Help me dual boot Knoppix and Fedora

**MaldiGola** · 08-08-2004, 08:23 PM

I would like to configure a system to dual boot between FC2 and Knoppix 3.4 (HDD install). I would like to share the /swap and /home directories. (Even though I could access the other OS from a live Knoppix CD it would be good practice for doing this with other 'nixes.)
Now, do I need 2 separate /boot partitions or can I share that as well?
I have already installed FC2 and done a HDD install of Knoppix 3.4.
How can I have both of them use one boot loader? Can I use GRUB for both?
Also, how can I have Knoppix boot to 800x600 by default?

**CrashedAgain** · 08-08-2004, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by MaldiGola

I would like to configure a system to dual boot between FC2 and Knoppix 3.4 (HDD install).
I would like to share the /swap and /home directories. (Even though I could access the other OS from a live Knoppix CD it would be good practice for doing this with other 'nixes.)
Now, do I need 2 separate /boot partitions or can I share that as well?
I have already installed FC2 and done a HDD install of Knoppix 3.4.

They should be sharing swap already, each distro will find the swap partition & use it automatically when it boots.
Sharing /home is doable but I wouldn't actually share "/home". You have to use separate 'users' anyway (it gets very complicated if you don't, you would have to match up UID & GID numbers as well an user names in each distro plus each distro would have to be a near match in applications as there are config settings for each user in /home/user). Much easier to make a separate partition for your data and just share the data between the two distos by allowing each one access to the drive. This is most conveniently done by putting a symlink in /home/user. ie knoppix/home/user would contain a symlink pointing to /mnt/hdaX/documents, as would fedora/home/user.

How can I have both of them use one boot loader? Can I use GRUB for both?

Not familiar with GRUB, with Lilo I would just choose one distro as 'primiary', have it put lilo on the MBR. Edit lilo.conf to boot the other distro partition as 'other'. Then have the other distro put lilo on the partition, not on the MBR. Primiry lilo will then boot into the partition lilo to boot the other distro.

Also, how can I have Knoppix boot to 800x600 by default?

Add the appropriate cheatcode to the 'append=' line in lilo (or the equivalent in GRUB).

**FelixDzerzhinsky** · 08-09-2004, 11:14 AM

Can someone explain the code to put the symlink pointing to /mnt/hdaX/documents from knoppix/home/user and fedora/home/user for us newbies?

I was trying to share the home directories myself last weekend. This looks a lot more feasible.

I was able to get grub working for both distros. I installed Fedora first. Then Knoppix. In Knoppix I did:

grub-install

then

update grub

Then cut and pasted the relevant bit of the fedora /boot/grub/menu.lst into the knoppix /boot/grub/menu.lst before:

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

or after the line:
### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

The Grub in Debian How to may help:

http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.ph...tid=539&page=1

**MaldiGola** · 08-09-2004, 12:25 PM

Felix,
How did you handle the /boot partition? Did you create one for each distro or did they share it?

**shah** · 08-09-2004, 01:20 PM

Can someone explain the code to put the symlink pointing to /mnt/hdaX/documents from knoppix/home/user and fedora/home/user for us newbies?

You can do it in your desktop by right clicking-->create new-->file-->link to location(url).
Select your location ex: /mnt/hdaX/documents/

Make sure your /etc/fstab has something like this:
/dev/hdax /mnt/hdax ext2(or ext3 or reseirfs,depends on your fedora) auto,users,exec,umask=000,quiet 0 0

or it will not auto mount.

**FelixDzerzhinsky** · 08-11-2004, 08:32 PM

In regards to the boot partition:

I simply cut and pasted the relevant bits of the fedora /boot/grub/menu.lst into the debian grub exactly as shown. Up to you if you want it prior to or after the auto-magic debian.

I actually gave up on fedora. It seems a pin after the ease of debian apt-get!

**markb** · 08-11-2004, 11:48 PM

I've said it before but I'll say it again. I think the best way to boot between multiple linux distributions/partitions etc is to download and install smart boot manager (find with Google). It is a simple boot manager which lives entirely in your MBR (i.e. independent of any partition), is completely menu driven, allows you to change and save all boot parameters, label partition names with your distribution/version, etc. Whenever you install a distribution just install lilo/grub into the start of partition instead of the MBR. Smart boot manager will find it and be able to load it.

Experienced software engineers that when you have an apparent obstacle/imbalance then you can often use indirection to solve the problem. That's the pattern being applied here.