Multiple distro setup

yancek · 07-20-2014, 11:49 AM

Run: fdisk -l(Lower case Letter L in the command) and post the output here. We don't know how many drives/partitions you have. Identify which one has your Debian or whatever operating system you are using and also which drive you want to create a partition on for data. You would first need to create a partition or partitions, you would then need to format them, then create the mount point and after that mount each partition. Not knowing what partitions you have, we would end up with a lot of confusing examples so posting the fdisk output would be a good first step.

While you are waiting for a response, you could use the Search function here at LQ to look for posts on how to create a mount point and how to manually mount a partition.

rc_mandar · 07-20-2014, 03:58 PM

output 1:

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000f32c

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048     1026047      512000   83  Linux
/dev/sda2         1026048     9414655     4194304   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3   *     9414656    93300735    41943040   83  Linux
/dev/sda4        93302782   625141759   265919489    5  Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5        93302784   219131903    62914560   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       219133952   625141759   203003904    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

output 2: mount

Code:

mad@Xdeb:~$ mount
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,relatime,size=10240k,nr_inodes=713123,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,size=571744k,mode=755)
/dev/disk/by-uuid/83a1615f-2063-4b0b-86e8-bd7262e3516b on / type ext4 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
tmpfs on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=5120k)
tmpfs on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=1982340k)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext2 (rw,relatime,errors=continue,user_xattr,acl)
rpc_pipefs on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw,relatime)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)

output 3:

Code:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sdb3 during installation
UUID=83a1615f-2063-4b0b-86e8-bd7262e3516b /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
#UUID=01ff646f-7e68-4b6b-b9be-e6b26f496504 /boot           ext2    defaults        0       2
# swap was on /dev/sdb2 during installation
UUID=6a3d69b0-064a-4bdd-ad54-6ebfd916a68e none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/sda1       /media/usb0     auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
UUID=01ff646f-7e68-4b6b-b9be-e6b26f496504       /boot   ext2    defaults        0       2

yancek · 07-20-2014, 07:07 PM

Your posts are confusing. In an earlier post, you indicated you wanted to access data on two additional drives yet the fdisk output you posted only shows one hard drive. Did you not have the other hard drives attached? or are you using the term drive when you mean partition? To add to the confusion, your fstab output shows a reference to a boot partition on sda1 as well as sdb1 and it shows your root partition as being on sdb3. You don't show a second drive which would be sdb??

m.a.l.'s pa · 07-20-2014, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gor0

6 distros, 1 HD ? wtf !

Yeah, only six. I cut back this year.

rc_mandar · 07-21-2014, 02:56 AM

From fdisk -l

/dev/sda5 93302784 219131903 62914560 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 219133952 625141759 203003904 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

I want to just mount as and when needed when i click on them in File manager (thunar)

That's all.

Regarding sdb confusion, it refers to the pendrive that was connected during installation only.

yancek · 07-21-2014, 07:50 AM

Quote:

I want to just mount as and when needed when i click on them in File manager (thunar)

You are talking about Debian using thunar a a file manager, correct? I don't know how you would do that. On some systems, any partition will show up under the media directory and clicking it makes data on that partition available. Using a system with dolphin as a file manager, if I go to the media directory, it would be empty. I can see the left pane under places in dolphin which are identified by size as removable media and clicking one of them makes it available under media. I guess that is what you want but since I don't use Debian or Thunar, I have no idea.

m.a.l.'s pa · 07-21-2014, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rc_mandar

I just want to access the two other empty drives as data partitions. RIght now i am getting error as No Authority in THunar when i click on them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek

If you want to access data on an additional drive you need to first create a mount point, then create a filesystem, then mount the filesystem. If you want the partitions to be mounted on boot, you need to put a proper entry in the /etc/fstab file.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rc_mandar

From fdisk -l

/dev/sda5 93302784 219131903 62914560 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 219133952 625141759 203003904 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

I want to just mount as and when needed when i click on them in File manager (thunar)

That's all.

Maybe this example will help. I have Debian Wheezy as my first distro and Ubuntu 14.04 as the second distro. In my case, I use separate partitions for / and /home. sda1 is Debian's /. sda2 is swap. sda3 is Debian's /home. sda4 is the extended partition. sda5 is Ubuntu's /. sda6 is Ubuntu's /home.

The first thing to do, create the mount points. For me, the mount points are in /mnt, but they could be put in /media or elsewhere. So I just go to /mnt and create the directories /sda5 and /sda6. So my mount points for Ubuntu's partitions are /mnt/sda5 and /mnt/sda6.

