Arch Linux

staticvoid

Member

Registered: 2008-01-22

Posts: 160

dualboot double check

howdy folks. i wanna dual boot archlinux and ubuntu. here's what i got:

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000c73ab

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        2227    17888346   83  Linux
/dev/sda2            4679        4864     1494045    5  Extended
/dev/sda3            2228        4678    19687657+  83  Linux
/dev/sda5            4679        4864     1494013+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

and the last bit in my grubby grub grub....

menu.lst

......### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

title        ArchLinux
root        (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

look good to you guys? i'll be using the same swap partition for both, and i when i install archlinux, i won't install grub. pretty much i'll install the whole thing with cfdisk to /dev/sda2... no swap.. no /home or /boot partitions...

will i suceed?? dun dun dun!

sv

EDIT: woops! where will i be installing arch to..? sda3 instead? so make that (hd0, 2) in the grub? i see sda2 is extended... hmm... looked ok when i did it with gparted livecd  : /

Last edited by staticvoid (2008-02-17 20:20:38)

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staticvoid

Member

Registered: 2008-01-22

Posts: 160

Re: dualboot double check

ok, well i just made some different entries in grub togive it a shot. i'm installing arch ontp the larg 18 gb one... how'll i do it

sv

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loosec

Member

Registered: 2007-03-08

Posts: 134

Re: dualboot double check

You simply choose that partition as root and choose not to enter any other mountpoints, except maybe swap, then continue to install as you would anyways.

During install:

/dev/sda3 as /

I guess just chainloading GRUB to the correct partition will do the trick.
Or you could try something like:

title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,2)    #This points to the partition containing your BOOT directory
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

no guarantees =;D

I recently saw some thread in here about grub that linked to some maniac with 100+ bootable entries in grub. That will definitely help you.
This thread.

Last edited by loosec (2008-02-18 09:43:46)

staticvoid

Member

Registered: 2008-01-22

Posts: 160

Re: dualboot double check

yea, all i set was sda3... I wasn't sure so i hit alt f2 and typed in cfdisk to check which one i should be installing on...

thanks so much! i was just searching the wiki for a sample grub sheet to copy the boot lines for arch.. i hope it works this time
all i had was

title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,2)

awesome... 

i'll try what you said. and i read the thread of 100+ linux installs and i could NOT find arch! lol... aw well...

sv

p.s. whats the diff between grubs hd, and linuxes sd? and if i ad vga=731 to the kernal will i get 1024 by 768 res?

Last edited by staticvoid (2008-02-18 09:50:07)

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loosec

Member

Registered: 2007-03-08

Posts: 134

Re: dualboot double check

i'll try what you said. and i read the thread of 100+ linux installs and i could NOT find arch! lol... aw well...
sv
p.s. whats the diff between grubs hd, and linuxes sd? and if i ad vga=731 to the kernal will i get 1024 by 768 res?

Arch uses sd for some reason since a year back. grub hd0,0 is most likely /dev/sda1. hd1,2 is then /dev/sdb3 IF the harddrives are connected in the correct order and on the same controller. You will have to test if this is the case if you have more than one hdd.

No need to find arch in there just need to find how to boot to another linux distro with just the one partition. That will most likely give you the correct (hdX,Y) for GRUB to use.

vga=731 will give you some resolution and some colour depth, not shure exactly what. i use vga=792 for my thinkpad x31 (1024x768) not sure if this is 8 or 16 bits colour depth thou. IF you set it to high grub will complain and ask you to choose from a menu somewhere. And you can always edit the grubmenu during bootup with 'e' to find the correct values.

Goodluck Sir!