Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 412 Location: West Virginia, USA
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #15 on Feb 11, 2011, 2:36pm »
@scifidude79 you have to understand that I was talking about my wifes' computer. She went anywhere, downloaded anything and paid no mind to what was happening. When it was broke she would get all cute and cuddly and ask if I would fix it. Hmmm maybe I should install Windows again. She's using Debian now for over a year and doing just fine with it.
I keep a copy of XP around for the same reason but in a VM.
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 274 Location: Ohio, USA
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #16 on Feb 11, 2011, 3:56pm »
I've tried to completely rid myself of Windows but it's just not feasible for me. I have too many games that run in XP. Also, I don't really like 3D modeling apps that are available for Linux. I've also tried the VM route but that's not any better. You don't get full functionality of your hardware in a VM and I need that for 3D modeling (especially rendering) and for a lot of the games I have. I've gotten a few games to run in Linux via Wine but not many. I wish more games were Linux compatible, even commercial games. I'd love to buy a game at Best Buy and run it in Linux but they're mostly for Windblows.
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 412 Location: West Virginia, USA
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #18 on Feb 12, 2011, 3:20pm »
Linux is GREAT because of it's flexibility. Windows is not flexible at all or didn't use to be. Linux does not care where you install it or how you boot it but Windows has to be the first on the partition or it will throw a fit. I've had XP on a second HD and had to fake XP out with some fancy commands in Lilo to make it think it was the first drive. Lilo tells the Bios to switch the drive. And it still ran like shit.
Linux is GREAT because of it's flexibility. Windows is not flexible at all or didn't use to be. Linux does not care where you install it or how you boot it but Windows has to be the first on the partition or it will throw a fit. I've had XP on a second HD and had to fake XP out with some fancy commands in Lilo to make it think it was the first drive. Lilo tells the Bios to switch the drive. And it still ran like shit.
Have you ever tried to track down Windows drivers for a computer built out of spare parts. Man is that ever a nightmare
Linux is GREAT because of it's flexibility. Windows is not flexible at all or didn't use to be. Linux does not care where you install it or how you boot it but Windows has to be the first on the partition or it will throw a fit. I've had XP on a second HD and had to fake XP out with some fancy commands in Lilo to make it think it was the first drive. Lilo tells the Bios to switch the drive. And it still ran like shit.
Have you ever tried to track down Windows drivers for a computer built out of spare parts. Man is that ever a nightmare
YES!!!! And I hate it! What a night mare that is when Linux is so simple. Drivers had better come from the manufacture or they may not work. Plus a lot of site want to charge for the drivers that came free with the device. Ya been there done that.
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 274 Location: Ohio, USA
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #21 on Feb 12, 2011, 10:16pm »
Windows will run just fine on a 2nd hard drive, it's all about how you set it up. You simply have to make Windows think it's #1, even though it's not.
I have two hard drives, sda1 and sda2. I installed Windows XP on the 2nd one, sdb2. I simple unhooked sda1 and did the Windows install on sda2. Then I hooked sda1 back up and installed my Linux systems. It works fine. Windows thinks it's #1 because it's first on its drive and its bootloader is installed on there, but it's really #4, behind Mint 10 KDE, Saline and PCLinuxOS. It has absolutely no problems and runs just as it did back when it was on sda1. In fact, I just rebooted into Saline because I wanted to take a break from the Windows game I was playing and surf the internet.
« Last Edit: Feb 12, 2011, 10:18pm by scifidude79 »
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 412 Location: West Virginia, USA
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #22 on Feb 12, 2011, 11:07pm »
I'm pretty sure you are using grub2 and I have to wonder if they don't have that all figured out now. Anyways I don't need XP for much so a VM is perfect for what I do. You on the other hand need to dual boot and if I was a game player I'd do the same.
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 274 Location: Ohio, USA
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #23 on Feb 13, 2011, 1:41am »
I have to use grub2. Grub2 can load grub1 distros, (with some tweaking) the reverse is not true. If it is, I don't know how to do it. For distros still running grub1, I just install the bootloader to the root partition and go into the distro onto which I have grub2 installed and mod it to boot the grub1 OS. If I don't get the option to choose where the bootloader goes, (it does happen from time to time) I don't install the grub1 OS.
Really, I don't know why some distros still run grub1. It's obsolete, IMO. Grub2 has so many more features. I'm pretty sure all .rpm-based distros still use grub1, .deb-based use grub2. For anything else, you have to pay real close attention to which is used.
« Last Edit: Feb 13, 2011, 1:42am by scifidude79 »
I have to use grub2. Grub2 can load grub1 distros, (with some tweaking) the reverse is not true. If it is, I don't know how to do it. For distros still running grub1, I just install the bootloader to the root partition and go into the distro onto which I have grub2 installed and mod it to boot the grub1 OS. If I don't get the option to choose where the bootloader goes, (it does happen from time to time) I don't install the grub1 OS.
