Grub only shows mepis boot option
 

I just installed mepis 6.0.1 and the first restart didn't show boot option for my other distro (Ubuntu) which is on another partitiion. During installation a msg said I can manually add the other boot options. How is this done?

You edit as root the /boot/grub/menu.lst

You can clearly identify the mepis lines there as similar to these:

# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda5 vga=773 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

You need to find out the path for your ubuntu kernel and adjust accordingly. Note the root=/dev/XdaX section which should tell what partition ubuntu is on. Read more about it on the gnu pages or ubuntuwiki :)

Good luck

mepis 6.0-4 AMD54 Beta4
 

I had a similar situation when I installed about a week ago. I have two versions of SuSE on this system and a partition for experimenting. Kubuntu (64bit) installed and put gloriousley detailed entries into the grub menu for all three partitions. I was delighted to see the Mepis AMD64 so I replaced Kubuntu. When I copied the exact stanzas for the other two partitions into the menu.lst, they didn't work! Any comments?
Puzzled..

Did you forget to uncheck the install grub for MEPIS and WINDOWS check box, If not I recommend that you reinstall MEPIS with that check box unchecke, and post your results back here.

Haven't tried the check box yet but it sounds like what happened.

Also according to Gnoteb's earlier post I can't edit grub/menu.lst cuz I'm locked out by root.

I'll fool with all this later. I use ubuntu mostly,now.

Thanks

Mepis' boot menu
 

One BIG difference between Meois and Ubuntu is that Mepis permits Root and you can use SU to gain full root privileges in a console window. You can also use file managers and editors with full root privileges. You can easily destroy your system, too, so be forwarned.

I'll try reinstalling with the windows box unchecked. I always use the default on that one; in my other system with several partitions of Mepis, WONDERS is also present.

Mepis' boot menu
 

We.. I reinstlled it four or five time and never saw the check box. (I have bad etesight). I remember seeing iton the first install, and lef it UNchecked. The grub menu (.booy/grub/menu.lst)offers a choice of three kernels (newest, older, and 206.15-27-desktop64-smp)and the usual MEMTEST.
The last time I tried the older kernel choice the boot failed. Is there any reson to keep it and iys associared kernel file?
I don't know what "newest" is but assume it has something to do with beta testing.

I'll try again to make entries for the other partitions to try to boot into them. My data is there, and Mepis found them and put entries in /etc/fstab so I have no trouble accessing and maintainng the data. I put links in my home directory for that and share them via samba. But I sure would feel better if I could boot into those two partitions if need be! Is it possible that the commands that grub understands could have changed since SuSE 10.0 was released, making obsolete some of the syntax used in the menu.lst that belongs to SuSE? Is that even arelevant question?
Al

Yeah, this has annoyed my with Ubuntu. Why does everyone tell me to go and edit my system files when Ubuntu won't allow that at all? This is a question that has never been resolved.

Also, I kind of know what you mean by destroying a system, I must be very careful. I deleted a loopback from the etc/hosts file via the network setup GUI and lost the system root when I first installed Ubuntu.

Ubuntu and system files
 

You can edit your system files in Ubuntu. You just can't su to become root or log in as root with Ubuntu installed out of the box.

For example, to edit menu.lst:

cd /boot/grub
sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.bk1
sudo gedit menu.lst

The first time you execute sudo, you will be prompted for your password. The second time, if you don't wait too long, you won't have to enter your password. Gedit will open menu.lst, and you can edit.

If this doesn't work, then you may be a user without sudo privileges. Ubuntu gives the first user created sudo privileges. If that user creates another user, the privileges may not include administrative capabilities. The solution is to get a user with those privileges (like the first user) to change the privileges for you.

Rob

Fixing up grub
 

I'm no grub expert, but you don't need to be to get things working. If you installed MEPIS and want to be able to boot your other linux installations, there are some things you can do. The objective is to create the entries in /boot/grub/menu.lst (in your new MEPIS installation) that are needed for the the other installations to boot as gnoteb suggested.

