Install one new dist from within another dist

psykner · 10-09-2011, 06:57 AM

Hello LQ
I would like to be able to install another dist to another partition from
within the dist Im currently running.

sycamorex · 10-09-2011, 07:03 AM

Hi and welcome to LQ.

This might come in handy (it's about Arch Linux)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...Existing_Linux
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...another_distro

btw, is there any particular reason why you don't want to do it the standard way?

psykner · 10-09-2011, 07:09 AM

well you HAVE to reboot to do an install the standard way, I'm not particular interested in that. I would rather like to do it from the dist I've currently booted (like Debian or Linux Mint).

FredGSanford · 10-09-2011, 07:31 AM

What about running second one from within a virtual machine, such as Virtual Box?

***
Never mind, you did say install to another partition.

Just a thought!

psykner · 10-09-2011, 07:37 AM

when using Virtualbox I experience speed problems

sycamorex · 10-09-2011, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by psykner

when using Virtualbox I experience speed problems

If you've got a lot of RAM and can dedicate enough resources to a particular virtual machine, you should be fine, but as always YMMV.

Installing Debian from within another distro (link)

TobiSGD · 10-09-2011, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycamorex

If you've got a lot of RAM and can dedicate enough resources to a particular virtual machine, you should be fine, but as always YMMV.

The performance of a VM is more dependent on the type of CPU you have than on the amount of RAM, I would think. When you have only a single core CPU, or a CPU without hardware support for virtualization you can see huge performance decreases.

sycamorex · 10-09-2011, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

The performance of a VM is more dependent on the type of CPU you have than on the amount of RAM, I would think. When you have only a single core CPU, or a CPU without hardware support for virtualization you can see huge performance decreases.

True. Thanks for the corrections. I know that it's off topic, but if the OP wants to check if his/her CPU has hardware support for virtualisation, they can check this:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-x...amd-v-support/

jefro · 10-09-2011, 03:55 PM

It isn't easy but you can run an installer from within a distro.
Yes, you can install a second distro. It is usually called a dual boot. You could run both in the same partition if you really wanted. You don't even need to reboot just chroot it I'd think, but there are a lot of details you need to know. This was the way one had to install knoppix. Rather a complex deal and I doubt it would be worth the effort. A lot of gotcha's there.

I can't think of why you need to do that. There may be a better way for you.

The most easy way may be to create your own distro at Suse Studio and save it as a hard drive image. Then fix loader.

Other distro's also offer a hard drive image or some can use a usb flash image to start you off.

Consider other means. Boot to some media, be it floppy, cd, usb or pxe to use native installer.

EDDY1 · 10-10-2011, 01:26 AM

I think this is what you were asking for, there is a new thread that just opened.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-x120e-907332/
http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...ml.en#id602104