[SOLVED] How to get Ubuntu installed

waddles · 10-08-2012, 04:10 PM

I would like to download and install Ubuntu and dual boot with my Slackware. I scanned the home page for Ubuntu but it is not clear to me if I should first download to a disk then burn a DVD or somehow burn the DVD directly via my K3b burner software. If it is the later I am confused as to how it is done.
Can someone clarify?
I presume it would not be a good idea to burn multiple CDs because a file might span the CDs.

frankbell · 10-08-2012, 07:50 PM

Download the *.iso to your hard drive and burn it to a disk. This will create a bootable disk.

Make sure to use the ISO burning tool, which, in K3B is located on the Tools menu (Tools-->Burn Image).

TobiSGD · 10-08-2012, 08:51 PM

Or just right-click on the ISO after you have downloaded it and choose the "Burn with K3B" option.

tommcd · 10-09-2012, 01:25 AM

For dual booting Ubuntu and Slackware, I prefer to use Ubuntu's grub2 instead of Slackware's lilo to control the MBR and boot both Ubuntu and Slackware. If you wish to use Ubuntu's grub2 to dual boot, then let the Ubuntu installer install grub2 to the MBR of your hard drive. Then when you boot Ubuntu you can just run:

Code:

sudo update-grub

and this will add Slackware to Ubuntu's grub2 boot menu. The problem however is that grub2 will add several boot entries for Slackware because of the huge and generic kernels that are located in Slackware's boot directory. And if you are using the generic kernel with a initrd to boot Slackware, Ubuntu's grub2 will not add the initrd to the grub menu properly unless you rename Slackware's initrd to something like initrd.img-`uname -r`-generic like they are listed in Ubuntu's /boot directory.
To get around this, I create a custom boot entry for Slackware in Ubuntu's /etc/grub.d/ directory. I name this file 31-Slackware so that it will appear at the bottom of the grub2 menu. Here is the contents of the file:

Code:

echo "Adding Slackware64-13.37 on /dev/sda5" >&2
cat << EOF
##!/bin/sh
#exec tail -n +3 $0
menuentry "Slackware64-14 on /dev/sda5" {
        set root=(hd0,5)
        linux  /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.29 root=/dev/sda5 ro 
        initrd  /boot/initrd.gz
}
EOF

Note that the lines:

Code:

echo "Adding Slackware64-13.37 on /dev/sda5" >&2
cat << EOF
EOF

are not really necessary. They just make the update-grub command echo the "Adding Slackware64-13.37 on /dev/sda5" in the terminal.
Note also that the specific kernel and partitions for Slackware will change depending on what Slackware version you are using and what partition Slackware is on your hard drive.
Be sure to make this file executable.
Note that I have commented out the #!/bin/sh line and the exec tail -n +3 $0 line because I have never found those to be necessary. Other people on the Ubuntu forums have reported that they needed those for custom boot entries.
See the 40_custom file in Ubuntu's /etc/grub.d/ directory for more info on this.
After your custom boot file for Slackware is created, just run:

Code:

sudo update-grub

in the terminal in Ubuntu and Slackware will be added to the grub2 menu allowing you to boot both Ubuntu and Slackware.

TobiSGD · 10-09-2012, 02:27 AM

That would be a rather inconvenient solution for me. Anytime you install a new kernel you have to change that file, reboot to Ubuntu, run the update-grub program and reboot back into Slackware. I would prefer to just install Lilo on Slackware's root partition and to chainload it from Grub2.

tommcd · 10-10-2012, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

That would be a rather inconvenient solution for me. Anytime you install a new kernel you have to change that file, reboot to Ubuntu, run the update-grub program and reboot back into Slackware. I would prefer to just install Lilo on Slackware's root partition and to chainload it from Grub2.

I have never had to do this for the several years I have been using Slackware.
Yes, if you install a new kernel yourself you would have to edit the custom boot file in Ubuntu's /etc/grub.d/ directory and then run update-grub. However, kernel updates for Slackware are very few and far between, if ever, when you are running the stable versions of Slackware.

I have always preferred using grub since it has always worked well for me.

You would still have to edit /etc/lilo.conf and rerun lilo anytime you installed a new kernel for Slackware, even if Slackware was your only OS.

TobiSGD · 10-10-2012, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommcd

You would still have to edit /etc/lilo.conf and rerun lilo anytime you installed a new kernel for Slackware, even if Slackware was your only OS.