Really, I don't know why some distros still run grub1. It's obsolete, IMO. Grub2 has so many more features. I'm pretty sure all .rpm-based distros still use grub1, .deb-based use grub2. For anything else, you have to pay real close attention to which is used.
Yes, but you run into a problem. Grub1 numbers partitions starting with 0, grub2 numbers them starting with 1. So, this is a standard grub2 boot entry:
Code:
menuentry "PCLinuxOS (on /dev/sda9)" { insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos9)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1b46ef85-6cdd-4b83-b717-74ce28e10f02 linux /boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=PCLinuxOS root=UUID=1b46ef85-6cdd-4b83-b717-74ce28e10f02 resume=UUID=726b5596-59e1-44ff-83ee-f8a45f3285f9 splash=silent vga=788 initrd (hd0,8)/boot/initrd.img }
The problem is, PCLinuxOS uses grub1. So, the root=(hd0,msdos9) entry has it looking in the wrong partition. It's looking for the root partition on partition 8, not 9. You can fix this by making changes to your /boot/grub/grub.cfg file but that file will be overwritten every time grub2 is updated and re-scans for other operating systems and you have to do the changes again. So, you go to the /etc/grub.d/40_Custom script and add an entry that looks something like this:
By changing the root='(hd0,msdos9)' to root=(hd0,msdos10)' and the initrd (hd0,8) to initrd (hd0,9), grub1 in the PCLOS install looks at what it thinks is partition 10, though it's really looking at partition 9. (don't ask me how it works, it just does)
After you modify 40_Custom, then you run "update-grub" in a terminal as root and it will add your custom boot entry to the bottom of the bootloader list and you can then load the OS properly using that entry. And, since it's on the 40_Custom file, it won't be overwritten when grub2 updates and, when it searches for operating systems, it will re-add the entry from 40_Custom every time.
This works for Mandriva, PCLOS and a bunch of other grub1 distros. Fedora is another matter, you have to do something totally different to get it to load with grub2 (at least you used to, I haven't tried Fedora 14.) For some reason, this isn't necessary for OpenSUSE. (11.3) It uses grub1 but will load without doing this crap if you just install it and either don't install grub at all or put it on the root partition and then run "update-grub" in the OS with grub2. I don't know why it's special, it just is.
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #26 on Feb 13, 2011, 1:03pm »
scifidude79, I see. When I changed to liquorix in both distros update grub worked because they are both using grub 2. Thanks for the clarification. I wonder why they changed the numbering in Grub 2? Everything in Linux starts with number 0.
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 274 Location: Ohio, USA
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #27 on Feb 13, 2011, 1:12pm »
They're weird like that. And, apparently, trying to put users like myself in an early grave.
Here's what's weird: grub1 starts HD numbers with 1, partitions with 0. Grub2 starts HD numbers with 0, partition numbers with 1. Now, grub1 doesn't have a problem with the different drive numbering, just the different partition numbering. It makes no sense to me.
I spent weeks on this issue last year, looking at all kinds of information on grub1 and grub2, trying to get PCLOS to coexist with grub2 distros on the same drive. (it was either Linux Mint 9 or Peppermint) Finally, I found a really helpful article on someone's blog about dual-booting Mandriva 2010 and Ubuntu 10.04. That told me what the problem was and it's been smooth sailing since then.
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 274 Location: Ohio, USA
Re: If your car worked like Windows « Reply #29 on Feb 13, 2011, 1:39pm »
Yeah, I noticed that also after I upgraded from single to dual core last year. As long as it works, though, it can number things however it wants to. (it's when it doesn't work that I have issues)
Anthony Nordquist, on behalf of the SalineOS project, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As such, if you click the above banner and then make any purchase including digital downloads, a small percentage will be paid to the SalineOS project.
![[Home]](http://images.proboards.com/new/menu/home.png "[Home]")
![[New Topics]](http://images.proboards.com/menu/topics.png "[New Topics]")
![[Help]](http://images.proboards.com/new/menu/help.png "[Help]")
![[Search]](http://images.proboards.com/new/menu/search.png "[Search]")
![[Login]](http://images.proboards.com/new/menu/login.png "[Login]")
![[Register]](http://images.proboards.com/new/menu/register.png "[Register]")
![[Search This Thread]](http://images.proboards.com/new/buttons/search2.png "[Search This Thread]")
![[Share Topic]](http://images.proboards.com/new/buttons/share.png "[Share Topic]")
![[Print]](http://images.proboards.com/new/buttons/print.png "[Print]")
Author
![[avatar]](http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/451/hrdp0704patinachevrolet.jpg "[avatar]")
She's using Debian now for over a year and doing just fine with it.
Logged![[avatar]](http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/godzilla-02.jpg "[avatar]")
![[homepage]](http://images.proboards.com/new/buttons/www_sm.png "[homepage]")
![[avatar]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2835777/stargate_avatar80_094.jpg "[avatar]"){kind=avatar}
![[avatar]](http://smile-media-production-1.s3.amazonaws.com/images/83a50d70550b01307b5322000afe0a5a/168x168.jpg "[avatar]")
