Grub install tools?
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From: Douglas Mayne on 17 Feb 2010 10:41 On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:30:13 +0100, Tuxedo wrote: > I don't prefer GRUB over LILO but are there any simple (gui) install > tools for Grub on Slackware 12.2, like liloconfig? > > After installing two different Ubuntu based distros (MINT and ArtistX) > on different partitions and thereafter reinstalling LILO within > Slackware and targetting all relevant partitions, the non-Slackware > distros won't boot, only Slackware will boot correctly. The other > distros have different errors; ArtistX just hangs in the middle of > various boot messages while MINT won't boot into graphics mode. > > Are there any GRUB install procedures within Slackware which may > autoconfigure the boot procedure better? > > Thanks for any tips. > > Tuxedo > Caveat: I don't know of any gui tools for grub. IMO, none are required. FWIW: I find grub to be a much more flexible bootloader than lilo. YMMV. Its install method, using the "grub shell" provides a suitable and sensible working environment when modifying these critical disk structures. "gui-ifying" is not necessary. A primary requirement is knowing a little bit about what you're doing when "twiddling critical bits." IMO, time spent learning about the bootloader will pay dividends later on. It looks like grub would be able to satisfy your needs on your other thread: "usb boot media." That is, if you were willing to invest a bit of time in "knowing what you're doing." The first thing to remember about grub is that device numbering/nomenclature begins with "0". C-style, I guess. Installing the grub bootloader /* can be */ as simple as is shown below. In my example below, I am using a combined boot/root partition, /dev/sda1. I will inform grub to use files on /dev/sda1 to setup the bootloader on the MBR. Also, be aware that grub's keyword, "root" is used to inform grub where it will find /*its*/ own files; it is not necessarily the same as Slackware's root partition. For example, the grub's root is different than Slackware's root when using a separate boot partition. In the case below, they are the same. Here is my example. Proceed at your own risk! 0. Begin working as the root user and install the grub package. Look in the "extra" package group. 1. In the directory /boot, create a subdirectory ./grub. # mkdir /boot/grub 2. Copy the necessary files from installed location. For whatever reason, this is not done automatically. # cp /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/* /boot/grub 3. Begin using grub shell in interactive mode. In the output below, I use the "geometry" directive to make sure I am installing grub on the proper target. Also, note that in the i/o below the shell prompt is shown as: grub> Here we go.. root(a)sl13:~# grub --no-floppy Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time. <begin grub shell i/o> GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory) [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename. ] grub> geometry (hd0) drive 0x80: C/H/S = 38913/255/63, The number of sectors = 625140335, /dev/sda Partition num: 0, Filesystem type is xfs, partition type 0x83 Partition num: 1, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x82 Partition num: 2, Filesystem type is xfs, partition type 0x83 grub> root (hd0,0) Filesystem type is xfs, partition type 0x83 grub> setup (hd0) Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes Checking if "/boot/grub/xfs_stage1_5" exists... yes Running "embed /boot/grub/xfs_stage1_5 (hd0)"... 21 sectors are embedded. succeeded Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+21 p (hd0,0)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst" .... succeeded Done. grub> quit <end grub shell i/o> root(a)sl13:~# 4. Create a boot menu, menu.lst. Use your favorite editor. Be aware that the syntax is unforgiving. spaces between keywords are required! # cat /boot/grub/menu.lst <begin menu.lst content> default=0 title Slackware 12.2 (+k2.6.30.10-smp) root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30.10-smp-dm1 vga=ask max_loop=24 resume=/dev/sda2 initrd /boot/i-30.10.gz <end menu.lst content> End of my example. IMO, here are the grub's main set of features which give it an "edge" over lilo, and make it a very flexible bootloader: 1. It can be installed on any bootable media (cd-r, usb, floppy, hard disk, etc.) 2. If there are problems booting due to the kernel not being found, etc. then a working environment, the "grub shell" is presented. Commands may be entered interactively from this enviroment. Useful commands include configfile, root, kernel, initrd. These commands follow the syntax required by menu.lst. When the same type of errors occur with the lilo bootloader, then the recourse is to look for a rescue CD, as you have already discovered. Oh yeah, here is one more, YMMV. -- Douglas Mayne
From: GangGreene on 17 Feb 2010 10:52 Tuxedo wrote: [putolin] > > After about five more installation tries of the second Linux distro > (ArtistX) both Slackware 12.2 and ArtistX 0.8 boots, but from a GRUB menu > which ArtistX dropped into MBR. (I have no idea what I did different...). > I would however prefer booting to be configured via LILO and installed via > Slackware, but I dare not touch the current set up in case it breaks the > ArtistX booting. That said, I now have a "working" boot procedure for > ArtistX on /dev/hda6 (or sda6?) and Slackware 12.2 on /dev/hda5, so I > should in theory be able to replicate the correct settings from some GRUB > config file. Where exactly should I look for the relevant boot options of > ArtistX and how could they be used in LILO for both systems to boot from > LILO? I trust LILO being the more reliable system start up procedure.... /boot/grub/menu.lst
From: Bit Twister on 17 Feb 2010 11:14 On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:41:08 +0000 (UTC), Douglas Mayne wrote: > The first thing to remember about grub is that device numbering/nomenclature > begins with "0". C-style, I guess. Gotta love progress. GRUB is Legacy software. All Hail GRUB2. You will just love grub2. ;-/ The good news: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6981/1/ The bad news: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6981/2/ More information found at http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.en.html
From: Mike Jones on 17 Feb 2010 11:42 Responding to Bit Twister: > On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:41:08 +0000 (UTC), Douglas Mayne wrote: > >> The first thing to remember about grub is that device >> numbering/nomenclature begins with "0". C-style, I guess. > > Gotta love progress. > > GRUB is Legacy software. > > All Hail GRUB2. > > You will just love grub2. ;-/ > > The good news: > http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6981/1/ The bad news: > http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6981/2/ > > More information found at http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.en.html OFCOL! Whats going on lately? Everything seems to be becoming insanely (more) complex for no good reason! Is M$ planting spooks in Linux development teams? %| -- *=( http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/ *=( For all your UK news needs.
From: Bit Twister on 17 Feb 2010 11:57
On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:42:06 GMT, Mike Jones wrote: > OFCOL! Whats going on lately? Everything seems to be becoming insanely > (more) complex for no good reason! Is M$ planting spooks in Linux > development teams? %| I think so. Mandriva even added a Guest account not requiring a password. Small sample of grief it caused https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=54710 Read these problem reports in Mandriva Linux https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=57651 https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=56389 Latest change in KDE 4.4 now forces me to click the text in the desktop shortcut icon to get a reliable launch. :( |