Feisty on a disk as a 3rd Linux OS

Yes, they look right. You've got the UUID right for (hd1,6)

...

But right now, yes, your GRUB will read all that stuff.

Are you sure my GRUB will be able to read all that stuff? As you can see, it's putting /dev's as the root on the other Linux Os'es, so shouldn't I be using /dev/sdb7 instead of those UUID's?

Oh, savedeafault, gets into saving as a default the last used OS and must be used with default saved etc. I think it's a pain in the butt to use it. It's not activated, and won't do anything as it, but you can also just delete it.

I specifically put my GRUB entries in that order for the first of that list to start as default. If I want another to start as default, I'll change GRUB's order. So, I will delete the 'savedefault'.

When you get your updates (the red triangle down in the notification tray), you'll get -16.

And then I will have to change my GRUB again, I think, since Kubuntu will probably only change its own GRUB.
[/quote]

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Feisty on a disk as a 3rd Linux OS

At this time, as I understand it, unless they have changed it again, you can use either /dev or UUIDs. It’s not a big deal. If there’s a problem, it just won’t boot right.
You can find your UUIDs easily:
UUIDs, listing:
From Live CD and HD: ls /dev/disk/by-uuid/ -alh
From HD: blkid

On updates, the new kernel version will go at the top of the list starting right after *** Begin Automagic Kernels list. So if that is position zero, and you have used
default = 0,
Then the new version will boot.
Again, not a big deal. Worst case you just have to edit menu.lst (from Live CD, or from any Linux OS).

(You do keep Super Grub Disk handy, right?

BTW, the UUIDs is an operating system thing, not a GRUB thing. Your kernel line just passes the root (/dev or UUID) to your OS for the OS to use.

[copycat]

Re: Installing Feisty on a disk as a 3rd Linux OS

I adhere to the principle: 'If it isn't broke(n), don't (try to) fix it.'
Translated to editing GRUB's menu this means: 'If there's /dev'-entries in there, keep using '/dev'-entries.'
Top of the list starting right after ***Begin Automagic Kernels list? There's no such thing in my GRUB config. Remember, it's not a Feisty GRUB, it's a SuSe 9.2-GRUB.
Right at the end of the boot up sequence, before X-Windows starts, it seems to 'forget' the splash screen and goes back to text-mode, before KDE takes over. Not a big deal, I probably messed up a 'quiet' somewhere. Anyway, it boots up, has been installed, so now it's setup, but I believe that concludes my business in this section and I'm on to the next. Thank you very much for putting up with me and my questions. I don't change things on a whim, I think them thoroughly through and want to have all the information I can get.
The disappearance of the administrator-profile and its incorporation into the default user does not go particularly well with me. Of course, that's probably because I've been used to it being there and at my disposal since I started using Linux/KDE.

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Feisty on a disk as a 3rd Linux OS

Good, glad you got it! Yes, I did forget that your menu.lst was SuSe. If your solution works, that counts for a lot. I spent the whole day on some really wild UFD work, trying to get various things to boot from the flash drive. About half the time, while experimenting, I'd lose my "boot" and have to press "c" at the GRUB menu and manually boot into a working OS on my hard drive (or I'd try "e' to edit the kernel line in every possible way, and sometimes it worked but I wasn't sure why). It's a really good feeling when your system just boots into where you want to go, as yours does today, even if it has a few rough edges. Again, glad you got it.