iB::Topic::Installing grub on a partition

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Topic: Installing grub on a partition

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mrbombastic Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 3
Joined: Mar. 2005

Posted: Mar. 29 2005,11:39

I couldn't find a description of how to use grub to boot a partition with a copy of the DSL ISO on without installing grub on the MBR - which I didn't want to do, I use BootItNG. It's not very straightforward, unless maybe you're a grub expert. So here's what I did.

1. Put the files from the DSL CD or ISO on an HD FAT partition, retaining the directory structure. I'll assume this is (hd0,2) = hda3.
2. Create /boot/grub on the HD copy of the CD files.
3. Make a grub bootfloppy from http://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/~fm3/grub.html leaving the "menu-file location" blank.
4. Copy stage1 and stage2 from the bootfloppy to /boot/grub.
5. Create bootdsl.lst (see below) in /boot/grub, editing as required for the correct partition and anything else you want to change, e.g. kernel parameters.
6. Boot the floppy to the grub prompt.
7. Type "root (hd0,2)" (use whatever partition you put the ISO files on instead of (hd0,2))
8. Type "install /boot/grub/stage1 d (hd0,2) /boot/grub/stage2 (hd0,2)/boot/grub/bootdsl.lst" (again, change (hd0,2) as required).
9. Remove the floppy, reboot and have your boot manager boot the partition. You should get a menu for 10s, then dsl will boot.

The content of bootdsl.lst is :

timeout 10
title DSL
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/isolinux/linux24 root=/dev/hda3 init=/etc/init lang=uk apm=power-off vga=791 nomce noapic quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
initrd /boot/isolinux/minirt24.gz

No guarantees, ymmd, etc.

Update 30.3.05 - Grub for DOS
I always have a small DOS partition as (hd0,1), to run HD diagnostics, BIOS upgrades, etc. without booting from a floppy. It turns out that there is a DOS version of grub, which I would have tried had I known about it.

mikshaw

Group: Members
Posts: 4856
Joined: July 2004

Posted: Mar. 29 2005,14:50

Not to step on your creativity or anything....but....why?
You already have a bootloader, which you apparently don't want to replace....aren't you just running two bootloaders instead of one? Kinda like switching cars at the end of the driveway....

--------------
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/index.html

mrbombastic Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 3
Joined: Mar. 2005

Posted: Mar. 29 2005,15:36

Because BNG doesn't know how to start a Linux kernel. It's specialised to manage the MBR and do partition management functions, which it's excellent at. Actually, it doesn't know how to start any OS, it just runs the partition boot.

A lot of the difficulties/confusion in this area come from OSs trying to manage MBR stuff that's not theirs and screwing up other OSs that try to do the same thing. I prefer to have one solid tool to manage the MBR and partitions whatever combination of OSs I'm trying to run.

The 10s delay is really only in there to allow setting up menu items with different kernel parameters, btw.