A grub menu booting 100+ systems of Dos, Windows, Linux, BSD and Solaris


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  1. #1
    Join Date
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    A grub menu booting 100+ systems of Dos, Windows, Linux, BSD and Solaris

    Important! Please read post #21 of this thread first

    ----Edited 19 Jan 2006---reference to "Just booting tips" added---------
    ----Edited 30 Dec2006 ----A "How to" is now avaibale --------------------

    I apologise for this long thread. To simplify it I have cut it into separate posts

    Part 1 - main menu of 100+ systems
    Part 2 - special menu for BSD and Solaris systems
    Part 3 - Q & A

    So that you don't have to bother with the bits of no interest to you.

    Edited addition : After this thread I have since put together a collection of booting tips in here

    If you have an issue with Windows and desire Grub not to take over the MBR then this thread may be relevant

    Linux and its boot loaders are relentlessly under continuous improvement. The purpose of the thread is to document in 2005 how easy for a newcomer like myself to mulit-boot different operating systems in a PC because up to 1.5 years ago I knew nothing about booting or Linux after being served exclusively by the MS systems. It is hope that the thread may be of use to the newcomers who are unsure if the inherently powerful Linux can also be easy to learn and boot.

    edited note --The above para. has been colored red after the thread has been incorrectly reported/interpreted in the Internet. My intention is to demonstrate that Linux is easy to learn, powerful to use and simple to boot. This may be my personal view but at least I offer proof.
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Part 1 of 3
    --------------------------------------------------------------

    (A) One Grub menu that boots 100+ systems

    The 100+ systems comprise of
    3 Dos
    3 Windows
    5 BSDs (in Part 2 Menu)
    2 Solaris (in Part 2 Menu)
    97 Linux including 2 versions of NetBSD

    I have kept all the boot loaders of the above systems. Grub is used to boot all of them because it is the only one capable of handing a large number of systmes. I had no access to a commercial boot loader and relied solely on the standard facilities within Linux.

    Initially I hope to have one menu for all the above systems but ran into technical problems with the BSD and Solaris system because their conflicts with the extended partition in a disk. I had to separate the BSD and Solaris into their own hard disks and the menu is described in Part 2.

    Here is the Grub menu that boots 100+ systems

    Code:
    # Grub menu booting 103 systems out of 144 partitions
    color          white/blue black/light-gray
    default        0
    timeout        1000
    
    # Disk hda has 60 partitions fully populated 56 are bootable systems 
    
    
    title          DOS 6.22 @ hda1
    unhide         (hd0,0)
    root           (hd0,0)
    chainloader    +1
    	
    #  hda2 is the extended partition  and has no storage space itself
    
    title          Empty @ hda3 #initially used by a BSD system moved to another disk
    root           (hd0,2)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ hda4#initially used by a BSD system moved to another disk
    
    root           (hd0,3)
    chainloader    +1
    
    # hda5 is a swap partition common to all Linux in the box
    
    title          Puppy 1.0.6 @ hda6 
    root           (hd0,5)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Arch 0.71 @ hda7
    root           (hd0,6)
    chainloader    +1
                     
    title          Mandrake 9.2 @ hda8
    root           (hd0,7)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Suse 9.1 pro @ hda9
    root           (hd0,8)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          eLive 0.3 @ hda10
    root           (hd0,9)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Red Hat 9 @ hda11
    root           (hd0,10)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Lycoris 4 @ hda12
    root           (hd0,11)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Libranet 2.8.1 @ hda13
    root           (hd0,12)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Mandrake 10 @hda14
    root           (hd0,13)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Debian Woody @ hda15
    root           (hd0,14)
    chainloader    +1
    
    
    title          Yoper 2.0.0 @ hda16
    root           (hd0,15)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Knoppix 3.6 @ hda17
    root           (hd0,16)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Bufflo 1.5 @ hda18
    root           (hd0,17)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Kanotix 2004.9 @ hda19
    root           (hd0,18)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Kalango 3.2 @ hda20
    root           (hd0,19)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Blax 30001 @ hda21
    root           (hd0,20)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Fedora Core 4 @ hda22
    root           (hd0,21)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Debian Sarge (booted directly because high partitions not supported) in hda23
    root           (hd0,22)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-386 root=/dev/hda23 ro 
    initrd         /boot/initrd.img-2.4.27-2-386
    
    title          Red Flag 4.1 @ hda24
    root           (hd0,23)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Linare prof Edition 2 @ hda25
    root           (hd0,24)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Tiny Sofa 2.0 @ hda26
    root           (hd0,25)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Slackware 10.0 @ hda27 
    root           (hd0,26)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Xandros 201 @ hda28
    root           (hd0,27)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Vine 3.2 @ hda29
    root           (hd0,28)
    chainloader    +1
                      
    title          Specifix 0.15 @ hda30
    root           (hd0,29)
    chainloader    +1
                      
    title          Ubunto 5.04 @ hda31
    root           (hd0,30)
    chainloader    +1
                      
    title          PCLinuxOS 9.1 @ hda32
    root           (hd0,31)
    chainloader    +1
    
    #  Here is the approximate 137Gb barrier in the hard disk hda
    
    title          Asian Linux  @ hda33
    root           (hd0,32)
    chainloader    +1
                      
    title          Ubuntu 6.04 Dapper (by direct boot) @ hda34
    root           (hd0,33)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-8-386 root=/dev/hda34 ro quiet splash
    initrd         /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-8-386
                   	
    
    title          Wolvix 1.0.4  @ hda35
    root           (hd0,34)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz rw root=/dev/hda35
    
    title          Mepis 3.4.2 rc1 (by direct booting) @ hda36
    root           (hd0,35)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-1-586tsc root=/dev/hda36 nomce quiet splash=verbose vga=791 
    initrd         /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-1-586tsc
    
    
    title          TurboLinux V7 @ hda37 (boot with Slackware 10 kernel in hda27 +rw)
    root           (hd0,36)
    kernel         (hd0,26)/boot/vmlinuz rw root=/dev/hda37
                                      
                      
    title          Slampp 1.1 @ hda38
    root           (hd0,37)
    chainloader    +1
                      
                                      
                      
    title          Slax 5.0.4 @ hda39
    root           (hd0,38)
    chainloader    +1
                      
                      
    title          PCLinuxOS 0.92 @ hda40
    root           (hd0,39)
    chainloader    +1
                                      
                      
    title          Sam 1.1 @ hda41
    root           (hd0,40)
    chainloader    +1
                      
    title          Vector 5.1 @ hda42
    root           (hd0,41)
    chainloader    +1
                      
                                      
                      
    title          Suse 10.0 @ hda43
    root           (hd0,42)
    chainloader    +1
                      
    title          Kororaa 2005 Beta 2 @ hda44
    root           (hd0,43)
    chainloader    +1
                                          
    title          smgl 0.45 @ hda45
    root           (hd0,44)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda45 ro
    
    title          Lunar 1.6 @ hda46
    root           (hd0,45)
    kernel         /boot/2.6.14.1-normal ro root=/dev/hda46 devfs=no mount
                      
    title          Foresight 0.93 @ hda47
    root           (hd0,46)
    chainloader    +1
                                        
                      
    title          Skolelinux Pro 6  in hda48
    root           (hd0,47)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386 root=/dev/hda48 ro 
    initrd         /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386
                                          
                      
    title          Kubuntu dapper in hda49
    root           (hd0,48)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-9-386 root=/dev/hda49 ro quiet splash
    initrd         /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-9-386
                                          
                      
    title          Klax 3.5 @ hda50
    root           (hd0,49)
    chainloader    +1
                                          
