Arch Linux

Aerodyne

Member

Registered: 2005-07-25

Posts: 43

HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

Hi all,

I've got WinXP installed on my home PC & would like to add Arch linux as a boot option.

There are disc0, disc1, disc2 & disc3 on my machine... "/dev/discs/disc1" is the one with the WinXP on and also I've added a '/boot', 'swap' & '/' partition to the disc w/ partition magic.

The table looks like this ... do I need to add anything here plus how?:

Name-----Flag-----PartType-----FS Type-----Label-----Size
disc1------Boot---------Pri------------NTFS--------[^E]------50GB
disc5--------------------Log------------ext2-------------------41MB
disc6--------------------Log------------ext3--------[Arch]----60Gb
disc7--------------------Log-----------swap-------------------800MB

Then...
Select Partiton to mount:
/disc0/
/disc1/part1
/disc1/part2
/disc1/part5
/disc1/part6
/disc1/part7
/disc2/...
/disc3/

Ahh ... how do I set this up in order to install Arch correctly w/o losing WinXP booting as an option?

TIA

P.S. Also when installing Arch at the begging I get:
Disabling IRQ #10
Disabling IRQ #10
Disabling IRQ #10
:
Disabling IRQ #10
A few times (40+ give or take messages)
But it still loads the set up window!

Aerodyne

Member

Registered: 2005-07-25

Posts: 43

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

bump... how do I set the mount points correctly?

nullpointer

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-04-21

Posts: 8

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

When you install, Arch, just install into the partitions you want.  Then you have to set up the boot loader (either GRUB or LILO)  Have you gotten that far into the installation yet?

Aerodyne

Member

Registered: 2005-07-25

Posts: 43

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

Don't I have to add/edit somthing in the 'Partition' or 'Select Partition to mount' section?

jackmetal

Member

From: US

Registered: 2005-06-13

Posts: 164

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

Hello Aerodyne,

I wasn't sure if you had seen this or not, so just thought I'd post a link to it for you to peruse:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Qui … ux_Install

Since you've already partitioned your disk, you would start at section 1.2 (Set Mountpoints).

Does that help?

---

--

Some of the world's greatest feats were
accomplished by people not smart enough
to know they were impossible.
-- Doug Larson

nullpointer

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-04-21

Posts: 8

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

I guess you haven't gotten that far.  In any case, have a look at the link provided by jackmetal.  I believe it'll help you a lot..

Aerodyne

Member

Registered: 2005-07-25

Posts: 43

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

Thanks... yes I had a look at the 'Quick Archlinux Install', but was unsure about the /disc1/part1 ...etc stuff in the 'Select Partition to mount' section.

Guess I'll backup WinXP drive w/ TrueImage & give it a whirl.

jackmetal

Member

From: US

Registered: 2005-06-13

Posts: 164

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

There is also a "Full" Install Guide, in addition to the Quick install guide, that may be of some help to you.   

http://archlinux.org/docs/en/guide/inst … guide.html

If you run into anything -or- just have some questions; this is an excellent user community here!

---

--

Some of the world's greatest feats were
accomplished by people not smart enough
to know they were impossible.
-- Doug Larson

scarecrow

Member

From: Greece

Registered: 2004-11-18

Posts: 715

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

It looks like:
/disc1/part2 is your extended partition.
/disc1/part5 is to be used as /boot
/disc1/part6 is to be used as /
/disc1/part7 is swap

During installation don't partition anything, just set mount points. When asked about creating a filesystem, answer "yes" (this will wipe all partition data). Don't touch /disc1/part1 at all, you can mount it later if you wish.
When selecting base packages, omit devfsd completely (it will save you some work later). When you get to the bootloader thing, you can either put grub to the mbr, or to /boot. Choice is subjective, personally I would pick at /boot and use a third party primary OS loader (like GaG) which uses just the MBR and no HD space for binaries and configuration files. The advantage of using a different primary loader is that Linux doesn't mess at all with your Windows installation, and the primary loader can be removed/reinstalled very easily.

---

Microshaft delenda est

Aerodyne

Member

Registered: 2005-07-25

Posts: 43

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

Thanks scarecrow...

[snip]... omit devfsd completely (it will save you some work later)...

What does devfsd do? And how will it help out by omitting it?
I'll also look into GaG.

TIA

Snowman

Developer/Forum Fellow

From: Montreal, Canada

Registered: 2004-08-20

Posts: 5,212

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

You should use udev instead of devfs.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Udev

The support for devfs was removed from the kernel last month.  You can save work by using udev right now instead of having to switch from devfs to udev later.

Aerodyne

Member

Registered: 2005-07-25

Posts: 43

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

I get this error while trying to set the mount points:
"Error ereating filesystem: mke2fs -j /dev/discs/disc1/part6" this is suppose to be set as "/" ext3 but I keep on getting this error.

Also ".../part5" should I name it "/boot" & then set the fs to ext2?

Aerodyne

Member

Registered: 2005-07-25

Posts: 43

Re: HDD install setup (dual boot) help...[SOLVED]

my bad  ...

I did't see the "select swap ..." then "select /" partition on the top of the menu.

hence I was setting /part6 as swap ... etc & not seeing the instructions on top  :oops: