Grub update for 0.94?

rusty_slacker · 10-19-2004, 04:40 PM

I am trying to triple-boot Suse 9.1, Fedora 2 and Windows 2k. I think that the older suse kernel (2.5x) won't recognise the newer fedora kernel (2.6.5-1) so it won't triple-boot correctly. the boot loader module in YaST is supposed to find existing operating systems, but it won't. I think i should update Grub to recognise newer kernel versions. Advice?

gypsy_rabbi · 10-19-2004, 08:53 PM

AFAIK, SuSE 9.1's default kernel is 2.6.something. Fedora's kernel right now is 2.6.8. And the kernels don't need to talk to each other anyway.

And grub doesn't really need to talk to the kernel either. You tell it where to find the kernel, it hands over control to the kernel, and that's it. From then on everything is the kernel's problem. So grub wouldn't fail to recognize the kernel. What it does need to recognize is the filesystems where the kernels are located, which shouldn't be a problem with the systems you have. It boots Win2k by chainloading win2k's bootloader, and it knows the other two partitions (presumably ext3 for Fedora and Reiser for SuSE).

So what exactly is the problem you're having? -- you didn't say that

.

I'm attaching the grub.conf (located in /boot/grub/grub.conf) from my development machine below. It has four OSes right now, so comparing entries might help you figure it out. Also, here are some good grub references:
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-faq.en.html
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/
http://atu.cjb.net/software/grub/GRUB_Guide.html

HTH,

GR

Code:

# /boot partition is hda5 = (hd0,4) in grub terminology
# winxp partition is hda2 = (hd0,1) in grub terminology
# fedora's root partition is hda8
#     various kernels for fedora, all located in the main boot partition (hda5)
# slackware partition is hda10
#     generic slackware kernel located in the main boot partition (hda5)
# suse partition is hda11 (grub calls it (hd0,10))
#     the suse installation has its own boot directory and its kernel is inside that
#     (hence the "/boot" on the kernel line of the suse stanza below).

default=saved
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 xxx
title Windows XP
    rootnoverify (hd0,1)
    chainloader +1
    savedefault
title Fedora (2.6.8-1.521)
    root (hd0,4)
    kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.8-1.521 ro root=/dev/hda8 vga=792
    initrd /initrd-2.6.8-1.521.img
    savedefault
title Fedora (with Slackware kernel 2.6.7)
    root (hd0,4)
    kernel /vmlinuz-generic-2.6.7-slack ro root=/dev/hda8 vga=792
    initrd /initrd-2.6.7-fedora
    savedefault
title Fedora (with my 2.6.8.1 kernel)
    root (hd0,4)
    kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-gypsy ro root=/dev/hda8 vga=792
    savedefault
title Fedora (with SuSE kernel 2.6.4-52)
    root (hd0,4)
    kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.4-52-suse ro root=/dev/hda8 vga=792 devfs=nomount selinux=0 acpi=on
    initrd /initrd-2.6.4-52-suse
    savedefault
title Slackware 10.0
    root (hd0,4)
    kernel /vmlinuz-generic-2.6.7-slack ro root=/dev/hda10 vga=792
    initrd /initrd-2.6.7-slack
    savedefault
title SuSE 9.1
    root (hd0,10)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz
    initrd /boot/initrd
    savedefault

The Chain · 10-19-2004, 09:07 PM

Here's mine from the Yast configurer in SuSE. From Grub the instructions file is called menu.lst

Code:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Mon Oct 18 01:26:01 2004


color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Linux
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 vga=0x31a splash=silent desktop resume=/dev/hda2 showopts
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Floppy
root (fd0)
chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off vga=normal noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 3
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: Slackware###
title Slackware
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 ro hdd=scsi
savedefault
boot

Good luck

rusty_slacker · 10-22-2004, 11:59 PM

Ok, so i had Windows 2k and FC2 with kernel 2.6.5. then i added suse 9.1 with kernel 2.4 something. so i could boot to win 2k because it was on a separate harddrive, but not to Fc2.
i have a Compaq deskpro pII 450 with 128 mb ram. hda1=windows
hda2=suse /boot
hda3= suse swap
hdb1=fedora /boot
hdb2=fedora /
hdb3=fedora swap
hdb4= suse /

gypsy_rabbi · 11-19-2004, 06:08 PM

Did you get this to work, or are you still looking for an answer?

If you still need help, please email me the exact error you get, and also your grub.conf

GR

rusty_slacker · 11-22-2004, 02:04 PM

i didn't get it to work, but i wiped my hd for slackware and lilo.