                      
    title          K12LTSP 4.10 (need rw switch on) @ hda51
    root           (hd0,50)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7-1.494.2.2 rw root=/dev/hda51
    initrd         /boot/initrd-2.6.7-1.494.2.2.img
                                          
                      
    title          Progeny 2.0 booted by Slackware's kernel  @ hda52
    root           (hd0,51)
    kernel         (hd0,26)/boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/hda52
                                          
                      
    title          grml 0.5 @ hda53
    root           (hd0,52)
    chainloader    +1
                                          
                      
    title          Fedora Core 2 @ hda54 (must be booted directly  with rw switch)
    root           (hd0,53)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 rw root=/dev/hda54
    initrd         /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
                      
    title          Whax 3.0 @ hda55
    root           (hd0,54)
    chainloader    +1
                                          
                      
    title          Troppix 1.2 @ hda56
    root           (hd0,55)
    chainloader    +1
                                          
                      
    title          TopologLinux 6.0 @ hda57
    root           (hd0,56)
    chainloader    +1
                                          
                      
    title          Haansoft 2006 ws @ hda58
    root           (hd0,57)
    chainloader    +1
                                          
                      
    title          Fedora Core 3 @ hda59
    root           (hd0,58)
    chainloader    +1
                                          
                      
    title          Scientific Linux (with rw) @ hda60
    root           (hd0,59)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-5.0.5.EL rw root=/dev/hda60 rhgb quiet
    initrd         /boot/initrd-2.6.9-5.0.5.EL.img
                                          
    
    # Disk hdc has 54 partitions with 30 systems
    
    title          Dos 7.10 @ hdc1
    hide           (hd0,0)
    unhide         (hd1,0)
    map            (hd1) (hd0)
    map            (hd0) (hd1)
    root           (hd1,0)
    makeactive
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Win98 @ hdc2
    hide           (hd0,0)
    hide           (hd1,0)
    unhide         (hd1,1)
    root           (hd1,1)
    makeactive
    map            (hd1) (hd0)
    map            (hd0) (hd1)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ hdc3
    root           (hd1,2)
    chainloader    +1
    
    # Extended partition is hdc4
    
    title          B2D Pure KDE 2005 @ hdc5
    root           (hd1,4)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          CollegeLinux 2.5 @ hdc6
    root           (hd1,5)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Berry 0.65 @ hdc7
    root           (hd1,6)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Morhpix KDE 0.4 @ hdc8
    root           (hd1,7)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Feather 0.6 @ hdc9
    root           (hd1,8)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Buffalo 1.7.3.9 @ hdc10
    root           (hd1,9)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          CentOS 4.1  @ hdc11
    root           (hd1,10)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Vector 4.3 @ hdc12
    root           (hd1,11)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Tao Linux 4.0 @ hdc13
    root           (hd1,12)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Frugaalware 0.1 @ hdc14
    root           (hd1,13)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Agnula Demudi 1.2 @ hdc15
    root           (hd1,14)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Damn Small Linux @ hdc16 
    root           (hd1,15)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Monoppix 1.1.8 booted by Slackware 10.2 kernel from (hd1,34) @ hdc17
    root           (hd1,16)
    kernel         (hd1,34)/boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/hdc17 
    
    title          Symphony A4 @ hdc18
    root           (hd1,17)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Pocket Linux 1.2 @ hdc19
    root           (hd1,18)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          UltimaLinux 4.0 @ hdc20
    root           (hd1,19)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          VLOS 1.2 @ hdc21
    root           (hd1,20)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-vidalinux_r3 ro root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hdc21 video=vesafb:1024x768-32@85 splash=silent,theme:vlos-1.2 quiet CONSOLE=/dev/tty1
    initrd         /boot/initrd-2.6.12-vidalinux_r3.img
    
    title          Tiny Sofa (Ceara) @ hdc22
    root           (hd1,21)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          64 Studio 0.6 @ hdc23
    root		(hd1,22)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.13-1-multimedia-amd64-generic root=/dev/hdc23 ro vga=791 splash=silent
    initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.13-1-multimedia-amd64-generic
    
    title          Empty @ hdc24
    root           (hd1,23)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ hdc25
    root           (hd1,24)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ hdc26
    root           (hd1,25)
    chainloader    +1
    
    # here is the approximate boundary of the 137Gb barrier of hdc
    
    title          Empty @ hdc27
    root           (hd1,26)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ hdc28
    root           (hd1,27)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ hdc29
    root           (hd1,28)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ hdc30
    root           (hd1,29)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          rPath 0.99.2 @ hdc31
    root           (hd1,30)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          STX 1.0 rc2 @ hdc32
    root           (hd1,31)
    
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Fedora Core 5 @ hdc33
    root           (hd1,32)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          StartCom 4.0.4 Raam @ hdc34
    root           (hd1,33)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Slackware 10.2 @ hdc35
    root           (hd1,34)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Foresight Foresight 0.9 @ hdc36
    root           (hd1,35)
    kernel         /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12.5-fdl.2.x86.i686.cmov ro root=/dev/hdc36 splash=silent vga=791  quiet
    initrd         /boot/initrd-2.6.12.5-fdl.2.x86.i686.cmov.img
    
    title          Xandros 3.0 @ hdc37
    root           (hd1,36)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger @ hdc38
    root           (hd1,37)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Kate 2.2 (booted by Suse 10 Kernel in hdc43) @ hdc39
    root           (hd1,38)
    kernel         (hd0,42)/boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/hdc39
    initrd         (hd0,42)/boot/initrd
    
    # Partitions hdc40 to hdc54 are partitions each 200Mb for Grub working as submenus.
    
    title          Grub menu for MS systems only (Dos & Windows) @ hdc40
    root           (hd1,26)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub menu for recent additions @ hdc41
    root           (hd1,40)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub menu for only small distros @ hdc42
    root           (hd1,41)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub menu for only large distros @ hdc43
    
    root           (hd1,42)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub reserved menu (Empty) @ hdc44
    root           (hd1,43)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub menu for IDE disk hda only @ hdc45
    root           (hd1,44)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub menu for IDE disk hdc only @ hdc46
    root           (hd1,45)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub menu for Sata disk sda only @ hdc47
    root           (hd1,46)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub menu for Sata disk sdb only @ hdc48
    root           (hd1,47)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Complete menu for all 100+ systems @ hdc49
    root           (hd1,48)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Master Menu to boot submenus @ hdc50
    root           (hd1,49)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub reserved menu (Empty) @ hdc51
    root           (hd1,50)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub reserved menu (Empty) @ hdc52
    root           (hd1,51)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub reserved menu (Empty) @ hdc53
    root           (hd1,52)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Grub reserved menu (Empty) @ hdc54
    root           (hd1,53)
    chainloader    +1
    
    # Third disk sda is a Sata with 15 partitions, 9 are bootable
    
    title          XP pro @ sdb1
    hide           (hd0,0)
    hide           (hd1,0)
    hide           (hd1,1)
    unhide         (hd2,0)
    map            (hd2) (hd0)
    map            (hd0) (hd2)
    root           (hd2,0)
    makeactive
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ sda2
    root           (hd2,1)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ sda3
    root           (hd2,2)
    chainloader    +1
    
    # Extended partition here is the sdb4
    
    title          Empty @ sda5
    root           (hd2,4)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Ututu x2 2005.1 @ sda6
    root           (hd2,5)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Helix 1.7 @ sda7
    root           (hd2,6)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          MagicLinux 2.0 rc2 @ sda8
    root           (hd2,7)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Zenwalk 1.2 @ sda9
    root           (hd2,8)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          MedianLinux 4 rc5 @ sda10
    root           (hd2,9)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          NetBSD i386 3.0 rc6 @ sda11
    root           (hd2,10)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Arabian 0.6 rc1 @ sda12
    root           (hd2,11)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Mepis 3.3.2 @ sda13
    root           (hd2,12)
    chainloader    +1
    
