installing another linux distro

[squimmy]

Hello,
i allready have suse 9.2 on my machine (dual boot win xp) and, am really starting to gate suse. so i am thinking of installing simplyMEPIS.

When i installed SuSE it only needed 2 partitions, root and swap. so am i going to need to create a seperate /home partition for mepis or can i still install the lot on thr root partition?

also, is there any way i can backup the files and programs that i have allready installed on suse. or will i need to do a complete format?

Thanks.

[dylunio]

You should be able to creat another partition via YaST, since all you need is a /root partition for Mepis, since mepis can use Suse's swap.

BTW, you'll want to be able to boot both, so I reconmend not installing a bootloader for mepis, but modifying the bootloader in suse (/boot/grub/menu.lst)

[squimmy]

what about replacing suse with mepis. i want to get rid of suse and only use mepis.so do i still need to create a /home partition. or can i format the root partition of suse and mepis use that?

thanks.

[dylunio]

Oh, sorry I though you wanted to have bot

Just bung it the install cd, tell it to install on the suse / partition, and you don't have to have a /home partiton, you should be able to just have it as a directory, not a partition

[squimmy]

Oh thats good, this forum allways gives me great answers!

thanks!

[squimmy]

oh, also, when i was trying to use grub to duel boot with suse, i could never get it to work. it would work for a few weeks, then just suddenly stop working. (i would just get the grub command screen instead of the list of OS's)

previously i have been using suse by putting the cd, going to installation, then boot linux partition. but i don't think i can do that with mepis. so assuming that grub isnt going to work again, what should i do?

[dylunio]

you should be able to make a bootable floppy during the install, (tutorial here)

[squimmy]

problem, i don't have a working floppy drive. I used to, but it turned out a part of it was bad and it kept causing my comp to lock up not accepting mouse or keyboard. so i disconnected it and it started working again. is there another way? do you think a commercial bootloader will work.

[dylunio]

You could try the LinuxLoader (LiLo) bootloader instead of GRUB, but I must admit I'm mystified by the problems you used to have with grub.

[squimmy]

I would, but i've heard really bad things about lilo. namely being that it doesnt work at all with partitions over a certain size or something. I would actually really prefer not to try lilo as ive heard that it is nothing compared to grub. if there is no other option however, i will. i'll think ill give grub another go tho, and pray that it works for longer than a week.