Xgl -- Should I try SuSE?

[Mark Warner]

Scott wrote:
> Lord Sauron spake thusly:
>>
>> dual boot.  i love grub.  I can walk u through setting up grub if you
>> need me to.  it's just making a new menu.lst entry.  it's not that
>> difficult.
>
> I'll bite if he doesn't.
>
> Half of the time when I try to install two Linux distros the new one
> overwrites menu.lst completely.  Or it only recognizes say two of the
> 3 OSes I have installed.

Here's the deal: with most linux installs, the included bootloader will
overwrite whatever already exists, be it the Windows bootloader or
another grub/lilo previously installed. And yes, many times the new
bootloader will only list the new linux install and Windows.

Here's what I do: I already have the grub bootloader that was installed
when I last installed MEPIS set up the way I want to, and don't want it
overwritten. So before I install another linux distro, I configure my
existing menu.lst file in my MEPIS install to include the new distro
*ahead* *of* *time*.

For example, lets say I'm gonna install SUSE 10.1 to the second
partition on my secondary/slave drive -- hdb2 [hdb2= hard drive
b(secondary/slave)/partition #2]. I simply add the following "stanza" to
my MEPIS /boot/grub/menu.lst file:

title SUSE 10.1 at hdb2
rootnoverify (hd1,1)
chainloader +1

This adds the option to boot SUSE to the already existing grub
bootloader that was installed with MEPIS. [Note: GrUB drive numbers and
partition numbers start with 0, not a or 1; hence, hdb2=hd1,1. The third
partition on the primary drive (hda3) would be hd0,2, and so forth.]

Now it's been a while since I've installed SUSE, so I'm going on memory
here, but I believe this is correct... When you go to install SUSE,
early in the process you will be given the opportunity to do an 'Expert'
install. You *must* chose that option. Then, much later in the
installation, you will be asked to install the bootloader (LILO, I
believe) to either the MBR or the root partition of the SUSE install.
You *must* install to the root partition or your existing bootloader
will be overwritten. (Not necessarily a bad thing, as I recall SUSE
picking up all my different OS installations when I did this last -- 
five of 'em at the time, I believe.)

Upon reboot, your existing bootloader should appear with SUSE as a
choice. When you chose to boot SUSE, you will then be looking at the
SUSE/lilo bootloader, with SUSE as the default load. Others can advise
you as to how to edit that LILO file from within SUSE to remove unwanted
listings (it will probably have listings for all the installs on your
machine) and change the time to load the default boot option -- I assume
it is very similar to the /boot/grub/menu.lst, but am not familiar with
it.

HTH. Happy multi-booting.

-- 
Mark Warner
lose .inhibitions when replying