Have Kubuntu and XP, want to add Gentoo for triboot

ubunteen · 01-17-2007, 12:28 PM

Hello.

I run Kubuntu Edgy Eft and Windows Xp. I'm planning on shrinking my XP partition to fit Gentoo. I've run the Gentoo GTK+ based installer and spent time thinking about what i want to do with my partitions. When I shrink XP (hda1) the visual configuration on the partitioning software shows a large hda1 partition, a smaller empty space, a barely larger hda2 (my Kubuntu), and a very small swap part.

My question: When I setup the free space for Gentoo (it's about 8000MB), do i need a new swap partition? Also, when i set up the free space as only my / directory for Gentoo, it changes the Kubuntu space to hda3, and names the Gentoo space hda2. Will this screw up my Kubuntu install?

You'd think after about 18 installs in under 16 months of using linux, i'd know this by now. Thanks for any help.

pljvaldez · 01-17-2007, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ubunteen

My question: When I setup the free space for Gentoo (it's about 8000MB), do i need a new swap partition?

You can share swap. Gentoo's installer might want you to reformat the swap partition as swap again (which won't hurt anything).

Quote:

Also, when i set up the free space as only my / directory for Gentoo, it changes the Kubuntu space to hda3, and names the Gentoo space hda2. Will this screw up my Kubuntu install?

Yes it will. It's not unrecoverable, but it's a bit of a pain. You'll have to boot a live CD and chroot into your Kubuntu install, then modify grub and also modify /etc/fstab. Or depending on the file system you're using for Kubuntu, you might be able to use the Gparted Live CD to resize XP and move the Kubuntu partition to keep it the same order. I've moved partitions in the past w/ mixed results (sometimes working flawlessly and sometimes really hosing myself, i.e. reinstall required)...

ubunteen · 01-17-2007, 04:04 PM

Ok. So say I'm willing to go the route of temporarily disabling my kubuntu install, booting a live CD, and editing my config files. Where exactly do i configure grub to 1) add gentoo 2) refer to Kubuntu in hda3 vs hda2? Also (I'm going to take a look at my /etc/fstab so i may know the answer soon) what would i edit in fstab?

thanks for the help

pljvaldez · 01-17-2007, 04:20 PM

So in fstab, you'll have something like

Code:

/dev/hda2  /    ext3    defaults    0   0

and you'll just want to change hda2 to hda3. Now you'll also have to change the swap line since it's probably hda3 now and will then be hda4.

As to grub, what you'll want to do is install the gentoo bootloader (grub or lilo) into the / partition (/dev/hda2) NOT into the master boot record. Then you'll want to add a line to the end of the file like this

Code:

title Gentoo
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
boot

You'll also have to check the (hd0,1) in the Kubuntu sections. hd0,1 is the same as /dev/hda2 (hd0 = hda, partition 1 = second partition since grub counts from 0). So you'll want the Kubuntu sections to have (hd0,2) => hda3.

I think that's all off the top of my head...

ubunteen · 01-17-2007, 07:43 PM

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/hda2
UUID=101745ca-3d70-4ec7-91dc-c700a6b586ee / ext3 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
# /dev/hda5
UUID=be969c95-ae5d-4799-a5e3-e319ea4947f8 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,atime,noauto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 0
/dev/hda1 /media/windows ntfs  iocharset=utf8,umask=000  0 0

Ok, my problem, if you look at this output you'll see it, is that the listing for my /dev/hda2 (/) is under UUID, not the /dev thingy. Um, with that be messed up if /dev/hda2 changes to /dev/hda3?

pljvaldez · 01-18-2007, 12:50 PM

Honestly, I have no idea. I've never seen that before. Of course, I don't use Ubuntu, but Debian instead. It still seems to use the /dev/ nomenclature...

Maybe a little googling will help out...

bospaadje · 01-18-2007, 04:51 PM

according to this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131 you can just change the UUID reference to /dev/hdax (x being 1,2, etc). just replace the whole "UUID=101745ca-3d70-4ec7-91dc-c700a6b586ee" by /dev/hda3. do the same with the swap partition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pljvaldez

As to grub, what you'll want to do is install the gentoo bootloader (grub or lilo) into the / partition (/dev/hda2) NOT into the master boot record. Then you'll want to add a line to the end of the file like this

Code:

title Gentoo
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
boot

You might be able to find your current grub install in ubuntu and add a section for gentoo linux to the grub.conf. just make sure you specify where it can find your kernel. documentation for this can be found in the gentoo installation docs. you'll probably end up with something like this:

Code:

title=Gentoo Linux <version>
# Partition where the kernel image (or operating system) is located
root (hd0,1) # this is the same as /dev/hda2
kernel /boot/kernelfile root=/dev/hda2

don't forget to change the section for the ubuntu install - /dev/hda3 is the same as (hd0,2).

About the gentoo graphical installer: The graphical installer exists since january 2006, and the first version was (unfortunately) flawed: it would sometimes erase partitions that shouldn't be, resulting in unwanted data loss. These problems were mostly fixed in the next version (2006.1). I'm not sure about the current state of affairs, but the consensus among gentoo users still seems to be to rather use the 'normal' CLI install. if you use the graphical live-cd, you can have a browser alongside it to read the manual online (I used links back in 2005, which also worked fine

).

Basically, you can just copy-paste the commands in the right order, though you'll have to configure some things (probably the same things the graphical installer let's you configure). When I installed gentoo i was a complete newbie, but I just worked through the install manual step by step and everything worked fine. Moreover, while installing i learned a lot about maintaining my gentoo install too - i know where to find configuration files, how to update packages etc. By using the graphical installer you don't learn all this, and have to find it out when you need it. It is not much harder, but you learn a lot more from it =)

You can find the gentoo (manual) installation guide at http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/index.xml. Installing gentoo following this manual requires an internet connection during installation.

good luck installing gentoo, and have fun

ubunteen · 01-19-2007, 11:33 AM

One,I've seen that thread at ubuntuforums.org. Two, I'm using the handbook. I just was unsure. Didn't quite trust that thread. Thanks though. It seems I'm going to wait for an empty box to work with however. I'm not one to risk much. Thanks for all your help, as I'm sure i can use it in the future.

bospaadje · 01-20-2007, 05:42 PM

if you're not entirely sure wether you can just replace the UUID value by a /dev/hdaX reference, you could always backup your current /etc/fstab, edit it to the current partitioning scheme (/dev/hda2) and see if it works first, before you actually change the partitioning of your hd.

as for the help, you're welcome. Also check out the http://forums.gentoo.org forums, a lot of helpful people out there too (and it's the official gentoo support forum). If you've got a question about gentoo it's most probably answered there already =)