If, prior to installing MEPIS, your other linux OS installed grub, then you can probably copy the necessary lines out of menu.lst in that installation. So if I had been using Ubuntu previously, I would mount the partition including /boot for Ubuntu and in a console execute less to list menu.lst. In MEPIS, as root,

mkdir /media/Ubuntu
mount /dev/hd?? /media/Ubuntu
less /media/Ubuntu/boot/grub/menu.lst

Then copy and paste the lines you need into menu.lst in MEPIS. If MEPIS mounted the partition for you, skip the mkdir and mount steps. (Don't use the lines above as typed; they are an example.)

If you don't have a previously-working menu.lst to copy lines from, you can try the super grub disk (search for it). This disk is bootable and will help you to search for bootable installations and even let you boot them. If you work at it a bit, you can get the info you need to edit menu.lst in MEPIS. The web pages are helpful and interesting, too.

Finally, you can use grub capabilities for editing, searching and command line completion to find your bootable installations and figure it all out yourself. You probably need to do some reading up on grub to be able to do this.

Rob

When I eted the Mepis menu.lst by adding the appropriate stanzas for the other two partitions I had made a mistake and copied inappropriate stanzas (for systems no longer present!). Naturally, grub failed. The origin of this mistake is my poor eyesiht; when I repeated the exercise properly today, I now have a fully functional boot that includes all partitions. Sorry about the false alarm!
I like Mepis; it uses the Ubuntu repositories without restricting root. Thus I can use the familiar GUI tools; I would make far more mistakes being limited to sudo.
As usual, most problems originate in the cockpit!!

OK, the above commands worked! This is the first time since using Ubuntu I have been able to edit these files via gedit. After getting multi boots back I needed to change the name of one of the distros(Linux mint) which I did successfully. However I still have a duplicate entry for Ubuntu showing different kernal versions. Two showing are 2.6.15.26 & 27. The 28 for some reason doesn't show. I deleted all but 27 but both are still there. I tried to resolve this by looking at grub man but still couldn't get the delete to work.


title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-28-386
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-28-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-28-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-28-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-28-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-28-386
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-27-386
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-27-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-27-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-27-386
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-26-386
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-26-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-26-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-26-386
boot

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
boot

klarsen,

I'm glad you are able to edit menu.lst in Ubuntu now. It isn't clear to me what you are trying to accomplish at this point. The portion of menu.lst that you included looks fine to me. Normally, it would be set up to boot to the latest kernal and the other entries are there in case you want to boot to an older kernal. You can just leave them alone.

Updates generally will add newer kernals to the top of the list, without you taking action. If the list of kernals gets too long, you can edit menu.lst and just remove the entries at the bottom. This does leave the old kernal code hanging around and taking up space. It is rarely a problem for me, since I tend to do clean installs fairly often.

If you are in a multi-boot situation, like with Ubuntu and MEPIS, then menu.lst will not get updated when a new kernal is added to the second OS installation. So if the menu.lst in use is in Ubuntu and I update to a new kernal for MEPIS, I would have to manually add the new MEPIS kernal to the list in menu.lst. This isn't very hard.

Possibly you have tried to remove old kernals and then expected to see the entries dissappear from menu.lst. If this is the case, just edit and delete the (now invalid) entries for missing kernals from menu.lst.

As I said initially, it isn't clear to me what you are trying to achieve now or exactly what you are doing.

Rob

Mepis problem w/ multi boot is OK. I'm now talking about the double entry
in Ubuntu.

Three different version upgrades and only two are showing at start up. The versions are .28 - .27. - .26, and only .27 & .26 show upon boot up.

However, I chose to boot using .27 because .28 (the latest upgrade), for some reason, did'nt show at start up. So the grub/menu.lst file now shows only .27 after I deleted the other two.

So now I have a menu.lst file that has only .27, and a boot menu a start up that shows .26 and .27. So I can edit and save the file, but it did'nt work. See below.

Terminal response:
me:/boot/grub$ sudo gedit menu.lst

(gedit:6064): Gdk-WARNING **: locale not supported by Xlib

(gedit:6064): Gdk-WARNING **: cannot set locale modifiers

New edited menu.lst:

title Ubuntua, kernel 2.6.15-27-386
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-27-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-27-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-27-386
boot

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
boot

I added the "a" to Ubuntu to see if it would show at boot up, it did'nt.

