Your thoughts - Boot manager

Discussion in 'Linux, BSD and Other OS's' started by sabashuali, Nov 5, 2005.

  1. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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  2. Addis

    Addis The King

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    Haven't heard of them, but I've not heard of a lot. You can always try them if it doesn't work now anyway. Worth a go.
     
  3. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    LILO and GRUB are probably the best bootloaders out there, you just have to know how to use them properly.
     
  4. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    You are probably right.....

    I am just trying to find a quick and easy (that's me alright) way around this problem without formating and re-installing windows on my first drive.

    If all fails that is exactly what I will have to do.

    I stil beleive that my first drive and its curent set up which prevents me from dual booting. I cannot think of something I have not tried.....
     
  5. StimpE

    StimpE lol, Internet!

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    I agree with AT on this, I've used GRUB lots and I don't have any problem with it. Get GRUB :)
     
  6. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    I use LILO myself, but both LILO and GRUB have some unique strengths and weaknesses although both are excellent. I am willing to wager that 99 times out of 100, problems with multiboot environments are caused by problems with the Windows bootloader (which sucks rocks). I can attest to this, having historically multibooted a tremendous amount of different operating systems simultaneously. It seems with Linux, you can stack as many distros as you want without any bootloader problems. When you add Windows to the equation, things get more dicey. When you do throw Windows into the mix, it's a good idea to install the oldest operating system first (probably some version of Windows) and on the primary-most drive & partition. Then progress from there, installing the newest OS last of all. I find that you will have many less issues using that method. That being said, I think you'll find my immediate knowledgebility about multibooting with Windows a bit lacking, as I run a single Linux distro on each of my systems (Mandriva 2006 on my desktop, Mandrake 10.1 on my wife's, IPCop on my firewall, CentOS 4.2 on my Apache server and the same on my file server).
     
  7. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    Right....

    Thanks again for everyones advice. Especialy AT.
    I am beyond trying to dual boot my current system configuration.
    I am 100% sure that I will have to start fresh. Meaning I will have to strip my first drive bear (I mean format it....) and my second (the one intended for Linux).

    Then start with a fresh install of windows and then install Linux. I had my machine dual booting before so there is no reason why it should not happen again. Just a small review of GAG which I tested erlier today:
    It works fine. Not for the complete noob but it does what it says on the tin - adds upto 9 OS into one boot loader regardless of where the OS boot sits. And that's what I have done:
    I have windows and it's boot loader (I hope I am using the right terminology...) sitting on one drive and Mandriva and its boot loader on another. I then installed GAG and added windows and linux from their own drive. Worked a treat. Saying that, you do get an additional menu :( .

    So the next step is to start over.

    AT, one last question for tonight - is there anyway to make Mandriva pick my mouse up? It is really annoying that through the set-up the mouse functions but as soon as I boot into Mandrive the mouse does not work anymore.....
     
  8. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    Just switch to a virtual terminal (Ctrl+Alt + F1 - F6), log in with your username & password, run Mandriva Control Center from the shell
    Code:
    mcc
    ...go to 'Mouse' in the menu and choose your mouse from the list. When you're done, just press Ctrl+Alt+F7 to switch back to the GUI. What kind of mouse do you have, anyway? The only mouse I've ever seen that didn't work right away in Mandriva was a Microsoft mouse, which is substandard anyway.
     
  9. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    Hi

    This looks interesting.... I will give it a go.

    I am using an HP optical mouse. But it looks like a Logitech 'come' HP.
    If you catch my drift....

    Thanks!
     
  10. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    A side note to that last post: There's also a graphical interface to mcc, but if your mouse isn't working it's a lot easier to do it from the shell.
     
  11. Big B

    Big B HWF Godfather

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    Learning the shell commands isn't all that bad, and helpful if you're going to play around in Linux. Of course, if you're like me and don't like console commands, you might be at a little more of a loss with Linux...but I'm the lazy GUI user. I can attest that learning some shell commands might help understanding the GUI even if you're not going to be running the OS from the console.
     
  12. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    Well, Mandriva Linux has a GUI tool for every purpose, so it shouldn't be a problem. :) On the other hand, it makes very little sense to run a GUI on a server, so it is invaluable to know how to get around a CLI in that context.
     
  13. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    Hi

    Problem solved!
    My first drive is the SATA with Mandriva (and the mouse works now somehow....). I have grub installed on the stat drive and everything works fine.... so far.

    I have an important question but it will be in a seperate post.

    So, thanks for all your help!
     

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