Dual Debian/Slackware

grimx · 11-17-2008, 04:06 PM

I have Debain Etch installed with the GRUB bootloader.
I would like to dual boot Debian and Slackware 12.1
i know Slack has the LILO bootloader

I would like to have both Debain and Slackware boot
off the same bootloader(LILO)

My question is should i install LILO into the MBR?
if i do will it reqconize Debian and Slackware on its
own?
If i want to uninstall a distro will it messup LILO?

Alien_Hominid · 11-17-2008, 04:07 PM

Yeah, install lilo to mbr, edit lilo.conf to include debian and rerun lilo.
You can't uninstall distro. You can reformat the partition, but because lilo will be in mbr, it won't be destroyed.

grimx · 11-17-2008, 04:11 PM

ok, i've never configured a bootloader before

could you give me the jess of how to do it?

Alien_Hominid · 11-17-2008, 04:14 PM

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/e...-liloconf.html

Don't forget to rerun lilo after editing the conf.

onebuck · 11-17-2008, 04:20 PM

Hi,

It's really easy to modify your lilo bootloader. As root from the cli just edit the '/etc/lilo.conf' to add the stanza you want to add or modify using a good text editor like 'vi'.

Do a 'man lilo.conf' for a good example. Once you have modified your '/etc/lilo.conf' and written to the file be sure to run 'lilo' to modify.

From the cli as root;

Code:

~#lilo -v -t -b /dev/your_device    #this will test only
~#lilo -v -b /dev/your_device       #will write the MBR to '/dev/your_device'

You should 'man lilo' and 'man lilo.conf' to get a better understanding.

brianL · 11-17-2008, 04:37 PM

See post #3 here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...debian-683182/

Sorry, that's with Slack installed first. With Debian first, lilo should recognise Debian and make an entry in lilo.conf during installation.

BobNutfield · 11-17-2008, 04:46 PM

You can also simply add Slackware to your current Grub menu.lst in your Debian installation (/boot/grub/menu.lst). Just add an entry for Slackware and you can boot from there. When you install Slackware, just do not add a bootloader during the installation, and this add it in Debian. It is exactly what I do as I do not like the LILO bootlader.