This is the "howto" I promised to write after this thread.
The 145 systems are:-
3 Dos
5 Windows
137 Linux
I have also installed most of the PC-based BSD and Solaris together with a Darwin x86 too but these systems dislike to co-exist with a large number of other systems so I have to keep them off in another PC until I find a way to tackle the technical issues. (edited : latest arrangement in Post #32, #33 and #34)
There are only 3 steps in this howto.
Step 1 – A simple hardware scheme
An operating system needs to reside in a home. That is a partition to me. I used 2x300Gb Pata disk and 2x200 Sata Disk to set up 152 partitions. I always put one operating system in one partition. As an extended partition of each hard disk has no storage of its own, one data-only partition is needed for my personal data, another data-only partition to house the common boot loader and one Swap partition is needed for all the Linux I ended up losing 7 partitions leaving 145 partitions to house the 145 operating systems.
Step 2 – A simple boot scheme
I put Grub in a data-only partition, created a boot menu to boot all the partitions before any of the operating systems was installed. When a partition is filled the system inside becomes bootable instantly. This scheme is dead simple, technically sound, perfectly applicable is every situation but can be viewed unconventional to some PC users. For those who know nothing about Grub it is just one of the two boot loaders commonly used in Linux. The other one is called Lilo possibly used by less than 40% of the Linux distros at the begining of 2007.
In a nutshell I use this Grub to boot up the boot loader of any of the 145 systems that I choose to use. Afterward it is the duty of the second boot loader that brings up its master.
Step 3 – A simple installation scheme
It is really simple. I just installed each system inside a single partition. For MS systems there is more work as I had to install each as a stand alone system so that it always boot to a “C” drive. I then moved the disks with the MS systems to the final position and edit Grub's menu file to boot it back to a “C” drive status.
My scheme depends every system having a boot loader inside its root partition. This is inherent in every MS systems and other operating systems that rely on booting from a bootable primary partition. For Linux it is an optional choice.
Hardware used
The PC is a self-assembled unit using the cheap components available. Nothing to write home about. Just average for an ordinary PC user say 5 years behind the latest technology as this is all I can afford.
Motherboard : Asrock 939NF4G-SATA2
CPU : AMD 939 64 +3200
Ram :1025Mb
Video : Onboard integrated NV44 graphics DX9.0 VGA
Hard disk 2x300Gb Maxtor 133/Mb/s Pata Diamond Max 10
2x200Gb 150Mb/s Sata-I Maxtor Diamond Maxline III
Sound card : SoundBlaster 5.1
Network card : Generic Realtek 8139 10/100 Entrnet
Keyboard : Generic PS/2 keyboard
Mouse : Generic PS/2 mouse
Essential tools
(1) A bootable Grub floppy or a bootable Grub CD.
(2) A Linux Live CD. Ideally one that has Grub inside.
(3) A Dos 6 or above bootable floppy with fdisk.exe inside
(4) A Win2k or XP installation CD
For the production of the Item (1) above and how to use the rest see the last link of my signature.
The 145 systems are:-
3 Dos
5 Windows
137 Linux
I have also installed most of the PC-based BSD and Solaris together with a Darwin x86 too but these systems dislike to co-exist with a large number of other systems so I have to keep them off in another PC until I find a way to tackle the technical issues. (edited : latest arrangement in Post #32, #33 and #34)
There are only 3 steps in this howto.
Step 1 – A simple hardware scheme
An operating system needs to reside in a home. That is a partition to me. I used 2x300Gb Pata disk and 2x200 Sata Disk to set up 152 partitions. I always put one operating system in one partition. As an extended partition of each hard disk has no storage of its own, one data-only partition is needed for my personal data, another data-only partition to house the common boot loader and one Swap partition is needed for all the Linux I ended up losing 7 partitions leaving 145 partitions to house the 145 operating systems.
