dual boot

[walley40]

I have tried this a number of times (as su ) and all I get is 'no such file or directory'. Using the 'mount' command for /dev/hda6 I get 'can't find in /etc/fstab. /etc/mtab' Using a simple mkdir command I get 'hda6 file exists'?
I have found the hda6 folder (between etc and home) but there is nothing in it. I suspect this folder refers to the drop down menu in boot folder of 'configure your computer' that allows me to choose what to boot into. Choosing any of these devices --/dev/hda,/dev/hda1,/dev/hda5. /dev/hda6 and /dev/fd0 ---simply boots into Mandriva.

[Punter]

try
mount -t ext3 /dev/hda6 /mnt/hda6
This will work if your partition is of type ext3. If unsucessful try with "-t ext2"

[walley40]

Using your commands for both extensions says 'the mount point does not exist'
I have three Menu 1st files in Grub. The second contains the following kernal:

Title 26118-8
kernal (hd0.4)/vmlinuz-2.6.11-8mdk root=/dev/hda6 resume=/dev/hda1 initrd (hd0.4) /initrd-2.6.11 8dmk img

as well as the following: time10, color 2, splash image, (hd04)/grub/mdv-grub_splash.xpm.gz, default 0, viewport 3 2 77 22, shade1

If I am to replace the first line with the one you suggest above (hdo5 etc), do I use the whole string or only the part ending at hda6? Whatever is the case, I tried and received a notice to say I do not have write access? (the file opens in Kwrite) and the advanced permissions says the user has write and read access?

[Punter]

Using your commands for both extensions says 'the mount point does not exist'

D00d, you seem to be doing things mechanically. Did you make sure /mnt/hda6 existed before you tried mounting? well.. you didn't. Use mkdir command
And i did nt say to replace lines.. i only said append them. Take a backup of your menu.1st at a later accessible place before appending anything so that you can roll back things easily in case of a misconfiguration.
And adding those three lines would be enough. You can get things working.

[walley40]

Thanks for your reply and persistence.
When I try to make the additions you suggest to the Menu.1st file (where the hda6 appears) it results in a 'write access denied' notice? The advanced properties says that the user has write and read permissions?
I want to close this issue soon but, before I do, can I ask a few questions?
Why did this problem arise in the first place? Most of the introductory articles I read on installation did not identify this problem and reassured me that the distros would partition the hard disk. On installing the second distro (Mandriva) I did not have to do any resizing as it recognised the current partition and did not show any red notices to make further configurations. Was the problem because two linux installations were made or was it computer or user specific? If it was user specific, then was I right to accept all the default configurations or would I have needed to have done some advanced configuration work while installing? As mentioned earlier, I want to install two Linux distros on my present computer, which has Windows XP installed, and I have got off to an inauspicious start. If something goes wrong with the installation and I don't have access to Windows, then the life-saving Linux forums will not be available.
Thanks again.[/i]

[Punter]

are you sure SUSE still exists? If you did not manually partition the drive, your distro CD will identify available linux partitions and format them. You have to know if the partitions the CD chooses is _not_ the SUSE one. Add up your XP partition size and Mandriva partition size and see if you have any more space left. 'Coz my guess is Mandriva was installed over SUSE, hence SUSE may not exist now.
Secondly, GRUB identifies other distros while installing itself. So ideally you should not have landed in this mess. I have myself done this dozens of times and successfully got a multiboot without manually editing the grub.conf file.

I want to install two Linux distros on my present computer, which has Windows XP installed, and I have got off to an inauspicious start.

Oh you think this is inauspicious? What would you say when my 1yr old nephew sees Matrix and says he wants to do a 'Neo jump' ?!!? being a newbie you should have gone for only one Linux Distro along with XP. I myself use only one, though i have a tripple boot system. My main distro is RHEL4, the other partition i have reserved for other distros that i keep testing to find new features. (RHEL itself is packed with features, but sometimes its nice to have the frog jump outside the well)

[walley40]

Thanks for your reply and patience. My 'Neo jump' into the virtual reality of Linux has been edifying! I have learnt something in the process. I installed two distros on my old computer as a dry run for when I come to install one distro only on my present computer with Windows XP. I originally thought that SUSE had been overwritten, but did not know how to confirm this. If hda6 is mounted. then where is SUSE? What has been mounted? The drop down menu in 'configure my computer' in Boot displays the options for booting, including hda6, but any option (hda1/fdo/hda5 and hda6) simpy boots into Mandriva.
I will have to close this issue now but, before I do, what would you suggest now? If I reinstall SUSE, as I originally suggested, what should I look for? I did not prepare the drive for the second installation by partitioning it, as I understood that the second distro to be installed would do that for me? Is it possible to have boot floppies for each distro (and Windows XP) that can be used to boot into whatever system you wish to have at the time on the computer? If so, can you direct me to the relevant article. It would still be interesting to know why I could not write to the Menu 1st file?
Thanks for your time.

[Punter]

ok walley40, this is a small howto i am writing on the fly to explain you the booting process and the grub configuration. I'll give pointers to other documentation where necessary.
When you prepare to install Linux, you have to partition your harddrive to have linux on ext2 or ext3 partitions. If you choose auto partition, its going to find ext2/3 partitions and overwrite them.
You can make only one partition for / tree, but its recomended to have a seperate /boot (100Mb to 256Mb). Your kernel image is stored in /boot partition. The first stage of grub is in MBR which passes control to 2nd stage which essentially reads menu.1st config file. Now menu.1st can have entries for almost any OS on earth. The config for windows is different from config for Linux. For grub configuration refer http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/l...e/ch-grub.html
As for configuring grub, you wld be able to do it after reading this guide (Its NOT specifically for RedHat systems !!! You can configure any grub..).
As for finding out if SUSE is installed.. just mount the partition and see what exists at the mount point... BTW do you have Windows on this HDD? Did you find which partitions they are on?

[walley40]

Mounting the partition hda6 says 'cant find in etc/fstab or etc/mtab'. I decided to reinstall SUSE and this resulted in a successful boot partition menu at boot up, allowing me choose either Mandriva or SUSE. I chose only the default configurations. I am not sure why this has been successful. Perhaps installing Mandriva over SUSE does not allow for a boot up menu (using only the default configs) but SUSE with Mandriva does. This might not be the case with Windows XP when I install SUSE on my present computer. You say that the hard drive has to be partitioned, so I might use FIPS to do this. I am not sure why, if SUSE recognises a Linux OS already on the hard drive and configures the drive accordinglywhen installing, it should not recognise the Windows partition, without initial preparation? First looks at Mandriva and SUSE makes SUSE on the desktop with Gnome look more ergonomic that Mandriva.
I read the document you linked. I will have to read it again and read around Linux some more, before I take another Neo jump
Thanks for your help.