Installing alongside another distro?

solarwind · 2008-03-20 02:50:49

Hey all. I have two hard drives like this:

First hard drive is for Windows stuff. First partition of second hard drive contains Ubuntu Linux. I use GRUB as a bootloader. I want to install ArchLinux to HDB3 but I don't want GRUB overwritten or anything. Is it possible to add a menu entry to GRUB to boot ArchLinux without disturbing the entries for Windows and Ubuntu Linux?

Last edited by solarwind (2008-03-20 02:52:07)

valnour · 2008-03-20 03:11:03

If I understand your question correctly, you shouldn't have a problem doing this.
Just install Arch in the free space on your hard drive, skip the installation of GRUB, and then configure GRUB yourself from your Ubuntu partition.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Grub

That will give you an idea on what to add to your menu.lst

solarwind · 2008-03-20 03:32:01

valnour wrote:

If I understand your question correctly, you shouldn't have a problem doing this.
Just install Arch in the free space on your hard drive, skip the installation of GRUB, and then configure GRUB yourself from your Ubuntu partition.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Grub
That will give you an idea on what to add to your menu.lst

Just what I needed. Beautiful. Thanks!

1. Skip GRUB configuration during Arch Linux install.
2. Edit menu.lst manually.

solarwind · 2008-03-20 03:34:41

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux  [cpio]
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda6 ro vga=773
initrd /kernel26.img

title  Arch Linux  [thinkpad]
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26thinkpad root=/dev/sda6 ro video=vesafb:off acpi_sleep=s3_bios
resume2=swap:/dev/sda5
initrd /kernel26thinkpad.img

That's the code from the link above. The only problem is, I don't know what options to pass in the kernel line for my system.

Is it possible to install GRUB on the Arch Linux partition and chainload it from the main GRUB? That way, I don't need to worry about configuring GRUB for Arch, I can just chainload. Secondly, do you mind posting your menu.lst? I want to see some examples of kernel options.

Last edited by solarwind (2008-03-20 03:36:40)

valnour · 2008-03-20 03:46:18

I think your kernel line should look just like this:

kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda6 ro

But the "/dev/sda6" part will be different. I'm guess it should probably read like this:

kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdb3 ro

But I could be completely wrong on that one.

I'm not sure on your chainloading question. I believe that is possible, but I don't know how it would be done. Maybe someone else knows more about that, or can tell your the correct root option for your kernel.

tigrmesh · 2008-03-20 03:52:07

solarwind wrote:

Is it possible to install GRUB on the Arch Linux partition and chainload it from the main GRUB? That way, I don't need to worry about configuring GRUB for Arch, I can just chainload.

That's what I do. It takes a little longer to start Arch, but I have added options, like to boot with or without a splash, or without X. Oh, and a fallback, of course.

This is the Arch part of my Ubuntu grub:

# Testing2 on /dev/sda8
title         Arch Linux (testing2) at sda8
rootnoverify  (hd0,7)
chainloader +1

This is from my Arch grub:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux GUI
root   (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda8 ro 5 vga=791
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

solarwind · 2008-03-20 22:14:50

tigrmesh wrote:

solarwind wrote:
Is it possible to install GRUB on the Arch Linux partition and chainload it from the main GRUB? That way, I don't need to worry about configuring GRUB for Arch, I can just chainload.
That's what I do. It takes a little longer to start Arch, but I have added options, like to boot with or without a splash, or without X. Oh, and a fallback, of course.
This is the Arch part of my Ubuntu grub:
# Testing2 on /dev/sda8
title         Arch Linux (testing2) at sda8
rootnoverify  (hd0,7)
chainloader +1
This is from my Arch grub:
# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux GUI
root   (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda8 ro 5 vga=791
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

That is awesome. Do you mind briefly describing the GRUB portion of your Arch Linux install process? What did you select? Looks like I'll be doing the chain loading first and if it works, copying over the menu.lst part to my main GRUB part. That should work.

tigrmesh · 2008-03-20 22:52:25

I have the first (ubuntu) grub timeout set to 10.

I have the Arch grub timeout at 5. The default is set to 0, which will boot the first one - in my case its the gui option.

OH, I understand your question now. I have the framebuffer set (vga=791) to get the Arch logo in the top left corner as I boot and a smaller font, so more text fits in the console. I don't remember what the ro does, but the 5 means a run-level of 5 - which allows me to boot with X11. There is a second, identical, entry that has a 3 instead, which boots directly to a console. See this page for more information on run-levels: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Add … on_startup.

You may be interested in the wiki GRUB page: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB.

solarwind · 2008-03-20 22:54:33

Thanks. The ro means read only.

tigrmesh · 2008-03-20 23:36:53

The read only doesn't make sense to me, which is why I never remember.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-20 02:50:49

Installing alongside another distro?

#2 2008-03-20 03:11:03

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

#3 2008-03-20 03:32:01

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

#4 2008-03-20 03:34:41

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

#5 2008-03-20 03:46:18

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

#6 2008-03-20 03:52:07

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

#7 2008-03-20 22:14:50

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

#8 2008-03-20 22:52:25

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

#9 2008-03-20 22:54:33

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

#10 2008-03-20 23:36:53

Re: Installing alongside another distro?

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