Installing 2nd Linux OS

txwebmaster · 11-08-2008, 02:50 AM

I presently have ubuntu 8.10 installed on a laptop with a swap partition and sufficient unallocated space for a 2nd OS and my question is 2 fold
1. Does the 2nd OS require a swap as well and if so should that swap be my last partition.
Present partitioning:
/dev/sda1 has the 8.10
/dec/sda2 swap
16.54 unallocated
2. what exactly must I do to assure the outcome results in a standard dual boot protocol?
Have recently chucked windows and having a ball.

Thank you so much

Allen

hal8000 · 11-08-2008, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by txwebmaster

I presently have ubuntu 8.10 installed on a laptop with a swap partition and sufficient unallocated space for a 2nd OS and my question is 2 fold
1. Does the 2nd OS require a swap as well and if so should that swap be my last partition.
Present partitioning:
/dev/sda1 has the 8.10
/dec/sda2 swap
16.54 unallocated
2. what exactly must I do to assure the outcome results in a standard dual boot protocol?
Have recently chucked windows and having a ball.

Thank you so much

Allen

Depending on which distro you install grub will be automatically updated and most will find the first distro on /dev/sda1

Whilst not wrong, having a single partition for / and /home means that if / became corrupted then you would lose your /home data as well. For this reason it is prudent to use a separate / and /home for each distro.

When you install your next distro, allocate the free space which will be /dev/sda3, when it comes to partition chose "expert" or "custom" or whatever option the distro gives you and tell it to use /dev/sda2 as your swap partition.

You've used a debian based distro (Ubuntu) so I would suggest you try an rpm based distro like PCLinuxOS 2007 or Suse 11 or Mandriva.

**wmorri** · 11-08-2008, 03:46 PM

hal8000 is totally correct on what he is saying. It isn't any fun when your /home directory gets screwed up it mean a lot of work and probably just a re-install. I would recommend that you take a look at Fedora too, they have a great and growing community.

Cheers!

txwebmaster · 11-09-2008, 04:08 AM

so folks would think me crazy waking at 4AM to check for an answer and then posting a reply. Getting it right is very important to me and I am not too far along to start over.
I thank you both for your speedy and insightful solution based reply. This means a great deal to me. I was too impatient and attempted to install a 2nd OS but fortunate enough to have failed and learn some interesting information from the failed attempt.
So please in your next reply when considering all the facts go on the assumption I will start over following your instructions.
I attempted to install debian and in my failed attempt learned some valuable Lilo &
1023 cylinder concerns.
With debian the live CD informed me that Lilo failed was probably due to kernel disk location extending beyond 1023 cylinder. Additionally it could be fault of an older BIOS and my HP is 6 years old. Said that if thats case Lilo unable to load any block of kernel from a disk cylinder number higher 524MB or so.
Finally it suggested a work around was to create 5-10 MB partition beginning disk and mount it on / boot so entire / boot partition will be below 1023 cylinder.
All of this to me begs question is this info I received normal or was it because the version of debian I choose was unofficial with developers name?
I probably should stop and wait for a reply but based on what you have said and the info I received from failed attempt would a new partition resemble this
sda1 ubuntu
home partition
swap
partition for 2nd OS
another home partition??
Which in my limited Linux expertise seems to exceed 4 partitions and put me into that extended with 2 logicals. And what about that small partition beginning disk as a get around 1023 focus. I know I have given you a lot to consider, but your reply could also be a blueprint for anyone in future with same circumstances.
Thanks guys

Allen

**wmorri** · 11-09-2008, 06:57 AM

Hi,

When you post a reply please make sure that you go through and make any spelling and punctuation changes so that it is easier for others to read!

Here is what I would recommend hal8000 may have different ideas, but I believe that this should work for you with your second OS. Go ahead and install the root and home partition together. The reason I say this is that you probably won't be doing to much that will totally mess with your computer up. If something does go wrong then you can just re-install and figure out what went wrong.

Also, you say that tried to install Debian as your second OS. I am not sure if you are aware but Ubuntu is based on Debian, so installing Debian as a second OS won't necessarily help you learn about different file systems like rpms, or file managers like yum. I might recommend that you you look at PCLinuxOS 2007, OpenSUSE 11, Mandriva or Fedora, they are great for people that are still new to linux and want to learn.

Another thing that I just thought of is how long have you been using Ubuntu. If it is less than 6 months to a year then I might recommend that you stick with just one. The reason of this is that there are some very big differences between the .deb, and .rpm file systems. I would recommend that you get the basics like using command line, and understanding as much as you can about one distro, before you move on and have to start from scratch with a different style distro. That is just my two cents though.

Cheers!

hal8000 · 11-09-2008, 08:51 AM

Not sure which version of Debian youve installed but Debian Etch and Lenny both use grub as the bootloader, so does Ubuntu.

As wmorri said, Ubuntu is based on Debian so you wont be learning that much- except that Debian has very few graphical setup tools so you will find it difficult.

You can only have 4 primary partitions, so for me I create an extended partition and setup logical drives in the extended partition, reserving the valuble primary partitions for systems that need them.

No-one installs linux once so it is ok to create a single / partition /dev/sda3 and install your second system there.

Make things easy for yourself, choose a distribution that is user friendly and has a good support forum, PClinuxOS, Suse, Mandriva are among the easiest to install.

If you choose one of the above when it comes to the bootloader stage do either of the following:-
i) choose not to install a bootloader (in this case you will manually edit the existing /boot/grub/menu.lst) entry or
ii) choose to install grub in the mbr
All the above distros are smart enough to pick up your existing installation and will install grub.

