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Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions

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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #18 on: May 12, 2016, 05:06:28 PM »
 

AustinTexas

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There is a little trick that you might want to use.  You can assign a hotkey to each menuentry when you edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
EXAMPLE:
menuentry 'Korora 23 on /dev/sda4' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-simple-5c185ea1-b08c-44cb-9279-cdb87e4168af' { etc...
can be assigned the hotkey "a" like this:
menuentry 'a - Korora 23 on /dev/sda4' --hotkey=a --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-simple-5c185ea1-b08c-44cb-9279-cdb87e4168af' { etc...
So you don't have to arrow down and press ENTER, you just press "a" to boot Korora.
You can use a single letter, a to z, or a single number, 0 to 9. However, you can't use "c" or "e" because those already have a Grub menu function assigned - ("command line" and "edit")
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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #17 on: May 12, 2016, 11:47:08 AM »
 

AustinTexas

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Editing the titles for the Grub menuentries is a chore.
You would have to open /boot/grub/grub.cfg in your text editor.
Code: [Select]
gksudo leafpad /boot/grub/grub.cfgThen find each menuentry you want to edit.  Anything inside the 'quote' marks can be edited.
EXAMPLE:
menuentry 'Korora release 23 (Coral) (on /dev/sda4)' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os
can be changed to:
menuentry 'Korora 23 on /dev/sda4' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os

Then after your edits are complete, save a copy of /boot/grub/grub.cfg to make editing a bit easier the next time you have to do it - which will be every time you do "sudo update-grub".
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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #16 on: May 12, 2016, 11:29:22 AM »
 

m654321

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Many thanks AustinTexas - I used your second method where the last installed distro is 'in charge' of the grub screen. Guess what - you know why it wasn't working - the DVDs were duds! I reburned the iso onto fresh DVD-R blanks and everything is fine now with the installs - I've now installed several distros (eight of them) and it seemed really straightforward. So far, I've formatted the remaining unallocated disk space, bit by bit, as I go along with each new distro install - seems to work better than say creating 20 x 20480 MB partitions in advance.

Though most distros' names appear correctly in the grubscreen, some are incorrect, e.g.
ElementaryOS-Freya appears as Ubuntu 14.04
Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 appears as Ubuntu 16.04, which is confusing as I have Ubuntu 16.04 itself installed.

How do I edit the grub screen to correct these distro names?
I tried the following (which I used in a UEFI Win/LL dual-boot), but it didn't work - for example for changing the grub-listed Ubuntu to Elementary:
Code: [Select]
sudo su
sudo sed -i 's/Ubuntu/Elementary/g' /boot/grub/grub.cfg

I should mention that I have a separate bios_grub partition (/dev/sda1) as outlined by goldfinger in the tutorial.

Many thanks for any feedback on how to edit the distro names, as they appear in the grubscreen

Cheers
Mike

PS. I haven't implemented SuperGrub2 yet, as so far I don't appear to need it (i.e. none of the distros are hidden from the grubscreen)
« Last Edit: May 12, 2016, 11:35:27 AM by m654321 »
64bit OS (32-bit on Samsung netbook) installed in Legacy mode on MBR-formatted SSDs (except pi which uses a micro SDHC card):
2017 - Raspberry pi 3B (4cores) ~ [email protected] - LibreElec, used for upgrading our Samsung TV (excellent for the task)  
2012 - Lenovo G580 2689 (2cores; 4threads] ~ [email protected] - LL3.8/Win8.1 dual-boot (LL working smoothly)
2011 - Samsung NP-N145 Plus (1core; 2threads) ~ Intel Atom [email protected] - LL 3.8 32-bit (64-bit too 'laggy')
2008 - Asus X71Q (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6/Win8.1 dual-boot, LL works fine with kernel 4.15
2007 - Dell Latitude D630 (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6, works well with kernel 4.4; 4.15 doesn't work
 

Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #15 on: May 11, 2016, 07:45:15 AM »
 

AustinTexas

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Sure, you can. But you run into the potential problem that various distributions have different installation programs, and different methods of creating the partitions needed, so gparted might be the easier path for creating the partitions - either all at once, or before each installation.
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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2016, 07:40:09 AM »
 

m654321

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Instead of using gparted to set up the partitions in advance, prior to the install of several distros, can I just create a new partition for each distro from the unallocated space, as I add each new distro?
64bit OS (32-bit on Samsung netbook) installed in Legacy mode on MBR-formatted SSDs (except pi which uses a micro SDHC card):
2017 - Raspberry pi 3B (4cores) ~ [email protected] - LibreElec, used for upgrading our Samsung TV (excellent for the task)  
2012 - Lenovo G580 2689 (2cores; 4threads] ~ [email protected] - LL3.8/Win8.1 dual-boot (LL working smoothly)
2011 - Samsung NP-N145 Plus (1core; 2threads) ~ Intel Atom [email protected] - LL 3.8 32-bit (64-bit too 'laggy')
2008 - Asus X71Q (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6/Win8.1 dual-boot, LL works fine with kernel 4.15
2007 - Dell Latitude D630 (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6, works well with kernel 4.4; 4.15 doesn't work
 

Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2016, 06:32:56 AM »
 

m654321

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Thanks for clarifying that - it seems that I've followed what you mentioned.  I need to go back and check again.
Still unclear why I'm unable to get past a two distro installation. I'll let you know when I have some joy with it...
64bit OS (32-bit on Samsung netbook) installed in Legacy mode on MBR-formatted SSDs (except pi which uses a micro SDHC card):
2017 - Raspberry pi 3B (4cores) ~ [email protected] - LibreElec, used for upgrading our Samsung TV (excellent for the task)  
2012 - Lenovo G580 2689 (2cores; 4threads] ~ [email protected] - LL3.8/Win8.1 dual-boot (LL working smoothly)
2011 - Samsung NP-N145 Plus (1core; 2threads) ~ Intel Atom [email protected] - LL 3.8 32-bit (64-bit too 'laggy')
2008 - Asus X71Q (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6/Win8.1 dual-boot, LL works fine with kernel 4.15
2007 - Dell Latitude D630 (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6, works well with kernel 4.4; 4.15 doesn't work
 

Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2016, 06:23:01 AM »
 

AustinTexas

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Quote
I am not a fan of installing Grub to a partition.
AustinTexas, does that mean you haven't created the 16MB Bios_grub partition on the GTP disk, as described in goldfinger's tutorial?

That means that after you create the bios_grub partition, you follow the tutorial which says to install your bootloader (Grub) to the device, not the partition.
Quote
Device for boot loader installation = /dev/sdX (Substitute correct drive letter that you're installing to in place of "X" without any partition number after it'.  Eg. "/dev/sda", not "/dev/sda1".)
« Last Edit: May 11, 2016, 06:28:49 AM by AustinTexas »
Linux Lite 2.2 (64 bit), Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2016, 05:42:49 AM »
 

m654321

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Quote
I am not a fan of installing Grub to a partition.

AustinTexas, does that mean you haven't created the 16MB Bios_grub partition on the GTP disk, as described in goldfinger's tutorial?
I am still having problems with the multiple-distro install: distro 1 installs ok, then can't get beyond distro 2. 

Goldfinger: if you pass by and happen to read this post, I'd really appreciate if you could comment on how to add the subsequent distros, following installation
of the first one as your tutorial only describes installation of a single distro (LL).  I have created separate partitions for swap and bios_grub, and am installing the OSes as root, i.e. no separate home partitions.  I want to install up to 20 distros on an old laptop (Dell D620) to show friends the diversity available within Linux.  I tried AustinTexas' advice for the multiple-distro install but without luck. 