    # Persinal data partion @ sda14
    
    
    title          Empty @ sda15
    root           (hd2,14)
    chainloader    +1
    
    # Fourth disk sdb is a Sata with 15 partitions, 8 are bootable
    
    title          Win2k @ sdb1
    hide           (hd0,0)   # hiding DOS 6.22 partition in hda1
    hide           (hd1,0)   # hiding DOS 7.10 partition in hdc1
    hide           (hd1,1)   # hiding Win98    partition in hdc2
    hide           (hd2,0)   # hiding Win XP   partition in sda1
    unhide         (hd3,0) # unhide Win2k partition for execution
    root           (hd3,0)
    makeactive
    map            (hd3) (hd0)
    map            (hd0) (hd3)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          FreeDOS @ sdb2
    hide           (hd0,0)   # hiding DOS 6.22 partition in hda1
    hide           (hd1,0)   # hiding DOS 7.10 partition in hdc1
    hide           (hd1,1)   # hiding Win98    partition in hdc2
    hide           (hd2,0)   # hiding Win XP   partition in sda1
    hide           (hd3,0)   # hiding Win2k    partition in sdb1
    unhide         (hd3,1)
    root           (hd3,1)
    makeactive
    map            (hd3) (hd0)
    map            (hd0) (hd3)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ sdb3
    root           (hd3,4)
    chainloader    +1
    
    # Partition sdb4 is an extended partition
    
    title          NetBSD 3.0 AMD64 @ sdb5
    root           (hd3,4)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ sdb6
    root           (hd3,5)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ sdb7
    root           (hd3,6)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Frugalware 0.4 @ sdb8
    root           (hd3,7)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ sdb9
    root           (hd3,8)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Quantian 0.7.9.1 @ sdb10
    root           (hd3,9)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Suse 10.1 x86 64 @ sdb11
    root           (hd3,10)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ sdb12
    root           (hd3,11)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Knoppix 4.0.2 @ sdb13
    root           (hd3,12)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Mandriva Release 2006 @ sdb14
    root           (hd3,13)
    chainloader    +1
    
    title          Empty @ sdb15
    root           (hd3,14)
    chainloader    +1
    Last edited by saikee; 07-21-2007 at 06:13 PM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    Posts
    2,978
    (B) Partition scheme and system hardware

    4 disks used

    Disk 1 = hda 300Gb IDE with 60 partitions
    Disk 2 = hdc 200Gb IDE with 54 partitions
    Disk 3 = sda 200Gb Sata with 15 partitions
    Disk 4 = sdb 200Gb Sata with 15 partitions
    (See Part 2 for BSD and Solaris systems on their own hard disks)

    Partition scheme as indicated by Linux command "fdisk -l" is as follow
    Code:
    linux:/home/saikee # fdisk -l
    
    Disk /dev/hda: 300.0 GB, 300090728448 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hda1   *           1         122      979933+   6  FAT16
    /dev/hda2             123       34051   272534692+   5  Extended
    /dev/hda3           35268       36483     9767520   a5  FreeBSD
    /dev/hda4           34052       35267     9767520   a5  FreeBSD
    /dev/hda5             123         365     1951866   82  Linux swap / Solaris
    /dev/hda6             366         973     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda7             974        1581     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda8            1582        2189     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda9            2190        2797     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda10           2798        3405     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda11           3406        4013     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda12           4014        4621     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda13           4622        5229     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda14           5230        5837     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda15           5838        6445     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda16           6446        7053     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda17           7054        7661     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda18           7662        8269     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda19           8270        8877     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda20           8878        9485     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda21           9486       10093     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda22          10094       10701     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda23          10702       11309     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda24          11310       11917     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda25          11918       12525     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda26          12526       13133     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda27          13134       13741     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda28          13742       14349     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda29          14350       14957     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda30          14958       15565     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda31          15566       16173     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda32          16174       16781     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda33          16782       17389     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda34          17390       17997     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda35          17998       18605     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda36          18606       19213     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda37          19214       19821     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda38          19822       20429     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda39          20430       21037     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda40          21038       21645     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda41          21646       22253     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda42          22254       22861     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda43          22862       23469     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda44          23470       24077     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda45          24078       24685     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda46          24686       25293     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda47          25294       25901     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda48          25902       26509     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda49          26510       27117     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda50          27118       27725     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda51          27726       28333     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda52          28334       28941     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda53          28942       29549     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda54          29550       30157     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda55          30158       30765     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda56          30766       31373     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda57          31374       31981     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda58          31982       32589     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda59          32590       33197     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hda60          33198       34051     6859723+  83  Linux
    
    Partition table entries are not in disk order
    
    Disk /dev/hdc: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hdc1               1         122      979933+  1b  Hidden W95 FAT32
    /dev/hdc2   *         123         730     4883760   1b  Hidden W95 FAT32
    /dev/hdc3             731        3162    19535040   93  Amoeba
    /dev/hdc4            3163       24792   173742975    5  Extended
    /dev/hdc5            3163        3770     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc6            3771        4378     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc7            4379        4986     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc8            4987        5594     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc9            5595        6202     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc10           6203        6810     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc11           6811        7418     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc12           7419        8026     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc13           8027        8634     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc14           8635        9242     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc15           9243        9850     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc16           9851       10458     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc17          10459       11066     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc18          11067       11674     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc19          11675       12282     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc20          12283       12890     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc21          12891       13498     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc22          13499       14106     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc23          14107       14714     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc24          14715       15322     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc25          15323       15930     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc26          15931       16538     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc27          16539       17146     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc28          17147       17754     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc29          17755       18362     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc30          18363       18970     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc31          18971       19578     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc32          19579       20186     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc33          20187       20794     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc34          20795       21402     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc35          21403       22010     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc36          22011       22618     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc37          22619       23226     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc38          23227       23834     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc39          23835       24442     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc40          24443       24466      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc41          24467       24490      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc42          24491       24514      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc43          24515       24538      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc44          24539       24562      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc45          24563       24586      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc46          24587       24610      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc47          24611       24634      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc48          24635       24658      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc49          24659       24682      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc50          24683       24706      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc51          24707       24730      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc52          24731       24754      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc53          24755       24778      192748+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc54          24779       24792      112423+  83  Linux
    
    Disk /dev/sda: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1               1        5099    40957686   17  Hidden HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda2            5100        6315     9767520   b5  Unknown
    /dev/sda3            6316        6923     4883760    b  W95 FAT32
    /dev/sda4            6924       24792   143532742+   5  Extended
    /dev/sda5            6924        7531     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda6            7532        8139     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda7            8140        8747     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda8            8748        9355     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda9            9356        9963     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda10           9964       10571     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda11          10572       11179     4883728+  a9  NetBSD
    /dev/sda12          11180       11787     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda13  *       11788       12395     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda14          12396       24553    97659103+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
    /dev/sda15          24554       24792     1919736   83  Linux
    
    Disk /dev/sdb: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdb1   *           1        1216     9767488+  17  Hidden HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sdb2            1217        1338      979965    b  W95 FAT32
    /dev/sdb3            1339        1460      979965    b  W95 FAT32
    /dev/sdb4            1461       24792   187414290    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
    /dev/sdb5            1461        2676     9767488+  a9  NetBSD
    /dev/sdb6            2677        3892     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb7            3893        6324    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb8            6325        8756    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb9            8757       11188    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb10          11189       13620    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb11          13621       16052    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb12          16053       18484    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb13          18485       20916    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb14          20917       23348    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb15          23349       24792    11598898+  83  Linux
    linux:/home/saikee #
    There are a total of 144 partitions. 103 are bootable systems. 20 are empty partitions ready for booting if future systems are installed in them. I used 15 small partitions, each 200Mb, for placing Grub on its own so that I could have a range of menus tailored for booting selected groups. The 4 extended partitions (4 disks), the Swap and a Data partition make up the remainder.