Step 2 – A simple boot scheme
I put Grub in a data-only partition, created a boot menu to boot all the partitions before any of the operating systems was installed. When a partition is filled the system inside becomes bootable instantly. This scheme is dead simple, technically sound, perfectly applicable is every situation but can be viewed unconventional to some PC users. For those who know nothing about Grub it is just one of the two boot loaders commonly used in Linux. The other one is called Lilo possibly used by less than 40% of the Linux distros at the begining of 2007.
In a nutshell I use this Grub to boot up the boot loader of any of the 145 systems that I choose to use. Afterward it is the duty of the second boot loader that brings up its master.
Step 3 – A simple installation scheme
It is really simple. I just installed each system inside a single partition. For MS systems there is more work as I had to install each as a stand alone system so that it always boot to a “C” drive. I then moved the disks with the MS systems to the final position and edit Grub's menu file to boot it back to a “C” drive status.
My scheme depends every system having a boot loader inside its root partition. This is inherent in every MS systems and other operating systems that rely on booting from a bootable primary partition. For Linux it is an optional choice.
Hardware used
The PC is a self-assembled unit using the cheap components available. Nothing to write home about. Just average for an ordinary PC user say 5 years behind the latest technology as this is all I can afford.
Motherboard : Asrock 939NF4G-SATA2
CPU : AMD 939 64 +3200
Ram :1025Mb
Video : Onboard integrated NV44 graphics DX9.0 VGA
Hard disk 2x300Gb Maxtor 133/Mb/s Pata Diamond Max 10
2x200Gb 150Mb/s Sata-I Maxtor Diamond Maxline III
Sound card : SoundBlaster 5.1
Network card : Generic Realtek 8139 10/100 Entrnet
Keyboard : Generic PS/2 keyboard
Mouse : Generic PS/2 mouse
Essential tools
(1) A bootable Grub floppy or a bootable Grub CD.
(2) A Linux Live CD. Ideally one that has Grub inside.
(3) A Dos 6 or above bootable floppy with fdisk.exe inside
(4) A Win2k or XP installation CD
For the production of the Item (1) above and how to use the rest see the last link of my signature.
Partition tables
Here is the details of the partitioning scheme as output by “fdisk-l” Linux command.
Code:
Warning: omitting partitions after #60.
They will be deleted if you save this partition table.
Disk /dev/hda: 300.0 GB, 300090728448 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 122 979933+ 16 Hidden FAT16
/dev/hda2 123 244 979965 16 Hidden FAT16
/dev/hda3 245 366 979965 16 Hidden FAT16
/dev/hda4 367 36483 290109802+ 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 367 609 1951866 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda6 610 1217 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 1218 1825 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda8 1826 2433 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda9 2434 3041 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda10 3042 3649 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda11 3650 4257 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda12 4258 4865 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda13 4866 5473 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda14 5474 6081 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda15 6082 6689 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda16 6690 7297 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda17 7298 7905 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda18 7906 8513 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda19 8514 9121 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda20 9122 9729 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda21 9730 10337 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda22 10338 10945 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda23 10946 11553 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda24 11554 12161 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda25 12162 12769 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda26 12770 13377 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda27 13378 13985 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda28 13986 14593 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda29 14594 15201 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda30 15202 15809 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda31 15810 16417 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda32 16418 17025 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda33 17026 17633 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda34 17634 18241 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda35 18242 18849 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda36 18850 19457 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda37 19458 20065 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda38 20066 20673 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda39 20674 21281 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda40 21282 21889 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda41 21890 22497 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda42 22498 23105 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda43 23106 23713 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda44 23714 24321 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda45 24322 24929 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda46 24930 25537 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda47 25538 26145 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda48 26146 26753 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda49 26754 27361 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda50 27362 27969 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda51 27970 28577 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda52 28578 29185 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda53 29186 29793 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda54 29794 30401 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda55 30402 31009 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda56 31010 31617 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda57 31618 32833 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda58 32834 34049 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda59 34050 34657 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda60 34658 35265 4883728+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/hdc: 300.0 GB, 300090728448 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 1 122 979933+ 16 Hidden FAT16
/dev/hdc2 123 730 4883760 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hdc3 731 3162 19535040 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc4 3163 36483 267650932+ 5 Extended
