Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
Ben, The content of /etc/redhat-release file shows: Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (Nahant Update 2) Thank you. Zhao Ben Scott wrote: [CC'ing the list with the OP's permission. Please include the list in any replies.] On 1/2/06, Zhao Peng <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Thank you for still paying attention to my partition problem. Sure thing. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. :) 1 What release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are you running? It's Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (2.6.9-22.EL) I'm most interested in the release of the whole distribution. RHEL 2.1, 3, 4...? If you're not sure, you should be able to find out by taking a look at the /etc/redhat-release file. 2.6.9-22.EL is the kernel version. I suppose kernel 2.6 implies RHEL 4, but I'd like to be sure. Once I know what distribution and release you have, I can look up what tools it ships with, and what features it enables, that we might have to worry about. 2 What are your partitions used for? "df" output: Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/hda5 5036284 1130792 3649660 24% / /dev/hda1 101086 8508 87359 9% /boot none241772 0241772 0% /dev/shm /dev/hda7 6192896 42204 5961952 1% /home /dev/hda2 5036316 3299548 1480936 70% /usr /dev/hda3 5036316105340 4675144 3% /var Okay, it looks like you're in good shape. Particular things I note from the above: - You're using plain partitions (not LVM or RAID or whatever) - You have a separate boot partition (hda1) - You have a big home partition (hda7), with plenty of space free, at the end of the disk The easiest way to tackle a dual-boot would then be: - Shrink your home partition down to make room - Install the new system in an additional partition (hda8) - Share the same swap partition (hda6) for both installs - Share the same boot partition (hda1) for both installs - Possibly share the home partition (but one thing at a time) First, before proceeding, the obligatory warning: *BACK UP EVERYTHING*. If you don't have proper backups, you're gonna loose data. Maybe not for this adventure, but eventually. Even if you decide not to try this, you should still back up everything. It's the one rule that applies regardless of hardware or OS. You have been warned. The kernel boot files (vmlinuz and initrd) have unique names across Red Hat distributions, so you have use the same boot partition for both distros. This actually works out in your favor. Each can install it's own kernel files in the boot partition, update the grub config file, and generally be happy. GRUB will let you choose between installs at boot. I'm pretty sure the Red Hat installer, anaconda, will handle it all for you. The swap partition isn't used between boots, so you can use the same one for both installs. The exact commands you'll need to use to resize your home partition will depend on the release of RHEL, as well as the file system type. I expect you have an EXT3 filesystem, but again, best to be sure. Use the "mount" command to see what is currently mounted. You should see a line that looks something like this: /dev/hda7 on /home type ext3 (rw) Just report the type -- in the above, "ext3". Once we've got the details established, we should be well on our way. "swapon -s" output: Nothing showed in terminal. Odd. "swapon -s" should show you the status (currently active) swap spaces. From your "df" output, it's a pretty good bet that hda6 is your swap partition, and you reported the same in a previous post. I would expect it to be there. Well, it's probabbly not worth worrying about. Cheers! -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
[CC'ing the list with the OP's permission. Please include the list in any replies.] On 1/2/06, Zhao Peng <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thank you for still paying attention to my partition problem. Sure thing. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. :) > 1 What release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are you running? > It's Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (2.6.9-22.EL) I'm most interested in the release of the whole distribution. RHEL 2.1, 3, 4...? If you're not sure, you should be able to find out by taking a look at the /etc/redhat-release file. 2.6.9-22.EL is the kernel version. I suppose kernel 2.6 implies RHEL 4, but I'd like to be sure. Once I know what distribution and release you have, I can look up what tools it ships with, and what features it enables, that we might have to worry about. > 2 What are your partitions used for? > > "df" output: > > Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on > /dev/hda5 5036284 1130792 3649660 24% / > /dev/hda1 101086 8508 87359 9% /boot > none241772 0241772 0% /dev/shm > /dev/hda7 6192896 42204 5961952 1% /home > /dev/hda2 5036316 3299548 1480936 70% /usr > /dev/hda3 5036316105340 4675144 3% /var Okay, it looks like you're in good shape. Particular things I note from the above: - You're using plain partitions (not LVM or RAID or whatever) - You have a separate boot partition (hda1) - You have a big home partition (hda7), with