Hi, I just installed "Freespire Beta 1" and I'm looking for help to configure the boot loader please.
I have 2 hard drives one has winxp, (wifes) and mine has wnixp and linux. Freespire recognised them separately and listed them in the boot menu, but when I click on them they both go to the same drive.
The problem is when I try to add this (below) to the menu-normal.lst

title my xp,
map (hd0,0) (hd1,0)
map (hd1,0) (hd0,0)
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

It won't let me save it, as I can't seem to give myself root privileges. At the moment I have somehow locked myself out of it and can only get as far as the log-in, then it rejects my password, I will probably reinstall it, but can you tell me if the configuration I used above is ok, (I used it with Suse ok) and how to become root,

thanks Adrian

You can use "su" or "sudo" to execute programs as root from the console. If you want to run "kate" or "gedit", etc to edit the file, press "Alt-F2" and enter "kdesu kate" or "gnomesu gedit", etc. depending on which is installed or your preference.

Thanks jschiwal, I did use the command line su, but it won't accept my password,its the one I logged in with. I will try the lt Alt F2 you suggested,and report back, thank you, Adrian

You can try with sudo.

sudo vi /boot/grub/menu.lst

You can the editor of your choice.
Use the password for your current user when asked.

It doesnt seem to be a correct config.
You need to specify the kernel and the root partition

Many thanks for your help guys, I´m making progress, I have managed to edit the menu and save with your directions, but when I re-booted the menu title hadn´t changed, even though the menu.lst had, and both still booted into the same drive again, below is the boot, can you advise, thanks, Adrian

where do I find that info?

# Generated by jiffyboot version 9.1. If this file is edited, the
# system will stop modifying it. To allow the system to resume
# management of this file, remove it and run /sbin/jiffyboot

#
default=0
timeout=10
color cyan/green magenta/green
splashimage=/boot/grub/bootsplash.xpm.gz

instructions Use the %c and %c keys to select which entry is highlighted.
timeout_message Entry %d will be booted automatically in %d seconds.

# hdb5, boot entry
title Freespire ver. 0.0.69
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14-gratis root=/dev/root rootdev=0x0345 ramdisk=35328 video=vesafb:nomtrr jiffymount=noatime mem=nopentium resume2=swap:/dev/hdb5:0x44000 vga=0x311 splash=silent
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14-gratis.gz

# hdb5, diagnostic boot entry of /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target1/lun0/part5
title Diagnostics
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14-gratis noresume2 single Diagnostics splash=0 root=/dev/root rootdev=0x0345 ramdisk=35328 video=vesafb:nomtrr jiffymount=noatime mem=nopentium resume2=swap:/dev/hdb5:0x44000
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14-gratis.gz

# hdb5, redetect boot entry of /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target1/lun0/part5
title Redetect
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14-gratis noresume2 redetect splash=0 root=/dev/root rootdev=0x0345 ramdisk=35328 video=vesafb:nomtrr jiffymount=noatime mem=nopentium resume2=swap:/dev/hdb5:0x44000
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14-gratis.gz

# hdb1, MS Windows
title Web Design and Photos on hdb1
map (hd0,0) (hd1,0)
map (hd1,0) (hd0,0)
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

# hda1, MS Windows
title AnneAdie on hda1
root (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

title Advanced Menu
configfile (hd0,4)/boot/grub/advanced-normal.lst


This is fdisk output,

Disk /dev/hda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10637 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 10636 80408128+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/hdb: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 8481 68123601 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdb2 8482 10011 12289725 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 8482 10011 12289693+ 83 Linux
aaria5@aaria5:~$

Thanks for your help guys, I installed a copy of Linspire 5.0 with the above boot config, and it works, so I'll stick with it, have a good holiday, Adrian