/dev/hdc5 3163 3770 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc6 3771 4378 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc7 4379 4986 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc8 4987 5594 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc9 5595 6202 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc10 6203 6810 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc11 6811 7418 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc12 7419 8026 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc13 8027 8634 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc14 8635 9242 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc15 9243 9850 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc16 9851 10458 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc17 10459 11066 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc18 11067 11674 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc19 11675 12282 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc20 12283 12890 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc21 12891 13498 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc22 13499 14106 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc23 14107 14714 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc24 14715 15322 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc25 15323 15930 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc26 15931 16538 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc27 16539 17146 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc28 17147 17754 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc29 17755 18362 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc30 18363 18970 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc31 18971 19578 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc32 19579 20186 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc33 20187 20794 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc34 20795 21402 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc35 21403 22010 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc36 22011 22618 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc37 22619 23226 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc38 23227 23834 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc39 23835 24442 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc40 24443 25050 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc41 25051 25658 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc42 25659 26266 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc43 26267 26874 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc44 26875 27482 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc45 27483 28090 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc46 28091 28698 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc47 28699 29306 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc48 29307 29914 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc49 29915 30522 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc50 30523 31130 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc51 31131 31738 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc52 31739 32346 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc53 32347 32954 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc54 32955 33562 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc55 33563 34170 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc56 34171 34778 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc57 34779 35386 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc58 * 35387 35994 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc59 35995 36483 3927861 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sda: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 5099 40957686 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 5100 6315 9767520 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 6316 6923 4883760 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 6924 24792 143532742+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 6924 7531 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 7532 8139 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 8140 8747 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 8748 9355 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 9356 9963 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 9964 10571 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 10572 11179 4883728+ a9 NetBSD
/dev/sda12 11180 11787 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 * 11788 12395 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda14 12396 23916 92542401 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda15 23917 24792 7036438+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 1216 9767488+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 1217 1338 979965 1b Hidden W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb3 1339 1460 979965 83 Linux
/dev/sdb4 1461 24792 187414290 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sdb5 1461 2676 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 2677 3892 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 3893 6324 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb8 6325 8756 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb9 8757 11188 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb10 11189 13620 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb11 13621 16052 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb12 16053 18484 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb13 18485 20916 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb14 20917 23348 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb15 23349 24792 11598898+ 83 Linux
My hda has partitions hda61, hda62 and hda63 but they are not shown by fdisk program.
Continued with next post
__________________Continued with next post
Last edited by saikee; 04-08-2009 at 04:45 PM.
Technical details
Hard disk considerations
Most MS systems are designed to reside in a primary partition and there can be a maximum of four of 4 primaries in each hard disk. To get more partition a user “must” give up one primary to turn it into an extended partition. In Linux a Pata (or IDE) disk can have 63 partitions maximum and the limit of a Sata or SCSI disk is 15.
The number of partition plus the whole disk itself make up 64 and 16 devices repeactively.
(Updated note: Since the publication of this thread Linux kernel 2.6.20 and newer have ceased to support Pata disk names and the 63 partitions limit, stated in the blue text above, is no longer supported. Please read Post #21 for further explanation)
Latest 8 Apr 09 - Kernel 2.6.28 and later have decided to breach the maximum 15 partitions per hard disk. The number of partitioins is currently open-ended. This is because the number of logical partition in a hard disk, since Dos era, is also bottomless. However the individual software has not yet been updated to cope with the new changes. The 130+ partitions have not been rejected by MS systems and Linux with the new kernel. More information will be offered later.
An extended partition also consume a device name but cannot be used for storage because it is just the border defining the beginning and the finishing points of the logical partitions.
Linux can be installed and booted from either a primary or a logical partition so it pays to give the primaries to MS systems that dependent on them.