Now I want to be able to access the Ubuntu partitions when I'm logged into Debian. In my case, I use SpaceFM or Nautilus, but it would be the same with Thunar. So I edit /etc/fstab. In my fstab, I've added the following lines at the end:

/dev/sda5 /mnt/sda5 ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6 ext4 defaults 0 2

It's a good idea to take a look at man fstab to understand each of the columns there.

Anyway, after rebooting back into Debian, I can access the Ubuntu partitions by simply clicking on them in the file manager. With this set-up, sda5 and sda6 are mounted in /mnt at boot time.

Hope this helps. The same kind of thing applies to data partitions.

rc_mandar · 07-23-2014, 01:36 AM

@m.a.l.'s pa: thanks a lot. i added the following and i changed partitions a bit now i have one more for one more distro

Code:

## Auto-mounts added by mad ##
UUID=0b737e5f-5beb-4e64-a5d0-5aca89723067  /mnt/linux2    ext4    defaults    0$
UUID=92f0807c-97a3-426a-b76d-2633e0371ee5  /mnt/linux3    ext4    defaults    0$
UUID=7CDB3EF2656E0B70  /mnt/data    ntfs-3g    defaults,windows_name    0    0
## End auto-mounts added by mad ##

This brings me to next question: yesterday i wanted to install finally my second distro of my x121e thinkpad. however i ran into this (see snap) i aborted just so that i have invested many searches and apt-gets in flux debian install i didn't want to mess it up!

for further discussion:

Code:

mad@Xdeb:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000f32c

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048     1026047      512000   83  Linux
/dev/sda2         1026048     9414655     4194304   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3   *     9414656    93300735    41943040   83  Linux
/dev/sda4        93302782   625141759   265919489    5  Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5        93304832   177190911    41943040   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       177192960   261079039    41943040   83  Linux
/dev/sda7       261081088   625141759   182030336    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

i want to install Ubuntu 12.04 on /dev/sda5

please please reply!

m.a.l.'s pa · 07-23-2014, 06:49 AM

Whew!

rc_mandar, I'm having some trouble understanding and following the steps you have taken so far.

In my set-ups, I have not needed to use a separate partition for /boot, except for in one special situation with a particular distro -- I don't think that applies here, so I won't go into it. So, I'm not sure why you have /boot on its own partition; it is usually not necessary to do that. Looking at your earlier posts, I suspect there's some confusion regarding the bootloader and /boot, which are not the same thing, as suicidaleggroll mentioned earlier:

Quote:

Originally Posted by suicidaleggroll

Note that the bootloader (grub) is NOT the same thing as the /boot partition.

I have gotten to a point where I can set up a dual- or multi-boot set-up without too much trouble, but it took a lot of reading and a lot of practice and a lot of time. And that was before grub2 came along, back when I was booting everything with what is now called grub-legacy. There was another huge learning curve when I switched over to grub2!

This is one of the web pages that helped me out: http://dedoimedo.com/computers/grub-2.html

It seems to me that there are a lot of little details about Linux, about mounting and mount points, about grub and the MBR, about what can and can't be done with different distros installers, and so forth, that you'll need a better understanding of. I'm afraid that there might be too much involved; I don't think that I'm capable of walking you through all of this.

But I think that you have a strong desire to get this done. I had the same desire; I kept learning and trying and eventually things fell into place.

Some things that helped me: Lots of careful reading of appropriate man pages; having a spare computer to practice on; taking very detailed notes, especially during each installation, and then referring back to those notes.

Slow down, give it time, let things sink in. I think you're gonna get there eventually, but it isn't gonna be an easy process, by any means. Also, to complicate things further, there are different approaches that you can take when setting things up -- far too much to go into here.

I'm sorry that I am unable to be of more help, but I'll keep following this thread and hopefully I can provide a few pointers here and there. Don't give up! Good luck!

rc_mandar · 07-27-2014, 05:28 AM

Yes, well I didn't want a /boot but rather a dedicated Grub partition so that my linux distros can come and go...

Now that I understand /boot isn't the bootloader. Anyway, I feel like doing installation again and I will follow something as follows:
1) making partitions using gparted!
200mb GRUB Partition
6gb swap(Question 1: do i have to have a swap??? i have 6 gigs of RAM and i never Hibernate my Laptop. I let it sleep that to very occasionally)
40Gb ext4 for debian wheezy with fluxbox
40gb ext4 logical Ubuntu 12.04LTS (Question 2: also just like debian can i do this install non gui???)
40gb ext4 logical some linux may be a fancy one like gentoo (Question 3: will it be too much for a beginner like me?)
rest as a data drive ntfs format...

