Booting 2 linuxes

[Chess007]

Yes, i've already searched. :) I have installed SuSe 9.1 personal edition. I want to also install Ubuntu, and set it up so that I can boot either one on startup.

How do I set this up?

[Hayl]

you basically use the same /boot partition for both if you want to save space, or you just change your grub/lilo settings of the currently installed linux distro to point to the second one.

basically for the second one, you do not install a boot loader.

(there are quite a few threads here that explain this in more detail)

[Uranus]

It's as simple as installing the second distro on another partition, adding an entry to your boot-loader conf, and changing the root= line actually (you can use the same kernel for different distro's). Then you edit the fstab from the 2nd system to use the partition you want as boot if you like that (or you don't), and build exactly the same kernel to get the modules installed.
This might not be the most efficient way (since different distro's sometimes need a slightly different configuration) but I like it a lot, since I can have a separate boot partition, multiple distro's and easily use make install for the kernel.
Sam

[nuttron]

i installed ubuntu after i had slack installed ;
i took a chance and let grub handle the linuxes to boot and it did it beautifully ..automatically , no sweat ; of course i had a boot disk for slack just in case

[saikee]

I have thought of replying but the explanation is too long.

So I put into this thread (http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=134658) instead, as a general case.

[Chess007]

"i installed ubuntu after i had slack installed ;
i took a chance and let grub handle the linuxes to boot and it did it beautifully ..automatically , no sweat "

Do I need to make another partition?(for ubuntu) or should I just install it and hope they both work afterwards?

How do I check my partition information in Suse? (what command do I use?"

And if i need to make another partition how do I do that?

and thanks :)


Sidenote: For anyone that's ever had to deal with a Compaq...

http://www.webresearch.0catch.com/download/compaqd.html

[saikee]

To check your partition drop in terminal mode

fdisk -l will list all the partitions.

cfdisk can be used to create/delete partitions in just about all Linux distros I have come across except the Red Hat series which uses sfdisk.

Have the partition created first and tell the Linux to get on with it.

Given half a chance a Linux or WIndow will grab the whole disk and format it. Never give a fully populated hard drive to an operating system and let it do an automatic installation!