Linux always name the first logical partition as the 5th partition in any hard disk. Therefore theoretically in a Pata disk, say a hda, the maximum usage is hda1, hda2 and hda3 as the primaries, hda4 being the extended partition holding a maximum 59 logical partitions inside (from hda5 to hda63).
In practice some Linux programs stop to display beyond the 60th partition and some distros, like those from the Red Hat family, do not show partitions beyond the 15th, even the distros itself has been installed beyond this limit.
The maximum number of partition one can get out of 2 Pata and 2 Sata is 2*(63+15)= 156. Thus I could have 4 partitions more if I want.
The partitioning scheme
I let the MS systems to have all the primary partitions and Linux are house mainly in logical partitions. One swap, also in a logical partition, to serve all the Linux. For BSD and Solaris systems I use separate hard disks.
As a rule I always install an operating system in a single partition. It is easier to maintain, to boot and to understand. It may not the optimum solution but it works in every Linux I installed.
Here are the partition sizes I allocate to each system
(a) Dos in 1 or 2Gb (primary, type fat16 or fat32)
(b) XP and Vista in 25Gb and 20Gb (primary, type NTFS)
(c) For Win2k I used 15Gb (primary, type NTFS)
(d) For Win98 I used 5Gb (primary, type fat32)
(e) Linux 5Gb (majority) and 10Gb ( say for a few for big distros) (logical, either Ext3 or Reiserfs filing types)
(f) One swap 1 Gb common to all Linux
(g) Personal data 95Gb large fat32
Actual sizes can be seen in the fdisk -l output in Post #1.
I use exclusively one Linux partitioning tool “cfdisk” and use “fdisk” as a second check. Both programs are standard tools in a Linux Live CD. I specify the partition type number of 83, 82, 6, c and 7 for native Linux, swap, fat16, fat32 and ntfs partitions respectively. In using cfdisk for partitioning the partition type is 83 by default and this is recognised by every Linux installer.
I never format the partitions myself as every installer wouldn’t trust me and likes to format its own home.
At a later date I started to use a free partitioning tool called “gparted” which has been branched into “Parted Magic”. They are available as free downable iso files that could burn into a CD.
I believe it is a good strategy to have the partition ready and in the correect partition type so that it is recognised by the system installer. If you you make life easier for the installer. In return it will give musch less trouble.
The mother of all booting schemes - Grub in a data-only partition
This is really my suggestion and is completely unnecessary to a normal Linux user, who can lay his/her hand on the first Grub he/she comes across and make this Grub to do all the things I say below. However my proposal carries the following advantages if taken up
(1) Grub is not attached to any operating system and so it can be used manually as a mini operating system.
(2) Every operating system can be booted indirectly (known as chain loading) using an identical set of commands with only difference in the partition reference. It works for all the operating systems regardless it is a Dos, Windows, Linux, BSD or Solaris.
(2) Every MS system and Linux can control Grub if it is installed in a partition, say type fat16 or fa32, which every system can read, write and alter its boot menu.
(3) Grub is the only boot loader that can be arranged to boot a partition even before its is created, formatted and installed with an operating system. That has to be the coolest thing in booting.
(4) The data-only partition, where Grub resides, has no operating system inside but can be booted by any Linux. Any Dos or Windows MBR can also boot this Grub if it is housed in a “primary” partition with the bootable flag set active.
It should be understood that I propose to install Grub “WITHOUT” being attached to any operating system! Grub cannot read a ntfs filing system so it should be installed into a fat16 or fat32 partition. I put it in the 3nd partition of my 1st Pata disk. In Linux it is known as hda3, as my 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th disks are hda, hdc, sda and sdb respectively.
