[ubuntu-uk] Some advice about /boot
Hello, I'm looking at quad booting my laptop (Win 7, Ubuntu (dev), debian(stable) and LFS) and wondered if it was possible to use a shared /boot partition across the 3 linux distros. The main reason for doing so would be so that everything is more tidy, but also to reduce wasted space! Any advice would be much appreciated. -Matt Daubney -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice about /boot
On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:51:04 + Matthew Daubney wrote: Hello, I'm looking at quad booting my laptop (Win 7, Ubuntu (dev), debian(stable) and LFS) and wondered if it was possible to use a shared /boot partition across the 3 linux distros. The main reason for doing so would be so that everything is more tidy, but also to reduce wasted space! Any advice would be much appreciated. -Matt Daubney I used to have a multi-boot computer. I found that although I *could* use the same /boot for all the Linux systems, it sometimes lead to problems. So long as your bootloader is configured to look for the appropriate kernel and initrd files for each system, using a common /boot does work. I found a much easier solution was to have a 2-stage boot menu. I had GRUB installed into the MBR. The GRUB menu pointed to each of the operating systems, and each of the operating systems had their own GRUB/LILO installed into the boot sector of their / partition. Grant. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice about /boot
On 10/03/11 09:51, Matthew Daubney wrote: Hello, I'm looking at quad booting my laptop (Win 7, Ubuntu (dev), debian(stable) and LFS) and wondered if it was possible to use a shared /boot partition across the 3 linux distros. The main reason for doing so would be so that everything is more tidy, but also to reduce wasted space! I used to run with a separate /boot partition for years. It works fine. Just when you install the various Linux OSs you need to use the advanced partitioning option and tell it to use but not format /boot. http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/11/30/build-your-own-pc-part-iii/ (Read some of the comments for a tad more too) To be honest, i'm not sure if it gives that much of a win any more though, but I certainly don't think it's much of a problem either. alord@lobsang:~$ df -h FilesystemSize Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda6 15G 5.3G 8.5G 39% / /dev/sda1 471M 121M 325M 28% /boot /dev/sda8 250G 188G 63G 75% /home alord@lobsang:~$ HTH Al -- The Open Learning Centre http://www.theopenlearningcentre.com -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice about /boot
My setup has always been grub on mbr and grub on /boot for each installation. Either way is pretty simple, the only difficulty I can forsee is if you change the kernel on one of the installs that doesn't handle the grub install, then you won't be able to boot to the new kernel until grub is updated. Bodsda --Original Message-- From: Matthew Daubney Sender: ubuntu-uk-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com To: Ubuntu-Uk ReplyTo: Ubuntu-Uk Subject: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice about /boot Sent: 10 Mar 2011 09:51 Hello, I'm looking at quad booting my laptop (Win 7, Ubuntu (dev), debian(stable) and LFS) and wondered if it was possible to use a shared /boot partition across the 3 linux distros. The main reason for doing so would be so that everything is more tidy, but also to reduce wasted space! Any advice would be much appreciated. -Matt Daubney -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice about /boot
On Thu, 2011-03-10 at 12:39 +, bod...@googlemail.com wrote: My setup has always been grub on mbr and grub on /boot for each installation. Either way is pretty simple, the only difficulty I can forsee is if you change the kernel on one of the installs that doesn't handle the grub install, then you won't be able to boot to the new kernel until grub is updated. I honestly do not see a compelling reason to have a separate /boot at all, except in the case of using an incompatible LVM setup, RAID or filesystem on /. Then you don't have any of the trouble of trying to maintain one /boot with three distros. Regards, Tyler -- The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratical council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor. Equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody, and in every respect diabolical. -- John Adams -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice - permissions
2009/5/25 Lucy lucybrid...@gmail.com: 2009/5/20 Neil Greenwood neil.greenwood@gmail.com: If you create more than one user in each installation, you have to create them in the same order so that they get the same UIDs - if you don't, this is the only time you should have to use the chown/chgrp commands, although chown will change group too (just to confuse you even more!). FWIW, chown won't change the group by default. e.g chown -R fred /home/bob Will change the ownership of all bob's files to fred, but not the group. Whereas chown -R fred:fred /home/bob or, as a shortcut: chown -R fred: /home/bob Will change both the owner and the groups. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ Lucy, Thanks for clarifying. That's what I'd said in my head, but re-reading it I wasn't as clear as I wanted to be. :-) Cofion, Neil. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice - permissions
