> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2001 4:49 PM
> To: Charles A Edwards
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Boot disks only
>
>
> Thanks for the advice on eliminating LILO (or GRUB) I've been
> installing
> various Linux distributions the easiest way, ie.,
> 'recommended' because
> it
> never dawned on me that there may be some way to block the
> boot menus in
> the 'expert' or 'custom' installations. This seems to best way,
> preferable
> to removing it after the installation.....like removing salt
> from potato
> chips to make salt-free chips or removing lead from gasoline to make
> lead-free gas. It's better not to put these items in in the first
> place.
>
> I've had problems when I tried ' fdisk /mbr ' to remove the boot menu
> and
> restore Windows as the default. A few times, I lost Windows and had to
> do
> a reinstall to get it back. And, it seems to make floppy booting some
> of
> the Linux distros unreliable.
>
> >
> > You must install each distro in either Expert or Custom
> mode this allows you
> > to choose where Lilo/Grub will be installed. Do Not accept
> the default
> > location,>
> > You must install each distro in either Expert or Custom
> mode this allows you
> > to choose where Lilo/Grub will be installed. Do Not accept
> the default
> > location, choose either the /boot, if you created it, or to
> the / partition,
> > or even to a floppy (you will not need a boot disk if you
> use this option)
> > for each distro.
> >
>
> Do I understand correctly that a single floppy can be used to boot any
> of the
> Linux distros? If so, it's still like a menu and it would still
> complicate
> things if changes are made such as removing or adding distributions.
> I'd
> prefer to have a separate floppy dedicated for each distro and have it
> so that
> adding or removing one will have no effect on the booting of
> the others.
>
>
> You said:
> > choose either the /boot, if you created it, or to the / partition,
> >
>
> Could you elaborate a bit on this? I'm still a newbie in
> spite of my
> ambition to have multiple Linux distros available.
>
Alex
Lets take these in reverse order.
Once upon a time in order for Lilo to be able to boot your system the use of
a /boot partition residing on hda below the 1024 cylinder was necessary.
This has never been necessary with Grub nor is it necessary with the lastest
Lilo, though there are there are still some current distros which use the
old Lilo.
You can set-up any Linux distro with any number of partitions, and you may
at a later time wish to do so, but for a novice in linux wishing to try out
various distros I would suggest the following for a 30GB hd.
(1)128MB linux swap linix swap partition,
this can be created as either a primary partition or as part of your
extended partion
(2)An extended partition comprising the remaining space on the drive
(3)Within the extended partition create 5 or 6 Ext2 partitions of roughly
the same size.
These will be the / partition, 1 for each of the distros you wish to
try.(You need not use all the space on the drive but each should be at least
2GB)
I would use PM to do all your partitioning.
You can do it with the linux installation program but eventually through
usage they will cauce partition overlaps and other partition errors.
If Lilo is installed to a floppy it can be configured so that it will allow
you to boot to any OS aready installed, but the default on most distros
offers only the option for DOS (Windows) and for That Linux distro, with it
being the first boot option.
For all basic purposes all you will be doing is creating a boot disk, and it
offers the benifit that for what ever reasons some distro do not offer you
the option to create a boot disk during installation.
The only problem of which I am aware with fdisk/MBR is as it relates to
Win2000.
If you are running 2000 it can screw your systems so do not use it.
If you wish futher clarification or additionl info let me know.
Charles (-:
Forever never goes beyond tomorrow.