Many thanks
Mike
« Last Edit: May 11, 2016, 05:46:06 AM by m654321 »
64bit OS (32-bit on Samsung netbook) installed in Legacy mode on MBR-formatted SSDs (except pi which uses a micro SDHC card):
2017 - Raspberry pi 3B (4cores) ~ [email protected] - LibreElec, used for upgrading our Samsung TV (excellent for the task)  
2012 - Lenovo G580 2689 (2cores; 4threads] ~ [email protected] - LL3.8/Win8.1 dual-boot (LL working smoothly)
2011 - Samsung NP-N145 Plus (1core; 2threads) ~ Intel Atom [email protected] - LL 3.8 32-bit (64-bit too 'laggy')
2008 - Asus X71Q (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6/Win8.1 dual-boot, LL works fine with kernel 4.15
2007 - Dell Latitude D630 (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6, works well with kernel 4.4; 4.15 doesn't work
 

Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2016, 02:39:15 AM »
 

f23948

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thanks for the tutorial!
 

Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2016, 07:48:06 AM »
 

AustinTexas

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I have had up to 6 different linux OS's installed at one time. There is really nothing to be concerned about, except for the bootloader location.
 My first recommendation is that you download the SuperGrub2 .iso  and burn it to a CD. That way you will always have a way to repair your Grub, or boot any of your operating systems.
 You have 2 choices for installing the bootloader (Grub).
 1) Install Distro1's Grub to the device (/dev/sda), and then install all subsequent bootloaders to the partition where that OS is installed. That will preserve Distro1's control of the Grub menu. You would refresh the Grub menu (to add new OS's) by booting into Distro1 and running sudo update-grub.
 2) Install each OS's Grub to the device (/dev/sda) during installation. When you do that each new OS will then control the Grub menu. If you want Distro1 to always control the Grub menu, you would boot into Distro1 and run both commands, sudo update-grub, and sudo grub-install /dev/sda (to re-install Distro1's Grub)
 This is my preferred method. I am not a fan of installing Grub to a partition.
 
 If Distro1 is Ubuntu or Linux Lite, both use Grub2. If you install PCLinuxOS, which uses the old Grub, (not Grub2), you will have a Grub menu which will not automatically detect your other OS's which use Grub2. So you will end up with a Grub menu which lists only PCLinuxOS.
 This is where your SuperGrub2 CD becomes invaluable. When you boot that, and chose the "Detect any Operating System" menu item, the program will search your drives for your installed operating systems and create a menu for you that will allow you to boot any one of them. It will be a slow process to search your drives and create that menu, so be patient and let it complete.
 Then after you use that menu to boot into your Distro1, run the following commands in a terminal:
 
Code: [Select]
sudo update-grub
Code: [Select]
sudo grub-install /dev/sdaThen Distro1 will be back in control of the Grub menu, and all other OS's should be listed (including PCLinuxOS).
 
 Tutorial and Troubleshooting with SuperGRUB2:
 http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/SuperGRUB2Disk
 http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/Boot_Problems
« Last Edit: May 06, 2016, 08:08:38 AM by AustinTexas »
Linux Lite 2.2 (64 bit), Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2016, 06:51:12 AM »
 

m654321

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I am very interested in this tutorial, by Goldfinger, as I was hoping to install several Ubuntu-based distros (64-bit) as root (~ 20 distros) on a Dell Latitude D630, for demonstration purposes, for those interested in having a go with Linux but who would like to see the choice available. Of course, I think LL is the best out of them all!

However I'm having problems installing past the first distro.
I'd be very grateful for any help, particularly from those of you who may have already successfully set up a multiple-boot system (linux only), which has more than 4 distros installed. From my understanding of Goldfinger's tutorial, this should work.

