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mastermnd
n00b
Joined: 24 Dec 2003
Posts: 69
Location: Espoo, Finland
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 Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 10:36 pm Post subject: Changing to Gentoo |
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Hi,
I think I'm going to change my SuSe to Gentoo in the future. Still, I'd like to get some answers to few questions.
1. I don't have an own partition for /home, so i think i should just remove everything from that current root-partition?
2. I thought grub.conf should contain info on all operating systems installed in my machine, but the only thing /etc/grub.conf contains is:
| Code: |
root (hd0,6)
install --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/stage1 d (hd0) /boot/grub/stage2 0x8000 (hd0,6)/boot/grub/menu.lst
quit |
My Linux root is located on hda7 and windows xp on hda1, naturally. So what should my grub.conf look like with gentoo and winxp installations?
3. What are the odds that I just screw things up and nothing works if I try to do this by your manual? 
As you may see, I'm just a noob with unix's and all good pieces of advice are welcome. 
edit: obviously grub-config is in /boot/gub/menu.lst, containing this among other things:
| Code: | title linux
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 vga=0x31a hdb=ide-scsi hdblun=0 splash=silent showopts
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd |
How should alter this when changing to gentoo? |
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aridhol
Guru
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Posts: 509
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 1:24 am Post subject: |
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How to alter Grub: Just follow the guide and You'll be fine. The guide also tells you how to dualboot with windows.
I don't exacly follow your question though. If you want gentoo to be installed on hda7 then I really recommend you reformat it. You could however make a backup of /home, or manually delete everything except /home. I would not reccomend it though.
One idea would be to tar /home/user into user.tar (serverall users, just use severall tars). and then wipe the disk of everything (using rm, not format) but the tars. Then after creating the user just untar the user.tar into /home/user. Or even better, just tar what you need. A lot of hidden dirs might not be required after the install.
_________________
72 of Pitcairn Islands 49 inhabitants use Seti@Home
"If you buy a DVD you have a copy. If you want a backup copy you buy another one."
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." |
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olav
Apprentice
Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 194
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 6:35 am Post subject: Re: Changing to Gentoo |
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| mastermnd wrote: |
1. I don't have an own partition for /home, so i think i should just remove everything from that current root-partition?
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Backup everything you need and wave that partition goodbye. I would make a separate /home partition when installing gentoo (you don't run the risk of filling up / because of a full home directory).
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2. My Linux root is located on hda7 and windows xp on hda1, naturally. So what should my grub.conf look like with gentoo and winxp installations?
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I have a similar situation with WinXP on hda1. My /boot partition is a primary partition hda2. The rest of my gentoo partitions are inside the extended partition hda3 and shows up as logical partitions hda5 (swap), hda6 (/), etc. I made hda2 bootable in the partitioning step, and at the end of the install, I installed grub there, like this:
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#emerge grub
#grub
grub>root (hd0,1)
grub>setup (hd0,1)
grub>quit
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I used genkernel to install the kernel, and so my /boot/grub/grub.conf looks like this:
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default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
# Gentoo sources 2.4.22-gentoo-r2
title=Gentoo-sources 2.4.22-r2
root (hd0,1)
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/kernel-2.4.22-gentoo-r2 root=/dev/hda6 vga=792
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/initrd-2.4.22-gentoo-r2
# Windows XP
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,0)+1
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When you boot, you will boot from hda2 and grub comes up with the choices "Gentoo-sources 2.4.22-r2" and "Windows XP".
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3. What are the odds that I just screw things up and nothing works if I try to do this by your manual?
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If you have another computer nearby so that you can access these forums, the odds of a failure are close to nil . You also have very good odds on your side if you print out the install docs and perform a stage 1 install by following these docs to the letter. However, my advice is: Expect to perform the installation twice. When you first get gentoo up and running, play around with it for a while to learn how things work, and don't worry about breaking stuff. When you feel confident, do the install one more time and start using the system.
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As you may see, I'm just a noob with unix's and all good pieces of advice are welcome.
