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Software - Support => Installing Linux Lite => Topic started by: m654321 on June 08, 2018, 11:30:49 AM

Title: Can I install 2 copies of LL4.0, with grubscreen recognising & listing these?
Post by: m654321 on June 08, 2018, 11:30:49 AM
I was thinking of installing two copies of LL4.0 on the same drive, but am unsure if grub will recognise and list both of these.
The purpose for two installs is as follows:

(1) One LL4.0 install for experimentation: e.g. test out English Bob's ideas for modifying LL4.0, as described at https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/tutorials/setting-up-linux-lite-v4-0-after-install-for-nvidia-card-users/ (https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/tutorials/setting-up-linux-lite-v4-0-after-install-for-nvidia-card-users/)   

If it breaks, while trying things out, it doesn't matter as it's not my main driver. Yes, while I could use a virtual machine for experimentation, I'm not too keen on this as I've found that VMs don't behave in exactly the same way as normal installs, e.g. video drivers are different, etc.

(2) The other LL4.0 install as my main driver: for all my day-to-day tasks & work



However, will grub recognise two separate installs of LL4.0 and list these on the grubscreen on booting? I suspect it may only list one of them. Is there a way around this?

Thanks in advance for any help with this.
Title: Re: Can I install 2 copies of LL4.0, with grubscreen recognising & listing these?
Post by: firenice03 on June 11, 2018, 12:16:28 PM
@m654321
I installed 2 versions of LL on the mini.. Albeit I believe one was a demo version... But Grub does/did see the both.. (This was 3.x series)
My assumption is that it would see both 4.0.. If I recall the differentiating factor would be where it was installed.. i.e. LL4.0 on sda3 and LL4.0 on sda7


I can look later today I believe I still have both installed :)
I can snap a pic of GRUB and any other info...



Title: Re: Can I install 2 copies of LL4.0, with grubscreen recognising & listing these?
Post by: trinidad on June 11, 2018, 01:16:50 PM
Prepare your partitions in advance and install using the something else option.

TC
Title: Re: Can I install 2 copies of LL4.0, with grubscreen recognising & listing these?
Post by: firenice03 on June 11, 2018, 02:05:02 PM
Prepare your partitions in advance and install using the something else option.

TC
Yes!! Forgot to mention one would want to have disk/partition ready prior to install.  - Thanks TC
I left a 15-20gb partition available for this when I installed the 1st LL to the disk specifically for future testing... :)
Title: Re: Can I install 2 copies of LL4.0, with grubscreen recognising & listing these?
Post by: m654321 on June 11, 2018, 02:56:40 PM
@firenice03
@trinidad

Very many thanks guys  8)

After what you both said I'm now more confident to go ahead and do the LL4/LL4 dual-install I mentioned above. 
I'm quite keen to try out some of EB's tweaks for LL4,  that he mentioned in his recent tutorial at https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/tutorials/setting-up-linux-lite-v4-0-after-install-for-nvidia-card-users/  (https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/tutorials/setting-up-linux-lite-v4-0-after-install-for-nvidia-card-users/Cheers)
I can now do this on the experimental install, my main daily driver remaining safe, just in case things go awry.

Cheers
Mike
Title: Re: Can I install 2 copies of LL4.0, with grubscreen recognising & listing these?
Post by: firenice03 on June 11, 2018, 10:00:26 PM
@m654321

Here's a view of running update-grub :)

Code: [Select]
dad@TRCD-MiniLL:~$ sudo update-grub
[sudo] password for dad:
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background: /boot/grub_linux_lite.png
Found background image: /boot/grub_linux_lite.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-128-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-128-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-125-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-125-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-123-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-123-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.elf
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Linux Lite 3.4 (16.04) on /dev/sda7
done
Title: Re: Can I install 2 copies of LL4.0, with grubscreen recognising & listing these?
Post by: kpanic on June 15, 2018, 07:16:24 PM
Yes m654321.
You can install two or more Linux distros to the same computer and usually you just install the
first one (leaving space for the other installation).
And when you install the second distro, it USUALLY recognizes automatically the first one and
modifies the boot loader so that you can choose between the two.

However, for whatever reason it won't go that easy, I would not spend time finding out where the bug
happens to hide this time. You can spend anything from 1 day to 1 year finding it out but please take
my advice, install just one distro if it works - you don't actually need two