plenty of space free, at the end of the disk The easiest way to tackle a dual-boot would then be: - Shrink your home partition down to make room - Install the new system in an additional partition (hda8) - Share the same swap partition (hda6) for both installs - Share the same boot partition (hda1) for both installs - Possibly share the home partition (but one thing at a time) First, before proceeding, the obligatory warning: *BACK UP EVERYTHING*. If you don't have proper backups, you're gonna loose data. Maybe not for this adventure, but eventually. Even if you decide not to try this, you should still back up everything. It's the one rule that applies regardless of hardware or OS. You have been warned. The kernel boot files (vmlinuz and initrd) have unique names across Red Hat distributions, so you have use the same boot partition for both distros. This actually works out in your favor. Each can install it's own kernel files in the boot partition, update the grub config file, and generally be happy. GRUB will let you choose between installs at boot. I'm pretty sure the Red Hat installer, anaconda, will handle it all for you. The swap partition isn't used between boots, so you can use the same one for both installs. The exact commands you'll need to use to resize your home partition will depend on the release of RHEL, as well as the file system type. I expect you have an EXT3 filesystem, but again, best to be sure. Use the "mount" command to see what is currently mounted. You should see a line that looks something like this: /dev/hda7 on /home type ext3 (rw) Just report the type -- in the above, "ext3". Once we've got the details established, we should be well on our way. > "swapon -s" output: > Nothing showed in terminal. Odd. "swapon -s" should show you the status (currently active) swap spaces. From your "df" output, it's a pretty good bet that hda6 is your swap partition, and you reported the same in a previous post. I would expect it to be there. Well, it's probabbly not worth worrying about. Cheers! -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
On 12/30/05, Zhao Peng <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The whole dual-boot thing has been time-consuming, and I think it's time > for me to forget it and get some real work done. I didn't have a chance to reply to this thread until now, but I can't help but thing that the whole approach of trying to get Knoppix/QTParted/etc working is the wrong track. Red Hat provides tools for partition management. Aside from being easier then a full shutdown and reboot, Red Hat's tools usually support all of the feature in Red Hat's distribution, which Knoppix may not (being derived from Debian, a very different distribution). What release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are you running? What are your partitions used for? One was way to answer the second question is to post the output of the "df" and "swapon -s" commands. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
On Friday 30 December 2005 09:42 am, Zhao Peng wrote: > 1 regular boot up from Knopixx > 2 bring up konsole 2a xhost + > 3 su - > 4 swapoff /dev/hda6 > 5 qtparted& > > For step 5, I got a line saying "qtparted: cannot connect to X server" That will be fixed by step 2a added above. > So I started qtparted via "K menu" -> "systems", and tried to resize That means you didn't open QTParted as root. The step I added above will let you do just that, by opening up permissions to your X session to other users (ie root). Normally, X sessions are only accessible to the user running them. > Gee, I'm sooo frustrated. //crying.. No need for that now... ;-) -N ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
Thank you folks. Now I was able to start qtparted from shell as root. But, I ran into the following error message: "Filesystem has incompatible feature enabled" Same error happened when I used parted. Not surprising, I believe qtparted is sort of GUI version of parted. I googled and found no good solution to solve the problem above. The whole dual-boot thing has been time-consuming, and I think it's time for me to forget it and get some real work done. Thank you all again. Zhao On 12/30/05, Neil Schelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On Friday 30 December 2005 09:42 am, Zhao Peng wrote:> 1 regular boot up from Knopixx> 2 bring up konsole2a xhost +> 3 su -> 4 swapoff /dev/hda6> 5 qtparted&>> For step 5, I got a line saying "qtparted: cannot connect to X server" That will be fixed by step 2a added above.> So I started qtparted via "K menu" -> "systems", and tried to resizeThat means you didn't open QTParted as root. The step I added above will let you do just that, by opening up permissions to your X session to other users(ie root). Normally, X sessions are only accessible to the user runningthem.> Gee, I'm sooo frustrated. //crying.. No need for that now... ;-)-N