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Noobness is an advantage sometimes. Fewer bad habits to get rid of.  Use the install docs (they are well written) and these forums, and you will be running gentoo in no time. The X-mas holidays is an excellent time for such projects. |
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aridhol
Guru
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Posts: 509
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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Just be very careful about following the guide to the letter when making partitions.
Don't set up hda1 since that is your windows partition. I think that is the biggest and most common mistake for users following the guide.
_________________
72 of Pitcairn Islands 49 inhabitants use Seti@Home
"If you buy a DVD you have a copy. If you want a backup copy you buy another one."
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." |
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olav
Apprentice
Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 194
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Hmm....to the letter with a portion of common sense |
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mastermnd
n00b
Joined: 24 Dec 2003
Posts: 69
Location: Espoo, Finland
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks, I think I'll give it a shot. Also some friends of mine are using gentoo and I think I'll consult them in error-situations. |
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adaptr
Watchman
Joined: 06 Oct 2002
Posts: 6730
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
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| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 5:26 am Post subject: |
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| olav wrote: | | Hmm....to the letter with a portion of common sense |
I do hope you include your earlier post in that...
If you don't install GRUB on the MBR, how are you going to boot it again ?
A pinch of salt in addition to a healthy dose of common sense methinks... |
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olav
Apprentice
Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 194
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2003 12:18 am Post subject: |
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| adaptr wrote: | | olav wrote: | | Hmm....to the letter with a portion of common sense |
I do hope you include your earlier post in that...
If you don't install GRUB on the MBR, how are you going to boot it again ?
A pinch of salt in addition to a healthy dose of common sense methinks... |
Hmm? You don't need to install grub on the MBR. Install it on a separate boot partition and make it bootable. That's the setup I use. |
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adaptr
Watchman
Joined: 06 Oct 2002
Posts: 6730
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
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| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 5:02 pm Post subject: how, then ? |
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| olav wrote: | | Hmm? You don't need to install grub on the MBR. Install it on a separate boot partition and make it bootable. That's the setup I use. |
Again - HOW do you expect the PC (or, more accurately, the BIOS) to be able to boot this ?
SOMEthing will have to be installed in the MBR for any HD-based booting to be going on - depend on it. |
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olav
Apprentice
Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 194
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2003 10:59 am Post subject: |
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Ahum...
How Grub does its things, I don't know, but I can verify from personal experience that the following setup works:
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1. Make a separate boot partition, let's call it /dev/hda2, and make it the only bootable partition on the disk (WinXP is on hda1, while hda5-hda10 are the other Linux partitions):
2. Install Grub on /dev/hda2:
grub> root (hd0,1)
grub> setup (hd0,1)
grub> quit
3. Use this grub.conf:
default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
# Gentoo sources 2.4.22-gentoo-r2
title=Gentoo-sources 2.4.22-r2
root (hd0,1)
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/kernel-2.4.22-gentoo-r2 root=/dev/hda6 vga=792
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/initrd-2.4.22-gentoo-r2
# Windows XP
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,0)+1
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I repeat: This works. I can boot my machine using this setup. If you still don't believe me, I can ask my dear old mother to send you a signed letter, verifying that I speak the truth. Perhaps you could explain why you believe that this setup shouldn't work? |
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cyrillic
Watchman
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 7313
Location: Groton, Massachusetts USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2003 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| olav wrote: | | How Grub does its things, I don't know, but I can verify from personal experience that the following setup works: |
It works because you are using the DOS/Windows MBR code as your primary bootloader, and by marking your Linux partition "active", it will transfer control to a secondary bootloader (GRUB in your case). |
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olav
Apprentice
Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 194
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2003 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Then we have that sorted out. Thanks |
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adaptr
Watchman
Joined: 06 Oct 2002
Posts: 6730
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
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| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 3:08 am Post subject: |
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| cyrillic wrote: | | It works because you are using the DOS/Windows MBR code as your primary bootloader, and by marking your Linux partition "active", it will transfer control to a secondary bootloader (GRUB in your case). |
You're kidding, right ?
I know that the "active partition" thing is only used by M$ DOG to be able to figure out that it's supposed to do something, but that much intelligence - in DOS ?
Aaargh |
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Installing Gentoo