I think you are editing the wrong menu.lst file. Since you are multiboot, only one of your installations contains the menu.lst file that is being used. The others generally just sit there.

Your test where you added the extra "a" to Ubuntu proves that the menu.lst file that you are editing is not the one being used. Perhaps the menu.lst file in MEPIS is the one you should be editing? You wouldn't be the first person to get confused like this. I probably have done it.

Rob

Yep, you're right! That did it. My last distro install was Linux Mint and it showed as Ubuntu. Then I Changed the title from Ub to Mint sucessfully within Mint, but tried to change Ub in Ub. That threw me, until you set it all straight. So all's OK now.

Thanks for staying with me,

KL

I'm very glad to have been a help.

Rob

Woops, already sent this.

Booting as many linux distros as you want and setting up grub
 

The first thing that you have to understand, when using the grub that MEPIS installs, is that grub doesn't really care what you put in the title line. More on this in a second or two.

For example when I set up my partitions on a 250 Gb drive I created ten partitions. The first one was a windows partition. I will give this computer to my son when I get my next one and he needs windows to play all of his windows based cd rom games. He's 5 1/2. He has been dual booting windows xp and MEPIS for about over a year, on his own.
So the first partition has win xp on it.It is only 10 gigs. The next partition is a 6 gig partition that is formatted as ext2. This is where root is installed. The third partition is a 1 gig partition formatted as linux/swap. Now make an 'extended partition' out of ALL of the space that you have on your hard drive. This extended partition can then be divided into whatever sized partitions that you will need.
Now take the extended partition and make a home partition of about 120 gigs. This is where you will install your home. Then make as many partitions as you want operating systems of about 10 gigs each. So if you want four extra linux operating systems then you would make the normal three partitions for root, swap, and home then make four more partitions of ten gigs each.
This my grub/boot/menu.lst

timeout 10
color cyan/blue white/blue
foreground ffffff
background 0639a1

gfxmenu /boot/grub/message

title MEPIS 6.0 at hda2
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

title MEPIS test 6.5 at hda5
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
chainloader +1

title Windows at hda1
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


title MEPIS at hda7, kernel 2.6.15-1-586tsc
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-586tsc root=/dev/hda7 nomce quiet vga=791

title 6.5 beta 7 backup root partition at hda10
rootnoverify (hd0,9)
chainloader +1

title MEPIS 3.3.1-1 at hda9
rootnoverify (hd0,8)
chainloader +1

title MEMTEST
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin


The part that says
title MEPIS at hda7, kernel 2.6.15-1-586tsc
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-586tsc root=/dev/hda7 nomce quiet vga=791
is that part that was put there by the grub in SimplyMEPIS 3.4.3 I boot to that version when I feel like it.
The other entries were all added by me 'cept the windows one, grub put that one there. I added ALL of these extra titles before I ever installed the operating systems that I can boot to. And they work.
If I made a new partition out of the left over space I have at the end of the drive it would be hda11.

This next step you do before you install an operating system.Edit grub before you install.

The reason to do this is so you can boot as soon as the distro is installed. And change to another one without changing grub at all, just be sure to install grub to root.
The entry is already in your main grub saying that there is a linux at hda7 so as long as grub is installed to root on hda7 you can install anything that you want. Again, as long as grub is installed to root and nowhere else.

If I felt like installing another linux there I would go to boot/grub/menu.lst right click menu.lst and choose, under actions, edit as root. Then I would add a line like this

title "any name ,made up or real' at hda11
rootnoverify (hd0,10)
chainloader +1

Then if I wanted another linux installed I would make another partition, it would be hda12 and then I would make an addition in the menu.lst like this

title Some linux at hda12
rootnoverify (hd0,11)
chainloader +1

The way to make this work is to have grub installed to root for each extra install of linux that you put in. Install grub to root and it wouldn't matter if I had sidux on hda11 or MEPIS installed on hda11. As long as the linux that is on hda11 has grub installed to root it will work. I routinely install any linux that will install grub to root over top of others and you don't need to make any changes to grub either.