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 09:42:38 -0500 Zhao Peng <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Jerry, > > Thanks for your suggestions. > > Below is what I did. > > 1 regular boot up from Knopixx > 2 bring up konsole > 3 su - > 4 swapoff /dev/hda6 > 5 qtparted& > > For step 5, I got a line saying "qtparted: cannot connect to X server" > > So I started qtparted via "K menu" -> "systems", and tried to resize > hda4 (which is extended partition, and still the only partition the > "resize" is not gray-out). Hda4 has size of 46.04 gb, consisting of > hda5 thru hda7, used space for these 3 partitions is less than 1 gb. > > So I right-clicked on hda4, and selected "resize", and set "Free after > space" at 40 gb, and committed change from "File" menu. The pop-up > windows says that the operation is successful. BUT, hda4 is still 46.04 > gb, and nothing changed! So I tried to commit changes from "Device" > menu, the operation is also successful, but it didn't make any > difference: hda4 was NOT resized. > > Gee, I'm sooo frustrated. //crying.. Before you do that type xhost + -- Jerry Feldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9 PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9 signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
Hi, Another thing you could do is to use Knoppix to mount and copy your 3 GB of data to another partition that you are not going to modify, then simply delete the partition that you wish to resize and remake it. md -- Jon "maddog" Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 09:42:38 -0500, Zhao Peng wrote: > Hi Jerry, > > Thanks for your suggestions. > > Below is what I did. > > 1 regular boot up from Knopixx > 2 bring up konsole > 3 su - > 4 swapoff /dev/hda6 > 5 qtparted& > > For step 5, I got a line saying "qtparted: cannot connect to X server" > > So I started qtparted via "K menu" -> "systems", and tried to resize > hda4 (which is extended partition, and still the only partition the > "resize" is not gray-out). Hda4 has size of 46.04 gb, consisting of > hda5 thru hda7, used space for these 3 partitions is less than 1 gb. > > So I right-clicked on hda4, and selected "resize", and set "Free after > > space" at 40 gb, and committed change from "File" menu. The pop-up > windows says that the operation is successful. BUT, hda4 is still > 46.04 gb, and nothing changed! So I tried to commit changes from > "Device" menu, the operation is also successful, but it didn't make > any difference: hda4 was NOT resized. You don't want to resize hda4, IMHO - if you do, any space you free up will not be usable because you can only have a maximum of four primary partitions, and you already do have that many. The only workable option I see is to resize the logical partitions now within hda4, and then to create new logical partitions from the new free space inside hda4. As for getting QTParted to work as root (which would seem to be the only way it will allow you to resize hda5/6/7), two things you can try: run "xhost +" in the konsole before doing the "su -", or run the "Root Shell" command found (IIRC) on the menu under "KNOPPIX", and try to run qtparted from that. Also, I wouldn't background qtparted when you run it, because whatever it may output to the console might be useful info; no point in throwing it away if you don't have to. -- Bill Mullen RLU #270075 ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
On Fri, 2005-12-30 at 09:42 -0500, Zhao Peng wrote: > Hi Jerry, > > Thanks for your suggestions. > > Below is what I did. > > 1 regular boot up from Knopixx > 2 bring up konsole On my Knoppix 3.9 I can bring up a root console directly from the Penguin Icon at the lower left (second icon from left) corner. > 3 su - No longer needed > 4 swapoff /dev/hda6 > 5 qtparted & X should work now - at least this works for me. You may need to first shrink the partitions within hda4. I do not have any disk setup remotely like this to test with. > > For step 5, I got a line saying "qtparted: cannot connect to X server" > > So I started qtparted via "K menu" -> "systems", and tried to resize > hda4 (which is extended partition, and still the only partition the > "resize" is not gray-out). Hda4 has size of 46.04 gb, consisting of > hda5 thru hda7, used space for these 3 partitions is less than 1 gb. > > So I right-clicked on hda4, and selected "resize", and set "Free after > space" at 40 gb, and committed change from "File" menu. The pop-up > windows says that the operation is successful. BUT, hda4 is still 46.04 > gb, and nothing changed! So I tried to commit changes from "Device" > menu, the operation is also successful, but it didn't make any > difference: hda4 was NOT resized. > > Gee, I'm sooo frustrated. //crying.. > > z > ___ > gnhlug-discuss mailing list > gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org > http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss -- Lloyd Kvam Venix Corp ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
On Friday 30 December 2005 09:42 am, Zhao Peng wrote: > 1 regular boot up from Knopixx > 2 bring up konsole 2a xhost + > 3 su - > 4 swapoff /dev/hda6 > 5 qtparted& > > For step 5, I got a line saying "qtparted: cannot connect to X server" That will be fixed by step 2a added above. > So I started qtparted via "K menu" -> "systems", and tried to resize That means you didn't open QTParted as root. The step I added above will let you do just that, by opening up permissions to your X session to other users (ie root). Normally, X sessions are only accessible to the user running them. > Gee, I'm sooo frustrated. //crying.. No need for that now... ;-) -N PS sorry if this posts twice... accidentally sent this from my work email first time. -N ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