2009/5/20 Neil Greenwood neil.greenwood@gmail.com: If you create more than one user in each installation, you have to create them in the same order so that they get the same UIDs - if you don't, this is the only time you should have to use the chown/chgrp commands, although chown will change group too (just to confuse you even more!). FWIW, chown won't change the group by default. e.g chown -R fred /home/bob Will change the ownership of all bob's files to fred, but not the group. Whereas chown -R fred:fred /home/bob or, as a shortcut: chown -R fred: /home/bob Will change both the owner and the groups. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
Sean Miller wrote: Well, I now have a driver. But that evil little icon top right insists on a WPA key when I want to put in a WEP one. It has a dropdown but only one option. I came across this problem and ended up using Wicd instead to fix it. Tom -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
All seems sorted now - thanks for the help. I am so tired I can't remember what I did to fix it, but yesterday evening the wireless popped up and I now have a wonderfully efficient Jaunty Laptop!! *cue fireworks* :-) Thanks Sean -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice - permissions
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Matthew Daubney wrote: On Tue, 2009-05-19 at 11:01 +0100, Sean Miller wrote: Should have broadband again today, so going to download an ISO and endeavour to fix my broken Jaunty. Now, a week or so ago somebody said to me that to preserve my data I simply asked it not to format the partition, which would leave /home intact. Two questions :- a. are there any potential side-effects to this (eg. files left from the corrupt version that interfere with the new one)? b. should I set up the default username as something different to the original (ie. if I use the same username could it decide to delete and recreate the user, thus blanking the home directory)? Hi Shaun, As with anything it'll be best to back up anything important first (always always do this, never trust ANYTHING completley). a) You may have one or two artifacts left over from the old install, but you will be able to fix this fairly easily as each one is identified. b) Use the same user, it'll be fine. Remember, BACKUPS! -Matt Daubney regarding point B, if you create a new users then won't this cause permission issues, as say old system has /home/paul and the new install has /home/paul2 the files will still belong to paul, and will need to have ownership changed (chown) and (chgrp) so you can read as the new user. Just a thought, but this is something to perhaps consider, comments welcome in case I have perhaps mis understood something. I have my files on a different partition which makes sense, but you also make a good point regarding back ups. Paul - -- Paul Sutton www.zleap.net Support Open and ISO standard file formats ISO 26300 odf http://www.odfalliance.org Next Linux User Group meet :Saturday ** June 6th ** : 3pm, Shoreline Cafe Paignton -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkoT+bkACgkQaggq1k2FJq3UYQCcD6rGWCWsYd4O4YRsWC8vt/tP L9IAni3OEGAWAqAa97/UqLoae0ma50Od =Jkgf -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice - permissions
2009/5/20 Paul Sutton zl...@zleap.net: regarding point B, if you create a new users then won't this cause permission issues, as say old system has /home/paul and the new install has /home/paul2 the files will still belong to paul, and will need to have ownership changed (chown) and (chgrp) so you can read as the new user. Just a thought, but this is something to perhaps consider, comments welcome in case I have perhaps mis understood something. I have my files on a different partition which makes sense, but you also make a good point regarding back ups. Hi Paul, It gets a bit more complicated than this! The filesystem stores the user and group for each file as a numeric ID. Then the /etc/passwd and /etc/groups files provide a cross-reference for converting the numeric ID into a user (or group) name and vice versa. When you create a user on a new installation, it uses the first free numeric ID above a fixed offset (which I believe is 1000 for Ubuntu). So in the original installation, user 'paul' probably has a numeric ID (UID) of 1000. In the new installation, user 'paul2' probably has a UID of 1000 too, since the new installation knows nothing about the previous user called 'paul', apart from some files in the /home partition belonging to a UID of 1000. If you create more than one user in each installation, you have to create them in the same order so that they get the same UIDs - if you don't, this is the only time you should have to use the chown/chgrp commands, although chown will change group too (just to confuse you even more!). Clear as mud? Cofion/Regards, Neil. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Some advice
