Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

'Flaw' in Installer?

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    'Flaw' in Installer?

    Situation:
    Desktop PC with two internal SATA drives.
    Three installed OS/2 eCom Station OS's -
    two on first HD (drive 0)
    one on the second HD (drive 1)
    GParted used to create/format three linux partitions on second HD -
    8Gb for use with root - /dev/sdb9
    20Gb for use with home - /dev/sdb10
    2Gb for use with swap - /dev/sdb11

    When the installer shows a screen that shows, initially, a graphical representation of how the first drive is configured and what it would look like 'after' installation based on the 'default,' which is to use the first HD and use all of it - wiping out any existing OS's.

    You make your election on that screen to change how the installation will occur, and I did - selecting the second HD and again, changing the default so I could select how to install to that drive.

    I selected the three partitions, identifying the mount point each time - /dev/sdb9 for root, /dev/sdb10 for /home, and /dev/sdb11 for swap. (This is from memory, but the Advanced tab was clicked - I know what I'm doing).

    Then 'did the deed' and let the installation begin. To my surprise and shock, when the installation was finished, I discovered that three partitions on the first HD were changed from HPFS to ext3 and swap! I had done nothing to the first HD with GParted - nothing!! Those three partitions contained very important data, and were now no longer 'seen' by any of the three installed OS/2 systems!

    To shorten a long narrative (a bit), with some 'tech'-pertise, recovery of this problem was made.

    A second installation was then made, and I looked very carefully at the screen where one can mark which partitions to use and on what HD. I found that you can click on every listed partition and and opt to 'do not use this partition' - which is not intuitive, nor mentioned or explained anywhere in the process. So, I clicked on every single partition on both drives, ensuring that all were marked 'do not use...' expect the three on the second HD. I doubled checked (maybe even a third time) before giving the go ahead to install. This time, no partition on the first HD was changed.

    I found this experience to be very disappointing and even scary. The PC this happened to was my fathers. Both myself and he agreed, that the behavior of the installer appears - based on our experience - to be flawed. After telling the installer that a specific HD is to be used - /dev/sdb here - it should use that HD and no other.

    It would be far better, and more intuitive, if the installer would present 'ALL' HD/partitions it 'sees' and have them all marked by default as 'do not use' and have the user specifically mark which ones to use.

    Has anyone observed this behavior of the installer on a system that already had installed OS's?
    Windows no longer obstructs my view.
    Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
    "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

    #2
    Re: 'Flaw' in Installer?

    I saw the answer to your problem in a thread about installing KK over a Mandriva partition.

    It seems that KK can't do it:

    Installing multiple OS on a single computer

    Warning: Kubuntu Desktop edition installer no longer allows a custom installation of GRUB, and it now uses GRUB2, which allows very little customization. DO NOT USE the Karmic Koala Desktop edition if you use a boot partition, use multiple OS (more than 2), or chainload bootloaders. The Kubuntu installer will overwrite your Master Boot Record and you will later be forced to recreate it. This is a serious flaw in Karmic Koala. Use the Ubuntu Server edition instead (and then later add the kubuntu-desktop).

    If you want to install more than 2 operating systems on a single computer, check out these tips.
    Looks like "these tips" show that you have some work ahead of you.


    "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
    – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: 'Flaw' in Installer?

      I think I need a break! I am really, really missing something here (and elsewhere on this forum wrt these dual-boot issues).

      The Live CD installer DOES provide the Advanced button in the Summary step. What more does one need to customize a dual-boot setup? If nothing else, always simply install GRUB 2 to the root partition boot sector, then deal with it later (exercising any one of several boot options).

      As for this tip:
      http://kubuntuguide.org/Multiple_OS_Installation
      what the heck is new here? Nothing I can see. Much of the how-to focuses on a separate dedicated GRUB 2 partition--something which is NOT absolutely necessary, but in any case is trivial to set up and is not new; for example see my How-to:
      GRUB 2 A Guide for Users
      http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3106368.0
      SECTION 4: Special Topics > Separate GRUB 2 Partition.

      What subtle point am I missing in this and other posts around this forum these past two days regarding the installer and GRUB 2's failures to set up dual boot? I admit there must be something I am glossing over as I quickly scan everything.


      Regarding the present OP, I haven't noticed this, nor tested it, but this sort of thing could also happen with GRUB Legacy. And it gets back to a point I've made for some time: I don't feel you can always trust the installer to get the drive enumeration correct (i.e., the sda, sdb, sdc, etc.). I believe that is where device.map is used heavily (i.e., device.map is not used for booting). And--I believe--device.map is a guess, a guess the installer makes, and that guess can be wrong. In the best of all possible worlds, one needs to check to see how BIOS (and therefore how GRUB) sees the drives; say, by using grub>geometry in Legacy or grub>ls in GRUB 2. One should not always trust the sdx's; but I believe one CAN (almost always) trust the (hdx,y)'s.

      An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

      Comment

      Working...
      X