Of course, but I wouldn't have to reboot twice just to test a new (or should I better have said custom?) kernel.

bobaye · 10-21-2012, 01:10 AM

Thanks for posting your issue on this, I've been pulling my hair out on a similar project myself, and maybe this will save someone else a headache.
My project was installing LinuxMint in (another) partition on the same hard drive that I have Slackware14 installed on - with Lilo in the MBR of that hard drive to boot Slackware, and grub in the root partition of the linuxmint install.
This post has the solution that worked for me (though I not the one where I finally found my answer)
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...m-lilo-646946/
Adding just two lines to lilo.conf to chain load grub2 from lilo worked fine, for me those were -
# Linux bootable partition config begins
other=/dev/sdb6
label=LM13
# Linux bootable partition config ends

I found a tutorial suggesting adding a third line for root= using a grub disk format as in root = (hdX,X) and it kept me confused for a while.
In the end it didn't need to be there, and just the other= and label= lines did the trick.
I found that running lilo -t (for test) was very helpful in try to sort this out, as well as -C for a custom lilo.conf that I edited frequently to test for errors.
The specifics on my system are all linux distro's on a second hard drive with Slack on sdb5, with it's own primary boot partition on sdb1, and Linuxmint on sdb6. (The almost never used WindowsXP OEM disk is still /dev/sda, and it's chain-loaded from lilo on the second hard drive. BIOS is set to boot the second drive first).
My succesful lilo command ended up being <lilo -v -C /etc/lilosetup.conf -b /dev/sdb> (run as root from the /boot directory)
To test the lilo install first the command added -t <lilo -t -v -C /etc/lilosetup.conf -b /dev/sdb>
If you are using the standard lilo.conf just change the name to reflect that, but you can still specify its path with -C.
I find that editing lilo.conf and using the liloconfig script didn't suit my needs as it installs lilo on the MBR of the first hard drive by default and would overwrite the windows bootloader, so be carefull with that!
The lilo options are -v for verbose so I can see out put as it works, -C for the custom lilo.conf file, and -b for my boot device which is required if it's going anywhere other the the MBR of the first hard drive (mine was).
It's a little tedious, but that should help for trying to get a lilo boot OS and a grub2 OS to coexist and play nicely together.
I hope it helps.
PS - I suppose those who know this stuff better than me won't be surprised, but I'm now unable to boot the windows drive from lilo, so at least that part of it is still a work in progress.
*Windows will boot still from BIOS by changing the disk boot priority.

tommcd · 10-21-2012, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobaye

I've been pulling my hair out on a similar project myself, and maybe this will save someone else a headache. ...

This is why I suggested using Ubuntu's grub to control the MBR. I have read through many other threads similar to this where people had great difficulties trying to multiboot several Linux distros with lilo.

If I were just running Slackware (or perhaps Slackware + Windows) I would just use lilo, as it would likely work well enough.
However, using Grub to multiboot several Linux distros is much easier from my exoerience, and from what I have read in other threads similar to this.

I have never had a problem booting WindowsXP + Ubuntu + Slackware using grub.

bobaye · 10-21-2012, 01:51 PM

I did originally try grub2 on the MBR and wanted to use it as the main bootloader for everything.
With grub legacy I was able to do that and didn't have too many issues that weren't my own fault.
Now with ext4 it's gotten a little bit trickier.
(I know I could still use other file systems, so for me I'm doing this as my own learning project).
Grub2 scripts are still a little bit past my comprehension at the moment.
I have read a bunch of how-to's and stared at the scripts...but the exact format and syntax of how to edit /etc/grub.d scripts and what effect those may have - I'm simply not able to grasp that yet.
I'm not done by any means, but for now I at least want a system that I can boot and use - so thus my reason for chainloading grub from lilo - at least for now.
The long and short of it is that I was not able to boot Slack from grub2 even though the grub install script added it to the menu.
Thanks for the input tommcd, I be willing to consider and try any additional methods that I'm able to understand (and recover from) in my attempts to make this all work.
PS - Your post #4 in this thread was a nice little flashlight in my dark world of bootloader configuration and I will revisit that at some point.

bobaye · 10-21-2012, 03:53 PM

Found the answer to why my winders partition wouldn't boot - here -
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/...lo.conf.5.html
I had to add a "boot-as=0x80" line below the label entry.
I guess I must have used my win98 floppy to restore the windows mbr last time I nuked it.
The two first lines to boot a windows partition from lilo probably work just fine on a standard WinXP boot sector.
(other =/windows drive or partition
and
label =whatever you name it).
My how entertaining this has been.

tommcd · 10-24-2012, 02:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobaye

...
Grub2 scripts are still a little bit past my comprehension at the moment.
I have read a bunch of how-to's and stared at the scripts...but the exact format and syntax of how to edit /etc/grub.d scripts and what effect those may have - I'm simply not able to grasp that yet. ...

If you wish to return to booting with grub2 at some point, you may want to try grub customizer. See this tutorial: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10340183
I have not personally used this, but Ubuntu Forums grub guru drs305 wrote the tutorial, so it should be reliable.

This is a good tutorial on grub2:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/
And specifically to configure grub2:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...iguring_GRUB_2
And for custom boot entries:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/CustomMenus