Should have broadband again today, so going to download an ISO and endeavour to fix my broken Jaunty. Now, a week or so ago somebody said to me that to preserve my data I simply asked it not to format the partition, which would leave /home intact. Two questions :- a. are there any potential side-effects to this (eg. files left from the corrupt version that interfere with the new one)? b. should I set up the default username as something different to the original (ie. if I use the same username could it decide to delete and recreate the user, thus blanking the home directory)? Any advice greatly appreciated, Best, Sean -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
On Tue, 2009-05-19 at 11:01 +0100, Sean Miller wrote: Should have broadband again today, so going to download an ISO and endeavour to fix my broken Jaunty. Now, a week or so ago somebody said to me that to preserve my data I simply asked it not to format the partition, which would leave /home intact. Two questions :- a. are there any potential side-effects to this (eg. files left from the corrupt version that interfere with the new one)? b. should I set up the default username as something different to the original (ie. if I use the same username could it decide to delete and recreate the user, thus blanking the home directory)? Hi Shaun, As with anything it'll be best to back up anything important first (always always do this, never trust ANYTHING completley). a) You may have one or two artifacts left over from the old install, but you will be able to fix this fairly easily as each one is identified. b) Use the same user, it'll be fine. Remember, BACKUPS! -Matt Daubney signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
Well that all worked okay, now got Jaunty working. But I've lost my wireless. Hmmm... Prior to the re-install it was fine, and I don't remember actually doing anything to make it not so. Is there some default option that's been installed which is preventing it accessing my wireless card? I recall this is one of those troublesome bcmwotsit ones... But on wired it all seems okay. Sean -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
On Tue, 2009-05-19 at 17:34 +0100, Sean Miller wrote: Well that all worked okay, now got Jaunty working. But I've lost my wireless. Hmmm... Prior to the re-install it was fine, and I don't remember actually doing anything to make it not so. Is there some default option that's been installed which is preventing it accessing my wireless card? I recall this is one of those troublesome bcmwotsit ones... Check in System - Administration - Hardware Drivers, see if there's a driver it wants. I think the bcm cards need proprietry firmware. -Matt Daubney signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 6:02 PM, Matthew Daubney m...@daubers.co.uk wrote: Check in System - Administration - Hardware Drivers, see if there's a driver it wants. I think the bcm cards need proprietry firmware. I tried that first - it's empty. Not suggesting a thing. Sean -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
Sean Miller wrote: snip Prior to the re-install it was fine, and I don't remember actually doing anything to make it not so. Is there some default option that's been installed which is preventing it accessing my wireless card? I recall this is one of those troublesome bcmwotsit ones... I wonder if you'd installed a driver module to make wireless work before that the reinstallation has overwritten. (This happens to my Samsung NC10 every time there's a kernel update.) mac -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
What's happened to knetworkmanager these days? Used to be good for picking up wireless things - but doesn't seem to be in the repositories these days. Does it have a different name? Sean -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
On Tue, 19 May 2009 17:34:26 +0100, Sean Miller s...@seanmiller.net wrote: Well that all worked okay, now got Jaunty working. But I've lost my wireless. Hmmm... Prior to the re-install it was fine, and I don't remember actually doing anything to make it not so. Is there some default option that's been installed which is preventing it accessing my wireless card? I recall this is one of those troublesome bcmwotsit ones... But on wired it all seems okay. Sean If it's a BCM43xx then installing the b43-fwcutter package and allowing it to download the required firmware should work. Daniel -- Humanity is where the falling angel meets the rising ape. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
Well, I now have a driver. But that evil little icon top right insists on a WPA key when I want to put in a WEP one. It has a dropdown but only one option. And entering the thing on the networks in applications seems to be a complete waste of time - it's just ignored! BAH! Is Ubuntu becoming EASIER or HARDER? Sometimes I wonder... Never was like this in my day, Gromit... we only had to fend off Red Hat, not our own OS... BAH! again! Sean -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Some advice
Hmm... seem to have managed to fool it into letting me online. So now on with wireless on Jaunty laptop... RESULT Thanks for all your help... onward ever onward... Sean -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
