Adding Slackware to Grub

[UCSDrake]

hey, I'm generally new to linux, and I'm running PCLinuxOS on my computer right now as a dual boot with XP. I've created a third partition for slackware and installed it but I wanted to keep the same boot screen as PCLinuxOS. How can I modify my menu.lst to include slackware so I can boot it up?

Thanks for the help in advance!

ps. heres my current menu.lst just for some extra info

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,2)/usr/share/gfxboot/themes/pclinuxos/boot/message
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=/dev/hda3  acpi=on resume=/dev/hda2 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

[MikeTbob]

hey, I'm generally new to linux, and I'm running PCLinuxOS on my computer right now as a dual boot with XP. I've created a third partition for slackware and installed it but I wanted to keep the same boot screen as PCLinuxOS. How can I modify my menu.lst to include slackware so I can boot it up?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Hiya UCSDrake and welcome.
The easiest way to do this would be to mount the slackware /boot partition and copy the relevant sections of grub/menu.lst, then paste that into the PCLinuxOS grub menu.lst
I use the same hack on my Fedora/Gentoo machine and this is what my grub looks like, just for reference.

splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.20-1.2948.fc6)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.20-1.2948.fc6 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.20-1.2948.fc6.img

title Gentoo Linux 2.6.20-r6.1
# Partition where the kernel image (or operating system) is located
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.20-gentoo-r6.1 root=/dev/hda7 acpi=off

I hope that was easy to understand. If not, just post back.

[UCSDrake]

hey Mike, thanks for the help.

I understand what you mean but when I went to look the menu.lst wasnt there from my slackware partition. There isnt even a Grub folder in the Boot section of the drive. So I'm wondering if everything was installed properly or not.

Any other ideas would be great even if its just sample menu.lst that way I can try to figure out what to put for my menu.lst

[aliov]

there is not grub folder since by default Slack came with Lilo instead of Grub.

Look into /boot of your Slack partition and make sure wish one is it (fdisk -l) assume that your Slack partition is /dev/hda1 for example then you have to add to the menu.lst the following

title Slackware
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/linux-2.6.21 root=/dev/hda1 resume=/dev/hda3
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21

root(hd0,0) correspond to /dev/hda1
the resume is you swap partition (sure you can still use the same since you are not planning to boot both at the same time).

you can add many other argument corresponding to the ACPI and the vga boot resolution.

i think the name of the kernel is vmlinuz-(version).
if you still have any question post here

[UCSDrake]

hey, thanks for the help, after being able to try out Slackware im thinking its still a bit over my head when it comes to all the command lines to use so im going to try fedora core and see how that works

my partitions are set up as follows
hda1 - windows NTFS
hda2 - linux Swap (i know i probably should have put that on the outside of the HDD)
hda3 - PCLinuxOS
hda4 - Slackware/Fedora Core

so would my grub entry be as follows?

title Slackware
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/linux-2.6.21 root=/dev/hda4 resume=/dev/hda4
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21

thanks for any help

[aliov]

hey, thanks for the help, after being able to try out Slackware im thinking its still a bit over my head when it comes to all the command lines to use so im going to try fedora core and see how that works

my partitions are set up as follows
hda1 - windows NTFS
hda2 - linux Swap (i know i probably should have put that on the outside of the HDD)
hda3 - PCLinuxOS
hda4 - Slackware/Fedora Core

so would my grub entry be as follows?

title Slackware
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/linux-2.6.21 root=/dev/hda4 resume=/dev/hda4
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21

thanks for any help

Yes if you'll install Slackware in the hda4 you'll have to setup your root boot entry as the following

title Slackware
root (hd0,3) ( 0,3 correspond to hda4 0,2 to hda3 1,2 it's the second HDD 3 and so on)
kernel /boot/linux-2.6.21 root=/dev/hda4 resume=/dev/hda2
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21

for linux-2.6.21 replace it as exactly what you'll see in /boot/ (normally it's vmlinuz-(version) ) and the the same for the initrd.

for your swap partition doesn't matter if you put it in the first or middle or the end of the HDD sectors.

Cheers.