    The PC is a self-assembled unit using the cheapest components but not necessarily the lowest spec.

    Mother board : Asrock 939NF4G
    CPU : AMD 64 3200
    ram : 1024 Mb
    Video : unknown onboard PCI Express that I only know it works with the"vesa" driver
    Ethernet card : Realtek 8139 (cheapest £5 or US$ 10)
    Sound card : Generic Sound Baslter 5.1

    Mouse & Keyboard : PS2

    (C) Tools required

    (C.1) One Grub floppy created according to Chapter 3.1 of the Grub Manual or or Chapter 4 of “Linux in a Nutshell” by Siever, Figgins and Webber. The floppy may be burn into a CD by following the emulation method outlined by this site or created directly by following Chapter 3.4 of the Grub Manual. This Grub floppy, or a CD, is unattached to a system and as such it the most important tool because it can boot any of the above 100+ systems manually. The menu itself contains the necessary instructions to boot each system manually!!! I mention the CD alternative for the benefit of laptop owners.

    (C.2) One Dos 6.22 bootable floppy for restoring the MBR for all versions of Dos and Windows (including XP and Win2k) by command "fdisk /mbr". Laptop users can use an installation CD from a XP or Win2k's command "fixmbr" to do the same thing. I found the usages of a Dos floppy and a NT versions of Window installation CD are interchangeable because I consistently use a XP's CD to restore a Dos MBR but a Dos floppy for XP’s MBR.

    (C.3) One Linux Live CD. Any one will do but I found Slax 5.0.6 most versatile as it has no fear of high partition number and able to cross the 137Gb barrier in a hard disk. This is the standard tool for access an unbootable Linux. As an example if I need to make a Linux in hda9 “chainloadable” by replicate its boot loader in its root partition I boot up the Live CD and type
    Code:
    mkdir /mnt/hda9
    mount /dev/hda9 /mnt/hda9
    chroot /mnt/hda9
    grub-install /dev/hda9
    To put Grub in a floppy attached to Linux of hda9 or in the MBR I need to replace “hda9” with “fd0” or “hda” respectively in the last statement.

    The boot loader Lilo can be similarly replicated by replacing the above "grub-install" with "lilo-b". For example the instructions to put Lilo in the MBR are
    Code:
    mkdir /mnt/hda9
    mount /dev/hda9 /mnt/hda9
    chroot /mnt/hda9
    lilo-b /dev/hda
    I mention replicating the boot loader here because 83% of the 100+ systems have been "chainloaded" using Grub to boot another boot loader. Chainloading works only if a system keeps a copy of its boot loader in its root partition.

    (D) Booting techniques involved

    There are only two methods available to Grub to boot an operating system.

    (D.1) Direct booting


    When Grub can read a filing system it goes into the required partition to load its kernel and also the ram disk file "initrd" if used. This is how Grub boots all Linux and some BSDs when being employed as their boot loader. Typical instructions to tell Grub to carry out this task are
    Code:
    title rPath 0.99 @ hdc31
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.13.4-1-.x86.i386.cmov ro root=/dev/hdc31 quiet
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.13.4-1-.x86.i386.cmov.img
    The first line identifies the root partition to be booted. The second line "kernel" command is to fetch the kernel named as "vmlinuz-2.6.13.4-1-.x86.i386.cmov". The initrd command of the third line is to load the ram disk file "initrd-2.6.13.4-1-.x86.i386.cmov.img".

    (D.2) Indirect booting

    When Grub can't read a file system foreign to itself it boots that system's own boot loader instead. It is up to that boot loader to boot its own master. This method is known as chainloading in which the first 512 byte of Grub is "cut" and "paste" with a second boot loader starting at its 513th byte position. This is the "general" method used by all other boot loaders, like NTlrd and Lilo, capable of multi boot.

    Every boot loader needs to have a stage-1 and stage-2 because the former is always 512 bytes large ready to be read by the BIOS if this boot loader is in the MBR. The duty of Stage-1 is to load the Stage-2 which in turn does the actual loading of the system.

    The following systems appear to have no problem for being booted indirectly by Grub;-

    Dos, Windows, BSD, Solaris and Darwin x86

    A Linux can also be booted indirectly but the distro may fail if it were installed but has not been designed beyond 137Gb barrier in a hard disk or in a partition number higher than 16. In such case it may be still bootable by directly method.

    Both recent versions of Lilo and Grub have no problem crossing the 137Gb barrier or high partition number or I have not met one that has an issue with it. It is a common mistake to blame on the boot loader even if it is the kernel that fails to locate the root partition.

    The main advantage of indirect booting is that the partition number is the "sole" information needed to boot that system, with 3 generic lines needed

    Code:
    title This is a system in jth partition of ith disk 
    root (hdi,j)
    chainloader +1
    Grub counts from 0 and so the 3rd partition in the second disk will have root (hd1,2)

    One can actually say the success of the booting of the 100+ systems was made possible essentially by Grub's ability to "chainload" the boot loaders of the other systems.

    It should also be stated here the indirect method used by Grub is no different from any of the boot loaders in the above 100+ systems except Grub is the simplest of them all.

    (E) Some featues of Grub

    In using NTldr, Lilo, Loadlin, BSD and Solaris boot loaders I found Grub excels others by the following features

    (E.1) Grub can be implemented unattached to an operating system to carry out the booting manually. It acts simply as a mini operating system of its own prior to a user asking it to boot the "main" system of his/her choice. This feature is unique amount the boot loaders of the above-mentioned 100+ systems. When booting manually step by step the process is extremely fast as Grub is a very small program. This combination allows a user to know his/her mistake immediately at every steps. By entering the amended command a user is able to boot a system up virtually by trial and error without wasting time to reboot the computer repeatedly.

    (E.2) The automation of booting in Grub is done by executing a script file which is always stored as /boot/grub/menu.lst or /boot/menu.lst. Thus a user totally ignorant of how to boot a Linux by Grub can ask Grub to display this file on the screen and type in the same instruction to boot the system manually. As one can ask at a Grub prompt to see the partitioning scheme of any disk, display the configuration file showing how a Linux is to booted, search the partition that has the appropriate booting configuration file (the equivalent to Grub's /boot/grub/menu.lst for Lilo is /etc/lilo.conf and so Grub can boot a Linux served by Lilo) therefore a user can, with the use a Grub floppy or CD, to boot any PC system in a computer totally new to him/her. Unlike Lilo, which checks the accuracy of its configuration file /etc/lilo.conf every time a change has been made, the entries in a Grub's menu.lst does not need to be 100% operable. Thus one can compile the 100+ systems menu, copy it in a PC even before any of the 100+ systems is installed, as Grub can be installed in a partition on its own. By instructing a Linux installer to put its boot loader inside its root partition the Linux become instantly bootable on completion of the installation by the previously-prepared menu. The Grub menu above still have 20 empty partitions ready for this purpose.

    (E.3) Grub has "hide", "unhide" and "map" commands to make unwanted partition invisible to the booting system. These commands allow systems originally not designed to co-exist together can still be installed and booted in one machine. For example MS own boot loaders are incapable of booting all versions of Dos and Windows together and a BSD system can have conflict with the second and third BSD installed into the same hard disk, yet with Grub all these become possible.

