[Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

KLIM · 2010-11-18 21:01:30

Hello Arch users!

I have considered for a time now, to try out Arch Linux, but of course I want to keep my current ubuntu system. Both system should be installed on the same harddrive, so my question is how should the partition table look like?

This is how my partition table look like at the moment. Every partition is under the extended /dev/sda2

 Device     Boot     Start      End      Blocks       Id  System
/dev/sda2              13       20023   160738357+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            4117        5391    10241406    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6            5392        5515      995998+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7   *        5516       11924    51480261   83  Linux
/dev/sda8           11925       20023    65055186    7  HPFS/NTFS

I have 100 MB unused space before the extended, and 30GB inside.

Another question how should I configure grub, should I install it from the arch installation or keep the one I have from ubuntu?

//KLIM

Last edited by KLIM (2010-11-22 08:33:55)

ChoK · 2010-11-19 00:51:38

You can find multiple answers in the forums for your questions. The wiki also will address many of your concerns and should be your first destination for answers.

Look here to configure grub from ubuntu (once arch installs grub it never updates it again, only change will come from ubuntu so it's easier to use that) https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=108442. see my post.

I suggest using the 100MB unused space before the logical partitions for /boot shared between arch and ubuntu in ext2.
Use about 5G to 10G for each separate root partition in arch and ubuntu (depends of the number of packages you want to install, and also pacman/apt-get cache can take a large portion of that), both in ext4
and use the remainder for a shared /home partition, in ext4. (the primary user in ubuntu will be able to access the file of the primary user in arch as they have the same pid of 1000 does that bothers you?)

If you have 2G of RAM or less maybe 1G of swap partition or a swapfile can be useful otherwise as you're really constrained you can do without.

Last edited by ChoK (2010-11-19 11:34:54)

KLIM · 2010-11-19 10:04:30

Thanks for the reply. I followed the beginers guide yesterday and after the install I got an error on my root partition (Unable to deterine minor/major numbers of /dev/sda3), and afterwards my whole partition table didn't show up right in the cfdisk. Thats why I'm asking now, don't want to mess it up again.

I've listed your suggestions below, and just 2 questions, would it give conflicts to use /dev/sda3 for both root and /home partition for arch?
and should both root partitions be flagged with bootable or only /boot (/dev/sda1) ?

Device     Boot     Start      End      Blocks       Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          13           x              1    Linux (ext2)
/dev/sda2              13       20023   160738357+   5  Extended
/dev/sda3   *         14          4117            x         6    Linux (ext4)
/dev/sda5            4117        5391    10241406    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6            5392        5515      995998+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7   *        5516       11924    51480261   83  Linux
/dev/sda8           11925       20023    65055186    7  HPFS/NTFS

ChoK · 2010-11-19 11:48:28

KLIM wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I followed the beginers guide yesterday and after the install I got an error on my root partition (Unable to deterine minor/major numbers of /dev/sda3), and afterwards my whole partition table didn't show up right in the cfdisk. Thats why I'm asking now, don't want to mess it up again.
I've listed your suggestions below, and just 2 questions, would it give conflicts to use /dev/sda3 for both root and /home partition for arch?
and should both root partitions be flagged with bootable or only /boot (/dev/sda1) ?

- I remember seeing the first error recently in the forum. If I recall correctly it can be corrected by using uuid or label in the grub boot line with /dev/disk/by-label/<label> or /dev/disk/by-uuid/<uuid>
You can check UUID and label with the blkid command and change label with tune2fs for ext{2,3,4} partition.

- You can put / and /home and the same partition, it's just good practice to separate system and user data especially for backup. Just don't mix ubuntu root and arch root.

- Linux doesn't need the bootable flag if grub or grub2 is installed in your MBR.

KLIM · 2010-11-19 14:09:16

Thanks a lot, I'm almost up and running with arch now. Just the network settings giving me a bit trouble.
I finally got configured grub so Ubuntu is able to boot as well.

Well back to the network problem, is it possible to copy some settings from Ubuntu to the arch configs so I'm able to gain access?
The tricky part with my internet is that I have to open the browser and sign in before I'm able to use it. Normally this session is open for hours and even thought I shutdown, use windows or Ubuntu I can use the same session, but I'm not sure how to do it with arch.

I am getting my IP address from dhcp.

I followed the instructions in the beginners guide and my rc.conf looks like this:

HOSTNAME="klim-desktop"
lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255" 
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(lo eth0)
#gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)

I tried to copy my hosts file from what it looks like in Ubuntu:

#
# /etc/hosts: static lookup table for host names
#

#<ip-address>    <hostname.domain.org>    <hostname>
62.107.67.122 klim-desktop #added by networkmanager
127.0.0.1        localhost.localdomain    localhost 
::1 klim-desktop localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6


# End of file

ChoK · 2010-11-20 02:14:55

I don't know how to solve this but you might want to keep an eye on this thread https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=108586

Snowknight · 2010-11-20 02:24:06

I suggest removing the line that begins with lo= and removing lo from your INTERFACES array. As far as I know, the loopback interface is automatically created; specifying it manually may confound the process.
And, in your hosts file, append klim-desktop to the line that begins with 127.0.0.1; remove the 62.107.67.122 IP. It might change.

If you get an IP address with those setting changes – check ifconfig to see – you can send form data to the login page with curl.

Last edited by Snowknight (2010-11-20 02:25:36)

KLIM · 2010-11-20 11:45:16

I tried what you suggested, but cant get it to work no matter what. I've installed links know to get to the login page, but links can't resolve the address.

I did following commands:
ip a s

bash: ip: command not found

lspci | grep Ethernet

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: MArvel Technology Group Ltd. 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 12)
05:02.0 Ethernet controller: MArvel Technology Group Ltd. 88E8001 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 14)

route -n

Destination          Gateway            Genmask            Flags  Metric  Ref       Use    Iface

cat /etc/resolv.conf

#Generated by dhcpcd
# /etc/resolv.conf.head can replace this line
# /etc/resolv.conf.tail can replace this line

dhcpcd eth0 times out every time I try and the Network fails at boot.

EDIT:
I got it to work!!!!
Added the @ infront of network in /etc/rc.conf and now I get an IP address from our modem

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng @network netfs crond)

Thanks for the help

Last edited by KLIM (2010-11-20 12:06:34)

Snowknight · 2010-11-20 15:56:20

I'm glad you fixed it! Perhaps the network rc script didn't wait long enough? I'm not sure. Please mark this thread with "[solved]" so searchers know that you found a solution.

litemotiv · 2010-11-20 16:58:42

Moved from Arch Discussion to Newbie Corner.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-11-18 21:01:30

[Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#2 2010-11-19 00:51:38

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#3 2010-11-19 10:04:30

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#4 2010-11-19 11:48:28

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#5 2010-11-19 14:09:16

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#6 2010-11-20 02:14:55

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#7 2010-11-20 02:24:06

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#8 2010-11-20 11:45:16

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#9 2010-11-20 15:56:20

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

#10 2010-11-20 16:58:42

Re: [Solved]Dualboot arch + ubuntu

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