In my setup I have SimplyMEPIS 6.0, 3.4.3, 3.3.1-1 and 6.5 beta 7. All have grub installed to root except 3.4.3 because 3.4.3 has grub installed to the Mbr of hda and is the ONLY grub that you want to edit by adding new entries.
All of the other grubs are left alone and installed to root.

The following is one of my posts at mepislovers.org where I post a lot. It was when I had sidux chaos on hda7. Put 3.4.3 over that one in not too long.


Here is a copy of my grub.This grub is loaded to the Mbr of hda with windows.
timeout 15
color cyan/blue white/blue
foreground ffffff
background 0639a1

gfxmenu /boot/grub/message

title MEPIS at hda5, newest kernel
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 nomce quiet vga=791
boot

title MEPIS at hda5, older kernel
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz.old root=/dev/hda5 nomce quiet vga=791
boot

title MEPIS at hda5, kernel 2.6.15-27-desktop
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-desktop root=/dev/hda5 nomce quiet vga=791
boot

title chaos at hda7
rootnoverify (hd0,6)
chainloader +1

title Windows at hda1
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title MEMTEST
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

The one above the windows title(chaos) was the new sidux til this evening now it is 3.4.3.
I had to add it manually.

Here's how to do it.

When I set up this 250 Gb drive I put windows xp on it as I will pass this box on to my 5 1/2 year old son when I get another,better computer. He needs windows to play all of his cdrom games. I don't need windows.

After I put windows on I installed the new beta 7(actually it was beta 5 but it only took 17 package upgrades to make it into beta 7.So easy)
When I installed MEPIS (remember you can use almost any MEPIS for the install.3.4.3,6.0,6.5 take your pick)
Just be SURE that you load grub to the Mbr of hda
If you have sata drives and not ata then you would load grub to the Mbr of sda. Same thing only different.

That's the hard part. So you see there are no hard parts.

So when you have installed MEPIS your grub will look like mine except you won't have this part.

title chaos at hda7
rootnoverify (hd0,6)
chainloader +1

That is the part that I added after I installed sidux (it was buggy for me)
When I installed 3.4.3 in the same partition that sidux was on I didn't even have to change or edit grub at all.
As a matter of fact I could install almost any linux on that drive and it would boot.If and only if grub is installed to root.
If I wanted to install another extra linux on hda8 all I have to do is edit (add to)the menu.lst from the first MEPIS install to read like this

title booga booga booga at hda8
rootnoverify (hd0,7)
chainloader +1

That's it.
The title doesn't matter. Call it anything that you want. I just put booga booga booga in to show that grub doesn't care what the name is and it doesn't even have to match the installed op system name.
That's why when I installed 3.4.3 on the same partition that sidux used to be on I didn't need to edit the grub file. I had already told grub that there was a system on hda7.

The reason that it works is that every additional linux that gets installed MUST have grub installed to root. Then add the new system to grub by adding to grub something like this

title 'name of operating system(or made up name)' at hda9
rootnoverify (hd0,8)
chainloader +1

title another linux at hda10
rootnoverify (hd0,9)
chainloader +1

By adding the above you are just directing grub to that partition where you have already installed grub to root when you installed the other system.
It could be almost any species of linux at all.

The grub that you are using from the first install of MEPIS when you chose to install grub to the Mbr of hda is the only one that you EVER edit to add op systems to. Never play with any of the other grubs or it will get messy.

Let's go over it again. Load grub from the first MEPIS that you install to the Mbr of hda(or sda depending)
All of the other linux op systems must have grub loaded to root. Then add to your original grub and no other grub. OK?

Hope this clears the smoke a bit for you.



Pen 4 2000Mhz CPU 1.16 Gigs of ram With SimplyMEPIS 6.0 and 3.4.3 and 3.3.1-1 AND 6.5.beta 7 all installed and booting from a 250 gig Hda.
80 gig hdb with stored files.
http://www.mepis.org/docs/index.php/Main_Page (The wiki)
Link to MEPIS Install guides(These guides are recommended reading) http://www.mepisguides.com/
Link to a great post on triple booting
http://www.mepislovers.org/index.php....html#msg35253 look for post #6