Dual Boot <Two Linux Distros, no Windows>

truthfatal · 03-29-2005, 01:21 AM

Here's my problem, I'm not sure if this is the right forum though:

I'm running Fedora Core 3 on my first HD, and I've installed Slackware 10.1 on my second.

I have yet to be able to boot into my newly installed Distro even though my second HD is set to be bootable :?

Code:

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1          13      104391   83  Linux
/dev/hda2              14        9729    78043770   8e  Linux LVM

Disk /dev/hdb: 80.0 GB, 80060424192 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9733 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdb1   *           1        9609    77184261   83  Linux
/dev/hdb2            9610        9733      996030   82  Linux swap

I've done a search and can't find anything that helps me.

I've looked in my Slackware /boot directory

Code:

[root@localhost ~]# mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/hdb1/
[root@localhost ~]# cd /mnt/hdb1/boot/
[root@localhost boot]# ls
boot.0341         config-ide-2.4.29  README.initrd          vmlinuz
boot_message.txt  diag1.img          System.map             vmlinuz-ide-2.4.29
config            map                System.map-ide-2.4.29
[root@localhost boot]#

as you can see, there is no initrd-ide-2.4.26.img file.
That makes me think I'll have a problem putting

Code:

title Slackware 10.1
	root (hd0,0) #assuming I copy the appropriate files to   (hd0,0)/boot/grub#
	kernel /vmlinuz-ide-2.4.29 ro root=/dev/hdb1 quiet
	initrd /initrd-ide-2.4.29.img

in my grub.conf file.

Can anyone help, or point me in the direction of help?

MasterC · 03-29-2005, 03:00 AM

That's because Slack doesn't use initrd by default. Be sure that /boot is the either the same partition on both devices, or that the kernels both reside in the same directory for both distros.

Other than that, you shouldn't have any problems (although I'm not familiar with Grub, the idea is still the same).

Cool

wmakowski · 03-29-2005, 07:54 AM

Based on what you have written I see a few problems with your grub.conf. I assume you have an entry for Fedora Core 3 and a second one for Slackware 10.1. One entry should point to the first hard drive /dev/hda1 and the other entry needs to point to /dev/hdb1. To grub these are (hd0,0) and (hd1,0), provided the boot directories are on the first partition of each drive.

As you observed and MasterC pointed out there is no initrd-ide-2.4.29.img in your boot directory on hdb1. You should be able to remove the initrd entry from your configuration. You could also make an initrd with the mkinitrd command and leave the entry in there. Another thing I noticed is that your path should be /boot/vmlinuz-ide-2.4.29 not /vmlinuz-ide-2.29. The same path would also apply to initrd if you created one.

I'm thinking the following entry will get you up and running. I also removed "quiet" from the kernel line because I did not see that in the manual and am unsure of how it is use.

Code:

title Slackware 10.1
	root (hd1,0)
	kernel /boot/vmlinuz-ide-2.4.29 ro root=/dev/hdb1

Bill

truthfatal · 03-29-2005, 09:20 AM

Thank you all very much

*edit
everything works great! I used wmakowski's advice