As for lilo, only very early versions have the 1024th cylinder limit. You can choose to have a separate /boot partition but its not necessary and complicates the partitioning

11-08-2008, 02:50 AM	#1 (permalink)
txwebmaster Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 3 OS: ubuntu 8.10	Installing 2nd Linux OS I presently have ubuntu 8.10 installed on a laptop with a swap partition and sufficient unallocated space for a 2nd OS and my question is 2 fold 1. Does the 2nd OS require a swap as well and if so should that swap be my last partition. Present partitioning: /dev/sda1 has the 8.10 /dec/sda2 swap 16.54 unallocated 2. what exactly must I do to assure the outcome results in a standard dual boot protocol? Have recently chucked windows and having a ball. Thank you so much Allen

11-08-2008, 03:46 PM	#3 (permalink)
wmorri Moderator Alt. Computing Join Date: May 2008 Location: /etc/pm Posts: 1,221 OS: Vista Basic SP1/Ubuntu 8.04/Fedora 10	Re: Installing 2nd Linux OS hal8000 is totally correct on what he is saying. It isn't any fun when your /home directory gets screwed up it mean a lot of work and probably just a re-install. I would recommend that you take a look at Fedora too, they have a great and growing community. Cheers! __________________ If I have posted on your thread and haven't replied within 48hrs please PM me. I will try to be as prompt as possible! Linux Forever! Learning is doing, not being able to follow steps put forth by others. When posting what errors you get, please give the full message. It makes helping you much easier.

11-09-2008, 04:08 AM	#4 (permalink)
txwebmaster Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 3 OS: ubuntu 8.10	Re: Installing 2nd Linux OS so folks would think me crazy waking at 4AM to check for an answer and then posting a reply. Getting it right is very important to me and I am not too far along to start over. I thank you both for your speedy and insightful solution based reply. This means a great deal to me. I was too impatient and attempted to install a 2nd OS but fortunate enough to have failed and learn some interesting information from the failed attempt. So please in your next reply when considering all the facts go on the assumption I will start over following your instructions. I attempted to install debian and in my failed attempt learned some valuable Lilo & 1023 cylinder concerns. With debian the live CD informed me that Lilo failed was probably due to kernel disk location extending beyond 1023 cylinder. Additionally it could be fault of an older BIOS and my HP is 6 years old. Said that if thats case Lilo unable to load any block of kernel from a disk cylinder number higher 524MB or so. Finally it suggested a work around was to create 5-10 MB partition beginning disk and mount it on / boot so entire / boot partition will be below 1023 cylinder. All of this to me begs question is this info I received normal or was it because the version of debian I choose was unofficial with developers name? I probably should stop and wait for a reply but based on what you have said and the info I received from failed attempt would a new partition resemble this sda1 ubuntu home partition swap partition for 2nd OS another home partition?? Which in my limited Linux expertise seems to exceed 4 partitions and put me into that extended with 2 logicals. And what about that small partition beginning disk as a get around 1023 focus. I know I have given you a lot to consider, but your reply could also be a blueprint for anyone in future with same circumstances. Thanks guys Allen

11-09-2008, 06:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
wmorri Moderator Alt. Computing Join Date: May 2008 Location: /etc/pm Posts: 1,221 OS: Vista Basic SP1/Ubuntu 8.04/Fedora 10	Re: Installing 2nd Linux OS Hi, When you post a reply please make sure that you go through and make any spelling and punctuation changes so that it is easier for others to read! Here is what I would recommend hal8000 may have different ideas, but I believe that this should work for you with your second OS. Go ahead and install the root and home partition together. The reason I say this is that you probably won't be doing to much that will totally mess with your computer up. If something does go wrong then you can just re-install and figure out what went wrong. Also, you say that tried to install Debian as your second OS. I am not sure if you are aware but Ubuntu is based on Debian, so installing Debian as a second OS won't necessarily help you learn about different file systems like rpms, or file managers like yum. I might recommend that you you look at PCLinuxOS 2007, OpenSUSE 11, Mandriva or Fedora, they are great for people that are still new to linux and want to learn. Another thing that I just thought of is how long have you been using Ubuntu. If it is less than 6 months to a year then I might recommend that you stick with just one. The reason of this is that there are some very big differences between the .deb, and .rpm file systems. I would recommend that you get the basics like using command line, and understanding as much as you can about one distro, before you move on and have to start from scratch with a different style distro. That is just my two cents though. Cheers! __________________ If I have posted on your thread and haven't replied within 48hrs please PM me. I will try to be as prompt as possible! Linux Forever! Learning is doing, not being able to follow steps put forth by others. When posting what errors you get, please give the full message. It makes helping you much easier.

11-09-2008, 08:51 AM	#6 (permalink)
hal8000 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: UK Posts: 151 OS: Knoppix/Suse/PCLinuxOS	Re: Installing 2nd Linux OS Not sure which version of Debian youve installed but Debian Etch and Lenny both use grub as the bootloader, so does Ubuntu. As wmorri said, Ubuntu is based on Debian so you wont be learning that much- except that Debian has very few graphical setup tools so you will find it difficult. You can only have 4 primary partitions, so for me I create an extended partition and setup logical drives in the extended partition, reserving the valuble primary partitions for systems that need them. No-one installs linux once so it is ok to create a single / partition /dev/sda3 and install your second system there. Make things easy for yourself, choose a distribution that is user friendly and has a good support forum, PClinuxOS, Suse, Mandriva are among the easiest to install. If you choose one of the above when it comes to the bootloader stage do either of the following:- i) choose not to install a bootloader (in this case you will manually edit the existing /boot/grub/menu.lst) entry or ii) choose to install grub in the mbr All the above distros are smart enough to pick up your existing installation and will install grub. As for lilo, only very early versions have the 1024th cylinder limit. You can choose to have a separate /boot partition but its not necessary and complicates the partitioning