To install Grub into a data-only partition involving the following steps
(A) Format the data partition first say in fat16 format. Best way is boot up a Linux Live CD, click terminal mode and issue the command for formatting a partition hda3 in fat16
Hard disk considerations
Most MS systems are designed to reside in a primary partition and there can be a maximum of four of 4 primaries in each hard disk. To get more partition a user “must” give up one primary to turn it into an extended partition. In Linux a Pata (or IDE) disk can have 63 partitions maximum and the limit of a Sata or SCSI disk is 15.
The number of partition plus the whole disk itself make up 64 and 16 devices repeactively.
(Updated note: Since the publication of this thread Linux kernel 2.6.20 and newer have ceased to support Pata disk names and the 63 partitions limit, stated in the blue text above, is no longer supported. Please read Post #21 for further explanation)
Latest 8 Apr 09 - Kernel 2.6.28 and later have decided to breach the maximum 15 partitions per hard disk. The number of partitioins is currently open-ended. This is because the number of logical partition in a hard disk, since Dos era, is also bottomless. However the individual software has not yet been updated to cope with the new changes. The 130+ partitions have not been rejected by MS systems and Linux with the new kernel. More information will be offered later.
An extended partition also consume a device name but cannot be used for storage because it is just the border defining the beginning and the finishing points of the logical partitions.
Linux can be installed and booted from either a primary or a logical partition so it pays to give the primaries to MS systems that dependent on them.
Linux always name the first logical partition as the 5th partition in any hard disk. Therefore theoretically in a Pata disk, say a hda, the maximum usage is hda1, hda2 and hda3 as the primaries, hda4 being the extended partition holding a maximum 59 logical partitions inside (from hda5 to hda63).
In practice some Linux programs stop to display beyond the 60th partition and some distros, like those from the Red Hat family, do not show partitions beyond the 15th, even the distros itself has been installed beyond this limit.
The maximum number of partition one can get out of 2 Pata and 2 Sata is 2*(63+15)= 156. Thus I could have 4 partitions more if I want.
The partitioning scheme
I let the MS systems to have all the primary partitions and Linux are house mainly in logical partitions. One swap, also in a logical partition, to serve all the Linux. For BSD and Solaris systems I use separate hard disks.
As a rule I always install an operating system in a single partition. It is easier to maintain, to boot and to understand. It may not the optimum solution but it works in every Linux I installed.
Here are the partition sizes I allocate to each system
(a) Dos in 1 or 2Gb (primary, type fat16 or fat32)
(b) XP and Vista in 25Gb and 20Gb (primary, type NTFS)
(c) For Win2k I used 15Gb (primary, type NTFS)
(d) For Win98 I used 5Gb (primary, type fat32)
(e) Linux 5Gb (majority) and 10Gb ( say for a few for big distros) (logical, either Ext3 or Reiserfs filing types)
(f) One swap 1 Gb common to all Linux
(g) Personal data 95Gb large fat32
Actual sizes can be seen in the fdisk -l output in Post #1.
I use exclusively one Linux partitioning tool “cfdisk” and use “fdisk” as a second check. Both programs are standard tools in a Linux Live CD. I specify the partition type number of 83, 82, 6, c and 7 for native Linux, swap, fat16, fat32 and ntfs partitions respectively. In using cfdisk for partitioning the partition type is 83 by default and this is recognised by every Linux installer.
I never format the partitions myself as every installer wouldn’t trust me and likes to format its own home.
At a later date I started to use a free partitioning tool called “gparted” which has been branched into “Parted Magic”. They are available as free downable iso files that could burn into a CD.
I believe it is a good strategy to have the partition ready and in the correect partition type so that it is recognised by the system installer. If you you make life easier for the installer. In return it will give musch less trouble.
The mother of all booting schemes - Grub in a data-only partition
This is really my suggestion and is completely unnecessary to a normal Linux user, who can lay his/her hand on the first Grub he/she comes across and make this Grub to do all the things I say below. However my proposal carries the following advantages if taken up
(1) Grub is not attached to any operating system and so it can be used manually as a mini operating system.
(2) Every operating system can be booted indirectly (known as chain loading) using an identical set of commands with only difference in the partition reference. It works for all the operating systems regardless it is a Dos, Windows, Linux, BSD or Solaris.