Hi Jerry, Thanks for your suggestions. Below is what I did. 1 regular boot up from Knopixx 2 bring up konsole 3 su - 4 swapoff /dev/hda6 5 qtparted& For step 5, I got a line saying "qtparted: cannot connect to X server" So I started qtparted via "K menu" -> "systems", and tried to resize hda4 (which is extended partition, and still the only partition the "resize" is not gray-out). Hda4 has size of 46.04 gb, consisting of hda5 thru hda7, used space for these 3 partitions is less than 1 gb. So I right-clicked on hda4, and selected "resize", and set "Free after space" at 40 gb, and committed change from "File" menu. The pop-up windows says that the operation is successful. BUT, hda4 is still 46.04 gb, and nothing changed! So I tried to commit changes from "Device" menu, the operation is also successful, but it didn't make any difference: hda4 was NOT resized. Gee, I'm sooo frustrated. //crying.. z ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
Note that Knoppix will use your swap partition. You should turn off swap before you run QTParted. You also should run QTParted as root. Normally, when booting Knoppix you are a regular user. Just bring up an xterm or console, the "su -" to become root, then turn off the swap: swapoff /dev/hda6 Then run qtparted: qtparted& You should be able to resize if you have sufficient space. (I've done this quite a few times). On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:05:19 -0500 Zhao Peng <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm back to bug you guys on this thread. (BTW, It's very likely that I > may use some terms incorrectly, due to my unfamiliarity with linux. > Sorry about that. :) ) > > In case you may forget, let me repeat my situation: > > only 1 hard drive, and only RedHat Enterprise installed on it, and no > unallocated free space. > > In order to resize the hard drive to give some space to Fedora, I used > Qtparted on Knoppix live DVD (I don't have Partition Magic). > Unfortunately it didn't work. > > My current RedHat partition is as follows: > > hda1 ext3 > hda2 ext3 > hda3 ext3 > hda4 extended > hda5 ext3 > hda6 swap > hda7 ext3 > > Note: hda4 consists of hda5, hda6, and hda7. > > When I right-click on the above partitions one by one, "resize" is > gray-out for all partitions, except hda4. So I went ahead to resize > hda4. I set "Free space after" to 30 gb. (hda4 has 42 gb, and no more > than 3 gb is used). Then I got a small pop-up window w/o any information > on it, except for a question mark. > > I googled and found the table at this link: > http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/features.en.html > > From this table, I suspect that Qtparted can NOT resize ext3/ext2 type > partition. Am I right? > > If this is the case, what other EASY tools do you recommend me to try? > (I also tried Gparted live CD at > http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php, but had problems booting the > machine from it) > > Thank you for all input you have given. I really appreciate that. > > Zhao > > > ___ > gnhlug-discuss mailing list > gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org > http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss > -- Jerry Feldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9 PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9 signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Follow-up: Red Hat / Fedora dual boot
Hi, I'm back to bug you guys on this thread. (BTW, It's very likely that I may use some terms incorrectly, due to my unfamiliarity with linux. Sorry about that. :) ) In case you may forget, let me repeat my situation: only 1 hard drive, and only RedHat Enterprise installed on it, and no unallocated free space. In order to resize the hard drive to give some space to Fedora, I used Qtparted on Knoppix live DVD (I don't have Partition Magic). Unfortunately it didn't work. My current RedHat partition is as follows: hda1 ext3 hda2 ext3 hda3 ext3 hda4 extended hda5 ext3 hda6 swap hda7 ext3 Note: hda4 consists of hda5, hda6, and hda7. When I right-click on the above partitions one by one, "resize" is gray-out for all partitions, except hda4. So I went ahead to resize hda4. I set "Free space after" to 30 gb. (hda4 has 42 gb, and no more than 3 gb is used). Then I got a small pop-up window w/o any information on it, except for a question mark. I googled and found the table at this link: http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/features.en.html From this table, I suspect that Qtparted can NOT resize ext3/ext2 type partition. Am I right? If this is the case, what other EASY tools do you recommend me to try? (I also tried Gparted live CD at http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php, but had problems booting the machine from it) Thank you for all input you have given. I really appreciate that. Zhao ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
