Installing Arch Linux alongside Ubuntu, Debian, and Windows Vista

Ben9250 · 2010-06-10 01:32:39

Hi, I'm Ben, I currently have Vista, Debian and Ubuntu on the drive of my Dell XPS M1530. I started out with Vista and got introduced to Linux through Ubuntu and I want to try and dabble in some other Linux Distros for the learning opportunity mostly. I have already installed Debian and want to start having a look at that soon but I would also like to have a look at Arch Linux. I've read the beginners guid and looked at this forum and the wiki but I'm a bit confused with the partition of the hard drive part of the beginners guide, as in Ubuntu it does it all for you and with Debian I simply cleared some space and chose the option to utilize available disk space. The beginners guide shows how to do different partitions and different types like root etc:

Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
sda1 Primary Linux 15440 #root
sda2 Primary Linux 10256 #/var
sda3 Primary Linux swap / Solaris 1024 #swap
sda4 Primary Linux 140480 #/home

and once those are created then you mount them (that's what I've understood). It says you can do this in Gparted and skip straight to the mountparts bit. I assume if I make some free space in Gparted in Ubuntu and make the partitions before I start and then skip to the mounting and do this with what I create with the freespace the other partitions and OS'es will be left alone? Is it ok to put these new partitions I would intend for Arch Linux together in an extended partition?

For the second part of my question: The beginners guide section about the bootloader (GRUB) in the context of Arch Linux being the only operating system on the computer, but with me this will not be the case. Is there something different I need to do (My guess is there is but I'm not sure what - messing around with the grub and stuff is very new to me because so far Ubuntu and Debian has done it all itself). My install order has been Vista, Debian, and then Ubuntu with live CD and guided partitioning. So I think my GRUB is just that, not any other variant - but whatever Ubuntu gave me (as its the one I installed last).

My current Drive Configuration as returned from parted in Ubuntu (command 'print') is thus:

Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54252 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 250GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 42.5GB 42.5GB primary ntfs <-Winows Vista.
2 127GB 168GB 41.5GB primary ext3 boot <-Debian.
3 168GB 250GB 81.7GB extended <- All Ubuntu and the swap for debian is contained here.
6 168GB 240GB 72.1GB logical ext4 <-Ubuntu
7 240GB 244GB 3108MB logical linux-swap(v1) <-Debian swap
5 244GB 250GB 6506MB logical linux-swap(v1) <-Ubuntu swap

I know that may seem a bit odd but that's how all the semi/completely guided bits of Debian and the Ubuntu installers set it up. Between 1 and 2 there is some free space (84GB) I've cleared for Arch Linux partitioning. From the looks of what I already have, I have swap partitions for my linux distros and then a larger partition which I assume from reading the Beginners Guide to installing Arch are /(root) partitions that contain everything from /boot to /home for both distro's I have. I'm assuming I can do this for Arch and not have to have seperate /home and /var partitions as the example in the Beginners guide suggests.

I really want to get into Arch Linux as it looks really slick and although I love Ubuntu and it's a brilliant starting point eventually you just get bored of it holding your hand. Which is why I installed Debian but Arch Linux looked more attractive from what I read about it. I'm going for the core 64 bit iso image for installing that version.

Thank you sooooo much in advance to anyone who can help me with this, I realise it's quite a big question in all.
Cheers

Last edited by Ben9250 (2010-06-10 02:57:00)

Ben9250 · 2010-06-10 04:08:18

Please ignore this question I've written and worded it poorly and I've done a bit more reading since and so have rephrased my question and what I wish to know in another thread. Really sorry for any annoyance.

Inxsible · 2010-06-10 04:11:35

Ben9250 wrote:

......... I assume if I make some free space in Gparted in Ubuntu and make the partitions before I start and then skip to the mounting and do this with what I create with the freespace the other partitions and OS'es will be left alone?

Yes, as long as you are careful and don't delete/erase the wrong partition, you should be fine.

Ben9250 wrote:

Is it ok to put these new partitions I would intend for Arch Linux together in an extended partition?

Yes

Ben9250 wrote:

For the second part of my question: The beginners guide section about the bootloader (GRUB) in the context of Arch Linux being the only operating system on the computer, but with me this will not be the case. Is there something different I need to do (My guess is there is but I'm not sure what - messing around with the grub and stuff is very new to me because so far Ubuntu and Debian has done it all itself). My install order has been Vista, Debian, and then Ubuntu with live CD and guided partitioning. So I think my GRUB is just that, not any other variant - but whatever Ubuntu gave me (as its the one I installed last).
My current Drive Configuration as returned from parted in Ubuntu (command 'print') is thus:
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54252 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 250GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 42.5GB 42.5GB primary ntfs <-Winows Vista.
2 127GB 168GB 41.5GB primary ext3 boot <-Debian.
3 168GB 250GB 81.7GB extended <- All Ubuntu and the swap for debian is contained here.
6 168GB 240GB 72.1GB logical ext4 <-Ubuntu
7 240GB 244GB 3108MB logical linux-swap(v1) <-Debian swap
5 244GB 250GB 6506MB logical linux-swap(v1) <-Ubuntu swap
I know that may seem a bit odd but that's how all the semi/completely guided bits of Debian and the Ubuntu installers set it up. Between 1 and 2 there is some free space (84GB) I've cleared for Arch Linux partitioning. From the looks of what I already have, I have swap partitions for my linux distros and then a larger partition which I assume from reading the Beginners Guide to installing Arch are /(root) partitions that contain everything from /boot to /home for both distro's I have. I'm assuming I can do this for Arch and not have to have seperate /home and /var partitions as the example in the Beginners guide suggests.
I really want to get into Arch Linux as it looks really slick and although I love Ubuntu and it's a brilliant starting point eventually you just get bored of it holding your hand. Which is why I installed Debian but Arch Linux looked more attractive from what I read about it. I'm going for the core 64 bit iso image for installing that version.
Thank you sooooo much in advance to anyone who can help me with this, I realise it's quite a big question in all.
Cheers

You don't need a separate swap partition for every linux distro that you install. Swap is just some HDD space where files are kept when the RAM gets full. So on shutdown of the OS, you lose that cached data, unless you chose to suspend, which is when the swap actually remembers the data.

As for grub, you could have it any way you want. You can use the Debian or Ubuntu grub and use it to boot into Arch (simply add an entry for Arch in that grub/menu.lst, or you can install the Arch grub and then make the necessary entries in there to be able to boot into Debian and Ubuntu and Vista. The choice is yours.

Allan · 2010-06-10 04:12:15

You would have been better to just edit this one with the new wording. Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-10 01:32:39

Installing Arch Linux alongside Ubuntu, Debian, and Windows Vista

#2 2010-06-10 04:08:18

Re: Installing Arch Linux alongside Ubuntu, Debian, and Windows Vista

#3 2010-06-10 04:11:35

Re: Installing Arch Linux alongside Ubuntu, Debian, and Windows Vista

#4 2010-06-10 04:12:15

Re: Installing Arch Linux alongside Ubuntu, Debian, and Windows Vista

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