    (E.4) Grub has a scrolling screen able to accept 100+ booting entries. This is far more powerful than the Solaris/BSD's boot loaders, Windows' NTldr and Linux's Lilo which have a static boot screen with a maximum of 4, 10 and 27 entries respectively.

    (E.5) Grub can be installed anywhere in a bootable media like a floppy, a CD, the MBR of the first bootable disk, any root partition of a system (Grub is used by Dos, Linux, BSD or Solaris). When it is installed and attached to a system it always boots to that system. However Grub can also be installed without a system in a tiny partition with nothing except itself.
    Last edited by saikee; 12-12-2006 at 06:54 AM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    Posts
    2,978
    (F) A few points to watch out in booting

    (F.1) All Dos, Windows, Solaris and BSDs need to be installed and booted from primary partitions. The only exception I am aware of from this group is NetBSD which can be fitted inside a logical partition. I have two versions installed in partitions sda11 and sdb5. (Edited addition:I have been made aware that it is possible to install MS systems in logical partitions by amending MS MBR by this thread).

    (F.2) The Unix systems have an inner subdivisions treated as logical partition by Grub. Linux conforms to PC standard by disallowing more than one extended partition and so the fifth partition and above are always used to denote logical partitions. The extended partition can only be created when one of the 4 primaries is not used. This means both MS and Linux systems have no mechanism to distinguish from which of the 4 primaries the logical partitions come from. BSD and Solaris on the other hand can name their inner subdivisions uniquely according to their primary partition position. This creates a problem for Grub if more than one Unix system is installed into a hard disk because the Unix inner subdivisions are named as "a", "b", "c"....etc. Two BSD systems in the same disk will have two "a" inner subdivisions and BSD's boot loader appears to only boot the first one it encounters. Thus hiding/unhiding technique is needed for booting several BSDs in the same hard disk. More details are given in Part 2.

    (F.3) The Unix uses an alphabet system to name the inner subdivisions and therefore the maximum number of BSD-subparts is limited by the number of alphabets available. Linux permits up to 60 logical partitions in an IDE (and 15 partitions for a Sata/SCSI disk). It appears that a BSD cannot tolerate the presence of such large number of logical partitions and would not install or operate. My current solution is to use BSD and Solaris on their own disks, as described in Part 2.

    (F.4) Many Linux have not been engineered to cross the 137Gb barrier or to cope with a partition number higher than 16 in a hard disk. If such system can be installed beyond its designed limit it usually fails to boot and cannot be chainloaded because some of its components cannot find its own root partition. This type of Linux can still be booted using the direct method. Details are obvious inside the 100+ system Grub menu. In extreme cases I had to use the kernel from another Linux to boot them.

    (F.5) There is a potential confusion that a user may mix up a Grub shell with a Grub prompt. The former is what you get when typing at Bash shell the command "grub". At which time the Linux would have already been in operation in a "protected" mode and many Grub's booting instructions would have been disabled to protected the Linux. Small amount of commands are still usable. A Grub prompt is obtained after booting Grub only and "without" a Linux presence. At a Grub prompt one can choose any system to boot and all the Grub commands are operable.

    (F.6) The actual maximum number of partitions permitted in Linux for an IDE disk is actually 60 including the extended partition. The maximum partition number 63 can be reached when no primary partition is used so that the 5th to 63th plus the extended partition itself amount to 60 again. The extended partition exists in name only and has no usable storage area inside.

    (G) Some statistics of the 100+ systems

    (G.1) Linux is a system by the people for the people. The 97 distros installed in my box originated from 27 countries and 3 different regions. The contributions are from Argentina(1), Asia(1), Australia(4), Austria(1), Belgium(1), Brazil(1), Canada(6), China(2), Czech(1), Europe(1), France(5), Germany(10), Global(3), Hungary(2), Isle of Man(4), Israel(2), Italy(1), Japan(3), Netherland(2), New Zealand(1), Norway(3), Poland(1), Puerto Rico(1), S Korea(1), Sweden(1), Switzerland(1), Syria(1), Taiwan(1), UK(3), USA(32).

    (G.2) The main menu boots 103 systems. 85 (83%) of the 103 systems were indirectly booted by chainloading while the remaining 18 (17%) require direct booting.

    (G.3) The average size of the Linux is only 2.24Gb. Minimum size is 0.4Gb while the biggest dsitro Quantian 0.7.9.1 at sdb10 has 7.57 Gb. Quantian has been pre-packed with a lot of educational software and should be regarded as an exception.. The next largest Linux is Knoppix 4.0.2 with 5.1Gb. All the rest are below 5Gb.

    (G.4) I have only one personal data Fat32 partition in sda14 accessible by all systems. The one swap partition hda5 is picked up by every Linux in installation without my intervention.

    (G.5) Out of the 97 Linux distros 60 use Grub while 37 use Lilo as the boot loader. There are only a few distros that offer both choices from which only one can be nominated.

    (G.6) For those who wonder if a user needs to compile a kernel and search for drivers in order to use a Linux I have some news for them. I have never had a need to compile a kernel (got over 90 of them to choose from, haven't I?) and never had to find a driver for all of my distros. The only bit I have done over and above what is provided by the Linux was to download the latest Grub and built it into the distros to help me to boot them.

    (H) Recommendations for users intending to multi boot

    (H.1) It is always better to partition the disk first. You will know exactly where the systems are going to reside in. Your own data in other partitions are safer from inadvertent damage. You are less likely to be confused by the installer.

    (H.2) Try not to mix your personal data with an operating system. An operating system can go down any time so it pays to keep the personal data on a separate partition that can be read and written by all systems. The personal data will be a lot easier to backup and maintained.

    (H.3) I prefer to use one partition per Linux and have not met any resistance and suffered any drawback. It is definitely easier to boot and maintained.

    (H.4) Learn to boot the system manually. This will force you to use Grub because other boot loaders do not have manual booting capability. You will have a much better appreciation of how a system is booted. Grub will always warn us with an error message if it has found an instruction difficult to comply. It is therefore a lot easier to be confronted with one hurdle at a time instead of looking at a compound problem as a result of several faults.

    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Part 2 of 3 (BSD/Solaris systems)

    --------------------------------------------------------------

    (2A) The Grub menu

    Code:
    # Grub menu to boot 5 BSDs, 2 Solaris, 1 Win98 & 3 Linux
    timeout 1000
    color cyan/blue white/blue
    foreground ffffff
    background 0639a1
    
    title PcBSD 1.0 RC1 @ hda1 (ad0s1)
    hide (hd0,1)   #hide FreeBSD in hda2 
    unhide (hd0,2) #Solaris partition is hidden if "unhided" by Grub
    hide (hd0,3)   #hide DesktopBSD in hda4
    unhide (hd0,0) #unhide PcBSD partition
    root (hd0,0)   #specify its root
    chainloader +1 #Ask Grub to chainload PcBSD's own boot loader
    
    title FreeBSD Release 6 @ hda2 (ad0s1)
    hide (hd0,0)
    unhide (hd0,2)
    hide (hd0,3)
    unhide (hd0,1)
    root (hd0,1)
    chainloader +1
    
    title Solaris Express @ hda3 (c0d0s0)
    # Solaris is invisible to others if unhide (a special case)
    hide (hd0,0)
    hide (hd0,1)
    hide (hd0,3)
    hide (hd0,2) #Grub's hide statement actually makes Solaris visible  
    root (hd0,2)
    chainloader +1
    
    title DesktopBSD 1.0 RC3 AMD64 @ hda4 
    hide (hd0,0)
    hide (hd0,1)
    unhide (hd0,2)
    unhide (hd0,3)
    root (hd0,3)
    chainloader +1
    