2) installation of GRUB using the live Gparted itself. if it has terminal available.(Question 4: am i heading in right direction?)

3) make grub config file (Question 5 this is necessary i know but will i have /GRUB2/boot/grub/grub.cfg if i have made and mounted /GRUB2 already?)

4) installation of Debian fluxbox(here in installation i will choose no to question that says should it install Grub coz i have already installed one manually)
5) installation of Ub 12.04 LTS
6) setting up Grub files for Debian and Ub 12.04 using ubuntu live usb in the grub partition

that's it!

steps 2-6 are really vaguely understood by myself... i am sure i will make mistakes however since the x121e is the lap for learning for me i would just wipe the hdd using gparted live and start again

i need patience and i hope my hdd won't break due to repetitive formatting.

please answer my questions which i specified in brackets and numbered them as well.

brianL · 07-27-2014, 06:52 AM

When partitioning, you can either opt for a separate boot partition (might be /dev/sda1, for example), or if you opt for a single / partition (like I usually do) you end up with a /boot directory. Either way, that's where GRUB installs. I've never come across, or seen mentioned, a /GRUB partition, so advise against trying that.
Do a websearch on dual-booting, there's loads of information online.

yancek · 07-27-2014, 07:30 AM

Quote:

I've never come across, or seen mentioned, a /GRUB partition, so advise against trying that.

A brief explanation of it at the link below which has been around for quite a while. The big disadvantage is the need to create the grub.cfg file manually so probably not a good idea for a new user.

A more detailed example, using Grub Legacy.

http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux...bpartition.htm

brianL · 07-27-2014, 08:15 AM

That article mentions /boot/grub, but rc_mandar was asking about creating a partition named /GRUB.

m.a.l.'s pa · 07-27-2014, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rc_mandar

200mb GRUB Partition

You don't necessarily need to do this.

Here's what I would do. First, I'd create my partitions with GParted Live, or even with GParted from another distro's live session -- for example, MX-14 is a nice distro to use for this purpose. I'd create partitions for each distro, a swap partition, and a data partition that can be accessed from each of the distros that I plan to install.

Then, install the first distro. When you get to the point where the installer wants you to install the boot loader, I'd choose the option to install it to the MBR. That's it. No need for a dedicated GRUB partition. Unless that's what you really want to do, I guess. It's your computer.

When installing the other distros, you can choose to install grub to each of those distros' root partition (/), or you can choose not to install the boot loader at all. Or you can choose to install it to the MBR, but that would overwrite the boot loader on the MBR that you did when you installed the first distro. It all depends on how you want to set things up; or, in some cases, it depends on the distro's installer, because I've run into situations where the installer would not allow you to install the boot loader anyplace besides the MBR, and other situations where the installer wouldn't let me proceed without installing the boot loader.

For example, on one computer, I have Kubuntu, Debian Wheezy, and ArchBang. I installed Kubuntu's boot loader on the MBR. When I added the second distro, Debian Wheezy, at the end of the Wheezy installation the installer asked, "Install the GRUB boot loader to the master boot record?" I chose "No." Next, I was given the option to choose a device for the boot loader installation. I typed “/dev/sda5.” Later, I simply booted into Kubuntu and ran sudo update-grub, and Wheezy grub was found at /dev/sda5.

But when I added the third distro, ArchBang, I was unable to install its boot loader to ArchBang's root partition (/), so I went to the /etc/grub.d partition in Kubuntu and created a custom grub entry for ArchBang, and that's how I am able to boot into ArchBang on that computer. Creating custom grub entries is kind of a complicated subject, especially when you're first learning about it, but it actually works out quite well, and I find it to be an elegant approach, really.

boog321 · 07-27-2014, 09:17 AM

I think you are trying to make it too complicated for what it should be or really is.

Some sort of loader has to exist on the hdd, windows has it too, it just goes by instantly and you don't see it. Grub can be configured to do that, too.

If grub isn't installed to the mbr, then you will need some other way to boot linux. What goes onto the mbr is then looking at the stuff in /boot/grub.

And if you ever want to remove grub from the mbr, there are how to's on how to do that using your windows install disk.

Have no fear of letting it install to the mbr. But, maybe start with just playing with one distro at a time to find the little differences in all of the installers, then you can build upon that experience by installing multiple distros at a time (if you still want to).

You wouldn't recommend someone learn how to swim by jumping off a ship into the ocean, so no need to do the same with installing Linux by trying to cram a multi-multi boot system into learning. Have to take the smaller steps first :-)