To put you in the picture: my set-up so far is a 1TB HDD, with GPT partition table, with the following partitions created using Gparted, prior to distro installation:
- 1 x 16MB Bios grub
- 1 x 8GB Swap
- 20 x 20GB primary partitions, ext 4 formatted
- remainder unformatted

I started with installation of distro1 (Ubuntu 16.04) - everything proceeded normally & updates installed successfully.
Then followed with distro2 (Bodhi 3.2.0), but the laptop boots straight into distro1, despite having set PC to boot first from the  CD/DVD drive (location of each distro iso file), though the PC does start reading from the disk until it finally arrives at the Ubuntu 16.04 screen.

As far as I know I'm in Legacy mode - I think the Dell Latitude D630 is too old to support UEFI or EFI - at least I didn't see this in PC Settings screen (using F2 key).

Many thanks in advance for any help
Mike
« Last Edit: May 06, 2016, 06:55:47 AM by m654321 »
64bit OS (32-bit on Samsung netbook) installed in Legacy mode on MBR-formatted SSDs (except pi which uses a micro SDHC card):
2017 - Raspberry pi 3B (4cores) ~ [email protected] - LibreElec, used for upgrading our Samsung TV (excellent for the task)  
2012 - Lenovo G580 2689 (2cores; 4threads] ~ [email protected] - LL3.8/Win8.1 dual-boot (LL working smoothly)
2011 - Samsung NP-N145 Plus (1core; 2threads) ~ Intel Atom [email protected] - LL 3.8 32-bit (64-bit too 'laggy')
2008 - Asus X71Q (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6/Win8.1 dual-boot, LL works fine with kernel 4.15
2007 - Dell Latitude D630 (2cores) ~ Intel [email protected] - LL4.6, works well with kernel 4.4; 4.15 doesn't work
 

Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2016, 10:12:39 AM »
 

AustinTexas

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Just to add a tip on creating GPT partitions - when you make the final partition, leave 1 MB free (unallocated) at the end of the drive. This area is used by GPT partitioning to store a backup copy of the partition table.
Linux Lite 2.2 (64 bit), Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2014, 12:32:27 AM »
 

gold_finger

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Just a quick note for anyone who may have already read through the tutorial.

It occurred to me that the following sentence in red might cause a bit of confusion:
Quote
In a nutshell, this tutorial is only geared toward those wishing to install Linux to the drive by itself and are converting a drive from MBR to GPT partitions.  One can also use this for setting up a multi-boot system with more than one Linux distribution.  In that case, make space on the drive for your new installation instead of deleting all current partitions in the steps below.

Two qualifications on that sentence:

1.  I limited it to just Linux distributions because Windows can not be installed in Legacy mode to a GPT disk -- Linux can be.

2.  I went back and added an "EDIT" to the tutorial to explain that this does not mean GPT partitions must be used for multi-boot systems.  As many already know, multi-booting on traditional MBR partitioned drives -- using extended and logical partitions -- has been and continues to be the more commonly used approach.

So this tutorial is geared toward anyone who wants to use GPT, or who must because they use large capacity drives not handled by MBR.  Since the partitioning and install procedure is slightly different than most people are used to, I thought it would be good to have instructions handy on the forum if needed even though it's not likely to be a popular install method.
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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #5 on: December 20, 2014, 08:18:37 PM »
 

Wirezfree

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Hi gold_finger,

Thanks & noted...
Just wanted to be sure.

Dave
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Re: Legacy Mode Installation Using GPT Partitions
« Reply #4 on: December 20, 2014, 07:58:40 PM »
 

gold_finger

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Your welcome Jerry.


Really excellent How To...

Good time for a question/clarification.?

I have read, but not tried it...
If you multi boot, and you don't need to Hibernate(to swap)
You can just use the same swap partition across the installs.?
(may save a little disk space/config time)

Dave

Thanks Wirezfree.

Re: Hibernation & Swap -- whether hibernating of not, only one Swap partition is needed.  Each Linux distro installed will use it.  Size of Swap needs to be at least equal to amount of RAM on computer for hibernation to work right.  If you don't use hibernation, then can safely make Swap smaller than that.
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