    # the following partitions are in the second disk
    
    title Win98 @ hdc1 # Win98 supplies Grub to multi boot the rest
    root (hd1,0)
    map (hd1) (hd0)  # disk order is re-arranged on-the-fly
    map (hd0) (hd1)  # because Win98 was installed as a "C" drive
    chainloader +1
    
    title DragonflyBSD 11.2 @ hdc2  
    unhide (hd1,1)
    unhide (hd1,2)
    hide (hd1,3)
    root (hd1,1)
    chainloader +1
    
    #The following 2 lines are for direct booting DragonflyBSD directly
    #but it isn't used because in hiding DragonflyBSD its menu becomes invisible
    #root (hd1,a)
    #kernel /boot/loader
    
    title Solaris 10 @ hdc3
    hide (hd1,1)
    hide (hd1,2) #Hiding Solaris in Grub actually make Solaris visible
    hide (hd1,3)
    root (hd1,2)
    chainloader +1
    
    # hda4 is the extended partition
    # hda5 is used as a Linux Swap partition
    
    title Pocket Linux 2.0 @ hdc6
    hide (hd1,1)
    unhide (hd1,2)
    unhide (hd1,3) #unhiding the whole extended partition
    root (hd1,5)
    chainloader +1 
     
    title NetBSD 3.0 RC5 AMD64 @ hdc7
    hide (hd1,1)
    unhide (hd1,2)
    unhide (hd1,3)
    root (hd1,6)
    chainloader +1 
    
    title Demudi 1.3 @ hdc8
    hide (hd1,1)
    unhide (hd1,2)
    unhide (hd1,3)
    root (hd1,7)
    chainloader +1 
    
    title MEPIS 3.4.2 at hda9
    hide (hd1,1)
    unhide (hd1,2)
    unhide (hd1,3)
    root (hd1,8)
    chainloader +1
    (2B) Why BSD/Solaris on their own?

    The above Grub menu was orginally part of a bigger menu for 100+ systems but I had to separate the BSD and Solaris systems from the main disks because of the following reasons;-

    (2B.1) Just like Dos and Windows the BSD and Solaris systems each need a primary partition to reside in but there is only a mximum of 4 primaries in a disk. By installing 100+ systems I need one primary partition from each disk to turn into an extended partition to house the large number of Linux and so I simply ran out of primary partitions available in the 4 hard disks. The current 5 BSD and 2 Solaris on their own hard disks. The Win98 and Linux were added to show that all can be accommodated if their conflicts are suitably avoided.

    (2B.2) The BSD-subparts are treated as logical partitions in Linux. When co-existing with Linux logical partitions I experienced regular corruption in partition table and loss of the boot loaders. By moving the BSD and Solaris out of the main Linux installations I hope to cut down the in-between systems interferences.

    (2B.3) Booting of multiple BSD and Solaris is more involved than booting Linux. The main menu is alreadys burdened with the special arrangement of multiple versions of Dos and Windows. Thus a separate and shorter Grub menu is simpler to understand and explain.

    (2B.4) The majority of BSD systems could not be installed in the presence of large disks with logical partitions grossly in excess of the number of alphabets BSD employs to distingusih their BSD-subparts. I had no choice but to house the BSDs in separate disks because my main IDE disks have 60 and 54 partitions respective. The BSDs simply rebooted on an installation whenever any of these two disks were present and were happily installed on their immediate removals.

    (2C) Disks & partitioning scheme

    Disk1 hda 60Gb (4 primaries taken up by PcBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris Express & DesktopBSD)

    Disk2 hdc 60Gb (3 primaries taken up by Win98, DragonflyBSD, Solaris 10 one extended partition holding Pocket Linux, NetBSD, Demudi & Mepis)

    The partitioning schemes of the two IDE disks, each 60Gb, are

    Code:
    bash-3.00# fdisk -l
    
    Disk /dev/hdc: 60.0 GB, 60040544256 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7299 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hdc1               1         608     4883728+   b  W95 FAT32
    /dev/hdc2             609        1216     4883760   b5  Unknown
    /dev/hdc3   *        4379        6810    19535040   af  Unknown
    /dev/hdc4            1825        4378    20515005    5  Extended
    /dev/hdc5            1825        1946      979933+  82  Linux swap
    /dev/hdc6            1947        2554     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc7            2555        3162     4883728+  a9  NetBSD
    /dev/hdc8            3163        3770     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc9            3771        4378     4883728+  83  Linux
    
    Partition table entries are not in disk order
    
    Disk /dev/hda: 61.4 GB, 61492838400 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7476 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hda1               1        1824    14651248+  b5  Unknown
    /dev/hda2            1825        3648    14651280   b5  Unknown
    /dev/hda3   *        3649        5472    14651280   af  Unknown
    /dev/hda4            5473        7476    16097130   a5  FreeBSD
    bash-3.00#

    (2D) Notes

    (2D.1) I start first by stating that a BSD or a Solaris system has inner subdivisions, which Grub refers to as BSD-subparts, that are regarded as the logical partitions in Linux. Multiple installation of BSD/Solaris can therefore result in repeated appearance of logical-partition like BSD-subparts within the possible 4 primary partitions. This confuses Linux and its boot loaders. Both Linux and Grub cannot distinguish uniquely the inner BSD-subparts within a BSD system in if there is more than one of them installed in a hard disk. The BSD-subparts are named by a alphabet system. Thus a Grub's partition reference of (hd0,a) will cause Grub to search the first occurence of a BSD-subpart with disklabel "a" even if there may 3 other different BSD systems in the same disk (hd0). The fact Grub is only able to boot the first occurenece of (hd0,a) has been documented in the Grub Manual and this has happened consistently to me.

    (2D.2) This multi installation problem has been overcome by hiding the unwanted BSD systems and booting the taget BSD by the standard indirect method ( or chainloading) whereby addressing the partition reference using the noraml (hd0,2) is poosible again instead of relying on the BSD-subparts convention of (hd0,a). In the indirect method Grub boots the boot loader of BSD only and leaves BSD's own boot loader to boot its master. It is the same method used by BSD to boot a non-BSD system like Dos or Windows.

    (2D.3) In the above Grub menu every one of the 5 BSDs, 2 Solaris, Win98 and 3 Linux was booted indirectly. Usually the system that host Grub must be booted directly but in here the host is Win98 and I only use it partition to house Grub. I had to use Win98 because it is the only system that I don't have to hide.

    (2D.4) In installing all the above systems I did not allow any of them the access to the MBR and so all of them installed their boot loaders inside their root partitions and subsequently "chainloadable" by Grub. I had a Grub floppy, described in Para. C1 abovel, left in the drive so that I could boot any of the system manually. The Grub menu was compiled as the last step when all the systems were in. The menu itself conatins all instructions to boot each one manually. I only need to add the line "boot" after the "chainloader +1" statement when booting any of them manually.

    (2D.5) I found building Grub in any of the above BSDs to be identical to that in Linux. I just follow the procedure exactly as per Grub Manual. I could not use the Grub in Linux and BSD because their partitions are liable to be hidden. In such a case Grub would be denied access to its own menu and its ability to multi boot would be crippled.

    (2D.6) The NetBSD is an odd ball among the BSD systems in that it is the only one I found capable of being installed and booted from a "logical" partition. It has been sandwiched between the two Linux to demonstrate its ability to co-exist harmoniously with other systems in the logical partitions.

    (2D.7) Solaris Express has a Grub implementation. At time of writing this thread that Grub implementation appears to be a special version as a third parameter like (hd0,2,a), denoting the inner subpart "a", is used and that is not supported by the standard versions of Grub in Linux. Having tried it out in various ways I found it quicker just to put Grub from into Win98 and use its /boot/grub/menu.lst to multi boot the rest.

