Marshall007

I have a test machine that I have been trying out different distros on and I would like to dual boot Suse and Xubuntu to experiment with them. I have a 40GB drive that I have wiped (from previous ‘experiments’) and now I am ready to go. I have searched and read somewhere that I could install Suse first, make sure Suse’s boot loader (Grub?) is placed in Suse’s root directory, then install Xubuntu and let Xubuntu take over the MBR, then add the following to Xubuntu’s menu.lst (if Suse is sda6):

Suse in sda6 known to Grub as (hd0,5)
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1

Would this work? Please keep in mind my Linux rookie status when providing guidance. Any other routes to take for a dual boot situation would be great. The simpler the better, I have been getting a lot of experience installing and then starting over with various distros to get it how I want, but I guess that is how you learn!

yancek

That entry should work if you have all the pertinent files successfully installed on (hd0,5).

Marshall007

This is where my understanding is somewhat lacking, does (hd0,5) refer to the entire hard drive or is that a command?
Also, as far as the partitioning programs with these two, does anyone have any insight there? I know you have to have a root partition, a swap for one or both and could I go with as little as that?

gogalthorp

hd0,5 refers to drive 0 (the first one) and partition 5 the 6th one. Numbering starts with 0 in grub. You need to use the values appropriate for your setup.

one swap and a root for each is fine for playing around. Suse by default installs swap, root and home you will have to override that when you get to the partition scheme part of the install. Having a separate home protects your personal data and settings in case you need to reinstall or upgrade.

Marshall007

Ok, thanks, that helps me to understand the naming convention and syntax, I am going for it this eve!

Marshall007

Amazingly. as I have been going round and round for two days trying to get Suse and Xubuntu to play nice together, I installed Suse, made sure Suse loaded Grub in root. Then installed Xubuntu (using free space partitioning option) and on the 1st required reboot to start Xubuntu, what do you know, there is Suse listed in Grub! Now I have to move on to another project which in my short experience with Linux thus far, I will have no problem finding!
Now if nothing goes awry as Suse is downloading muchos updates and I know as soon as Xubuntu hits the network it will do the same I'll be in business.

Marshall007

I got Suse and Xubuntu to dual boot, before updating both. I updated Suse first, or rather let Suse gather all the updates it wanted. Then I updated Xubuntu then tried to boot into Suse, now Suse will not boot, I get an error message 15, file not found. Could it be that something in the update changed the way Suse is defined in Xubuntu's Grub entry? Anyone have any ideas what may have changed and how I can get Suse to boot again? I have the most current (within the last 2 weeks) ISO 's of Suse and Xunbuntu but they both downloaded allot of updates once on the network, so I am not sure what changed.

Marshall007

Also, here is Xubuntu's current (post update menu.lst) haven't gotten to Suse's yet (cant boot into Suse right now!):

# menu.lst - See: grub(, info grub, update-grub(
# grub-install(, grub-floppy(,
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=1626ab59-830f-42c1-b940-f518581b0f18 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,4)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=1626ab59-830f-42c1-b940-f518581b0f18 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=1626ab59-830f-42c1-b940-f518581b0f18 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, memtest86+
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda2.
title openSUSE 11.0 (on /dev/sda2)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.5-1.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Maxtor_6E040L0_E1VS5FJE-part2 resume=/dev/sda1 splash=silent showopts vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.25.5-1.1-default
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda2.
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.0 (on /dev/sda2)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.5-1.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Maxtor_6E040L0_E1VS5FJE-part2 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off x11failsafe vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.25.5-1.1-default
savedefault
boot

It seems like the long way around but now with Suse updated (with what ever changed in place) could I reinstall Xubuntu and then would Xubuntu would rewrite to recognuze whatever change took place in Suse? It does seem easier to change some lines in Xubuntu's menu.lst though if that is possible.

Marshall007

I just decided to reinstall Xubuntu so it would then recognize the updated version of Suse, and that worked. I am still not sure what had changed in Suse that caused it not to boot.