    (2D.8) The common system to hide a partition in PC seems to flip the 5th bit in the byte that identifies the partition type. Most system have a "0" at the 5th bit and so hiding flips it into a "1". However Solaris type bf has a "1" already at the 5th bit so hiding and unhiding have will achieve the opposite effects. Therefore I use Grub to "hide" it when I have to use Solaris and "unhide" when I want Solaris invisible to other systems. I have added annotations in my menu to highlight this oddity.

    (2D.9) To put Grub into Win98, in partition hdc1, I just created the directory \boot\grub in "C" and copied Grub's stage1, stage2 and menu.lst there, the last one is the menu showed above. I then boot up a Grub floppy. These 2 lines instruct Grub to set itself up in the MBR using the stage1 and stage2 obtainable from the root partition of (hd1,0), which is hdc1 in Linux, and display the menu.lst there on a boot up
    Code:
    root (hd1,0)
    setup (hd0)
    Last edited by saikee; 02-15-2006 at 06:49 AM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    -------------------------------------------
    Part 3 of 3 (Q&A)
    -------------------------------------------
    (H) Q & A
    Q1 : How long did it take you to boot the 100+ systems?
    A : I started my Linux adventure 18 months ago. I have been trying to “retain” what I have installed from the free downloads. That is all.
    Q2 : Are you from the computer industry?
    A : No just an average user of a PC. Trained as a civil engineer by profession. Use the computer to "calculate"mainly.
    Q3 : Why did you do such a stupid thing? Nobody in his right mind needs 100+ systems to work on.
    A : I found booting with Linux easy and simple. Just to want to see what is the limit for Grub to boot other systems..
    Q4 : What is your point of showing off 100+ systems booted by Grub?
    A : To help people still with problems with "dual boot", "tri boot" in Linux.
    Q5 : This Grub floppy sounds fantastic but I haven’t got a Linux in my PC how can I make a copy?
    A : Easy piece, just download a Linux Live CD that supports Grub and use it to generate the Grub floppy
    Q6 : Which Live CD can I find Grub support?
    A : Mepis, Puppy,Damn Small Linux, Linux rescue CD, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, ……
    Q7 : Can you give the instructions for making a Grub floppy with a Live CD and no installed Linux?
    A : Boot up the Live CD, click terminal, ask Linux to find the directory that holds stage1 and stage2 files, change directory to it, pop in a floppy and use Linux’s dd command to write the Grub’s atge1 and stage2 files onto the floppy. For Mepis 3.3.2 Live CD you will find the files stage1 and stage2 in /linux/lib/grub/i386-pc directory or any directory you find stage1 in the Live CD of your choice. The file stgae2 is always in the same directory. You then type (using /linux/lib/grub/i386-pc as the directory as an example here so please adjust to suit your own circumstance)
    find / -name stage1
    cd /linux/lib/grub/i386-pc
    dd if=stage1 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 cout=1
    dd if=stage2 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=2
    Q8 :What is the catch of using this Grub floppy to boot 100+ systems?
    A : The Grub floppy works on any system that has a boot loader inside its root partition
    Q9 : But the boot loader of my Linux is in the MBR, how can I put its boot loader in its root partition hda6? By the way it has Grub
    A : You can replicate Grub any time, which requires root privilege in terminal, to its root partition say hda6 by typing
    grub-install /dev/hda6
    . Alternatively you can invoke a Grub shell, which is only available if the distro selects Grub as its boot loader, and type
    Code:
    grub
    root (hd0,5)
    setup (hd0,5)
    Q10 : Sorry I meant my Linux uses Lilo and not Grub, how can I make Lilo replicate its boot loader in root partition hda6?
    A : You can replicate Lilo, while log in as root in terminal, in its root partition hda6 by typing
    lilo -b /dev/hda6
    Q11 : How do I replicate the boot loader for a Dos, Win3x, Win9x, Win2k and XP?
    A : No need. These systems must be installed in an active primary partition and will automatically have their boot loaders installed in their root partitions by default.
    Q12 : How do I replicate the boot loader for a BSD and Solaris?
    A : During installation of these system do not permit the boot loader into the MBR and each system will automatically place its boot loader in the root partition.
    Q13 : How is your method differs from my Linux’s Grub in booting Windows?
    A : My method is same as how Grub boot every Windows. With a Grub floppy you do it manually but the process is automated by a script file always stored as /boot/grub/menu.lst. Putting Grub in the MBR save you the typing work, that is all.
    Q14 : So all the instructions of how to boot a Linux or Windows manually are already inside the /boot/grub/menu.lst of my Linux?
    A : Yep. It is all there. Except in manual booting you always end the instruction with a statement
    Code:
    boot
    Q15 : Hold on a minute, what happen if my Linux uses Lilo?
    A : You can boot any Linux using “chainloading” and it doesn’t matter if it has Lilo or Grub as its resident boot loader.
    Q16 : I am sure Lilo is booting Windows in a similar fashion, is its method simlar to Grub?
    A : NT version of Windows, Lilo and Grub can chainloader each other. Lilo chainloads a system, say in hda7 by just 2 lines
    other=/dev/hda7
    label=Linux-in-hda7
    Q17 : So Lilo is simpler with only 2 lines to chainload a system while Grub needs 3 lines?
    A : You can use only two lines in Grub to chainload the above hda7 too like this
    title My Linux in hda7
    chainloader (hd0,6)+1
    Q18 : So the “label” statement in Lilo is same as “title” statement in Grub?
    A : Except Lilo has a fixed field limiting the number characters in the label statement. You can put any thing in Grub’s “title” statement.
    Q19 : Why are you so keen on the indirect booting or chainloading?
    A : I am a simple guy who can't cope with complications. Naturally one one set of instruction to boot all the systems is easy on me.
    Q20 : Grub seems to be a nice boot loader, it is a shame we haven’t got it in FreeBSD.
    A : The standard Grub can be built into all Dos, Linux and BSD. Just follow the instruction from the GNU/Grub site. I have it installed in FreeBSD, PcBSD, DesktopBSD and DragonflyBSD. I just follow the instruction given by Appendix A of the Grub Manual
    Q21 : Having installed a large number distros yourself which one is the best?
    A : There are horses for courses so it is up to the individual to sample and pick the ones he/she likes. The big distros are always well put together, robust in variety of situations and well supported by documentations. For newcomers any distro will do. By exposing to more than one distro one can pick on the common commands easier and able to survive better in a new environment.
    Q22 Is Grub the best boot loader to use?
    A I can’t confirm that even after I have used it extensively. It is definitely the easiest among the boot loaders in the above 100+ systems. I am just surprised that I could get so much out of it when others don’t seem to bother.
    Q23 : How does Grub measured against the commercial boot loaders that claim to be able to do just as many type of systems?
    A : Never have the cash to try them out myself but I am reasonably certain that it is an easy task for any boot loader to boot a PC system indirectly. To boot directly the boot loader has to understand a filing structure in order to go inside a partition to pick out the kernel and ram disk file to load them directly. Since Grub is engineered for the Linux and BSD I doubt if a third party boot loader can carry the booting duty better than Grub. There are things Grub can do while other simply can’t. One example is we can ask Grub to use the kernel of Linux A to boot Linux B. I would be interested in knowing a commercial boot loader having a better ability than Grub (or Lilo) to pass on parameters at boot time to a kernel.
    Last edited by saikee; 12-26-2005 at 06:57 AM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Posts
    1,241
    Very, very impressive.

    Do you actually use all those installations on a regular basis?

    psi42

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    Posts
    2,978
    I started my Linux adventure 1.5 years ago by joining JustLinux. The systems are progressively built up and constantly checked. Some older versions of distros were put back in an attempt to install them beyond the 137Gb barrier after I gained more knowledge.

    Some of them have fancinating features relative to the others.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    2

    Okie...

    I have no life.......

  8. #8
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    I am humbled by the public interest in this thread in the last 2.5 days. Previously the thread received just over 42 views per day in its 48-day existence. In the last 2.5 days it received about 10,000 views per day.

    In view of the public interest I shall put together an easy HOWTO later. So far the information above is just a demonstration type which may be sufficient for the experienced readers to piece the picture together.

    I shall append a easy HOWTO to the same thread. So watch this space. Hopefully it should available in before April 2006 as I am away till mid March.

    I also take this opportunity to thank the viewers rating this thread.

    ------------------------------------------------

    julzian12321,

    Am I supposed to provide a response to you?
    Last edited by saikee; 02-20-2006 at 06:10 AM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    2

    okie

    No I'm just being a fool. I found this link on a local 'LAN' forum. Cool

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    Congratulations, a very impressive piece of work. Bravo!
    Feel free to PM me for help

    Using PCLinuxos 2007 on my laptop and 2009 on my Desktop and proud of it!

    Desktop:
    AMD Phenom II x2 545 3GB DDR2 RAM 500GB SATA,250GB SATA, 250GB IDE, ATI Radeon HD 4870 512 DDR3
    Laptop:
    Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.2) 2GB RAM, 160GB Sata HDD, nVidia 8600GM 512MB

    Please come back and tell us if your problem is solved, it may help others, and stop us from wondering what happened.

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    This thread has attracted a lot of attention but also has been incorrectly reported. Some reporters may lack the understanding of my thread and reporting it as

    (1) a Howto

    and

    (2) runs 100 operating systems at once

    Although I have made sure sufficient materials have been put forward for any interested reader to go through the same process again the thread is not a tutorial or a HOWTO because I have never provide step-by-step instructions. I shall offer a real "HOWTO" in another post later in this thread but since I shall be away for 3 weeks soon it will not happen immediately (it is already under preparation).

    The running 100+ system at once is a mistake by others as I never gave a slightest hint such thing could be done in my write-up. My thread is exactly what it says in the title --->A grub menu booting 100+ systems of Dos, Windows, Linux, BSD and Solaris .

    I have investigated the possibility of running them together. The current technology is to use virtual machine in which each OS is assigned a portion of memory to operate. It is basically a "red herring" to most of us! The standard system offered by the vendor normally limits something like no more than 4 systems to be run at any one time, without massively upgrading the memory. One should have no difficulty in seeing why this application isn't ideal if he/she suddenly has only 1/4 of the ram to run the same OS. Basically in virtual machine we introduce one more operating system to control the rest of the systems and every one of them need memory to function. Whatever you want to run can only be done with a fraction of the installed physical memory in a PC. Broardly speaking if we run 4 systems at once we must operate each one at 1/4 of the resource. Only big servers with massive amount of rams and multi core CPU can afford to running a modest number of systems "at once". Whichever way one looks at it "running 100+ systems at once" isn't a viable solution at today's technology. Even if the motherboard can take it and we are happy with the slow speed of say running each system with 512Mb ram in a queue of 100 systems we would be talking 50Gb of ram of having all of them available "at once"!

    My thread of 100+ systems is for having 100+ systems "installed" and available for selection by "one" menu. Only one system is run at any one time.

    It is regretable that it has been mis-reported beyond the original scope.

    -----------------
    Edited addition 14:33GMT 15/2/06 -- One Web site has agreed to replace "at once" with "in a PC" in the reporting title after being alerted of the inaccuracy.
    ----------------------------
    edited 16 Feb 06

    A future prediction

    I could be wrong but from the interest expressed so far in this thread I can see a new trend coming. Dual-boot and tri-boot could soon be in history if users switch to multi-boot. I am seeing more Linux and Windows users are starting to retain the systems after they have tested them.

    Instead of removing operating systems after it isn't used regularly a user may opt to "retain" the system if hard disk storage is cheap and there is no problem in booting it. In my case I even dug up old dead Dos and Win9x to load them back into the PC so that I can refresh and access my previous knowledge again.

    It is noteworthy to point out that time is ripe if a user wishes to keep a large number of Linux in a PC, possibly assisted by the following points

    (a) Large capacity hard disks are affordable - Despite UK prices are always higher than those in USA we can get an OEM 300Gb IDE or Sata for 84GBP now (Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 series). To store a Linux in a 5Gb partition costs 1.40GBP and such money is not enough even to buy a beer. So drink one beer less per day and one can run 100+ systems in 3 months.

    (b) Today's multi-booting is a lot easier than in the past - The Linux has improved considerably since I started in June 2004. At that time the majority of distros could not cross the 137Gb barrier in the hard disk or mount a partition higher than the 20th. This was already a huge improvement over the past when various methods had to be developed just to keep the Linux boot loaders below the 1024 cylinders limit (about 8.5Gb). Both current Lilo and Grub can boot at the end of a 300Gb disk. In Feb 2006 it is a minority that is still having the same trouble with 137Gb barrier and high-number partitions.

    (c) Multi-installation helps a user to have immediate functionalities of the operating system without being stuck with hardware not recognized - Standard Linux distros use generic drivers and many are not well put together to fire up all the hardware in a PC. My experience is that some distros are better than other in kicking start the hardware and so there is no need to pull the hair out if one Linux fails to activate one piece of the hardware while the others have no problem with it. By comparing the settings of them one can resolve the hardware problem quicker and easier.

    (d) Multi-installation is an alternative method to learn an operating system - There is a huge choice of "free" Linux and BSD distros available further supplemented by the open-source Solaris and Darwin X86. A user will need to expose himself/herself to several systems in order just to form an "informed" opinion on one distro. There is no better way to learn one operating system if one is able to use several and able to see the similarities and understand the reason why things have to be done in a certain way. Surviving in multiple installations requires a user to know the commands common to all distros instead of the commands particular to one distro. This is a definite benefit to the newcomers.

    Thanks for the patience of reading this long thread and hope you have found something useful or informative.

    My opinions and views are not representative of those of Justlinux which in this area has a lot more real experts from whom I learn all my stuff from.

    Do enjoy JustLinux as much as I do.
    Last edited by saikee; 02-16-2006 at 02:21 PM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
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    1

    Smile Congratulations!

    Really impressive. As far as I can see you are missing BeOS...

  13. #13
    Join Date
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    Well I took your advice and download BeOS 5.

    Had it installed in Windows in two different machines, made different floppies for booting but it didn't work. My guess is BeOS may not have Sata support as the floppies did try to load but gave up at the end. I have Windows in Sata in both PCs.

    When I have a bit of time I shall try it on an IDE disk. It is a weird system living inside a Windows partition almost like a parasite (hope I am not offending the BeOS lovers).

    It is going to be a challenge to boot it as it doesn't use the boot sector or the MBR.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    1

    Use the BeOS that loads from Linux

    You're correct, BeOS does not support SATA (yet). Since you already have Linux installed, rather than trying to run it inside a windows file, grab the Linux installer version from BeBits:http://www.bebits.com/app/2680 and install it. It installs into a file inside of Linux, but once you are running BeOS you can select to install it into its own BFS partition. Then you can get a real feel for what it can do.
    There's instructions there telling how to install it. To see if your hardware is supported check the BeOS hardware matrix at:
    http://www.bedrivers.com/hardware/

    -scottmc

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Hampton, VA
    Posts
    714
    DAMN, and I thought I was committed to excellence. This is very, very useful. I haven't even read that much of it either but I know it will come in handy soon.

    EVAC

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