(2) Every MS system and Linux can control Grub if it is installed in a partition, say type fat16 or fa32, which every system can read, write and alter its boot menu.
(3) Grub is the only boot loader that can be arranged to boot a partition even before its is created, formatted and installed with an operating system. That has to be the coolest thing in booting.
(4) The data-only partition, where Grub resides, has no operating system inside but can be booted by any Linux. Any Dos or Windows MBR can also boot this Grub if it is housed in a “primary” partition with the bootable flag set active.
It should be understood that I propose to install Grub “WITHOUT” being attached to any operating system! Grub cannot read a ntfs filing system so it should be installed into a fat16 or fat32 partition. I put it in the 3nd partition of my 1st Pata disk. In Linux it is known as hda3, as my 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th disks are hda, hdc, sda and sdb respectively.
To install Grub into a data-only partition involving the following steps
(A) Format the data partition first say in fat16 format. Best way is boot up a Linux Live CD, click terminal mode and issue the command for formatting a partition hda3 in fat16
Code:
mkdosfs –F16 /dev/hda3
Alternatively the partition can be formatted by a Dos floppy, downloadable from Bootdisk.com, in a Dos command prompt with command
Code:
format c:/
, assuming any partition before hda3 is non-Dos or hidden.
The use of Fat16 is deliberate because with such a filing system a Dos cannot address hard disk beyond 2Gb, cannot recognise a Sata but we can still use Grub there to boot 145 systems in the PC.
(B) The next task is to get hold of 3 files Grub needs for installation. They are called stage1, stage1.5 and stage2, which are held together in a directory, and are available in any Linux Live CD that supports Grub. So just boot up a Live CD and ask Linux to report to you their position by command
The use of Fat16 is deliberate because with such a filing system a Dos cannot address hard disk beyond 2Gb, cannot recognise a Sata but we can still use Grub there to boot 145 systems in the PC.
(B) The next task is to get hold of 3 files Grub needs for installation. They are called stage1, stage1.5 and stage2, which are held together in a directory, and are available in any Linux Live CD that supports Grub. So just boot up a Live CD and ask Linux to report to you their position by command
Code:
find / -name stage1
you will find these files are typically held in the following directories
Red Hat, Fedora C2 to C6
/usr/share/grub/x86_64-redhat/stage1
/usr/share/grub/i386-redhat/stage1
Mandriva
/lib/grub/i386-mandriva/stage1
Mandrake
/usr/local/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage1
/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage1
Suse
/usr/lib/grub/i386-suse/stage1
Gentoo, Knoppix, Mepis, Xubuntu, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Debian
/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage1
Frugalware, Kanotix
/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage1
Next stage is to create a temporary directory in the directory /mnt of the boot-up Live CD Linux, mount the data-only hda3 partition, create /boot/grub directory inside it, copy all the Grub’s stage1, stage1.5 and stage2 files into it, invoke a Grub shell, setup Grub in the MBR and exit. Using Ubuntu CD as an example the commands would be
Red Hat, Fedora C2 to C6
/usr/share/grub/x86_64-redhat/stage1
/usr/share/grub/i386-redhat/stage1
Mandriva
/lib/grub/i386-mandriva/stage1
Mandrake
/usr/local/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage1
/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage1
Suse
/usr/lib/grub/i386-suse/stage1
Gentoo, Knoppix, Mepis, Xubuntu, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Debian
/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage1
Frugalware, Kanotix
/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage1
Next stage is to create a temporary directory in the directory /mnt of the boot-up Live CD Linux, mount the data-only hda3 partition, create /boot/grub directory inside it, copy all the Grub’s stage1, stage1.5 and stage2 files into it, invoke a Grub shell, setup Grub in the MBR and exit. Using Ubuntu CD as an example the commands would be
Code:
mkdir /mnt/hda3
mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3
mkdir /mnt/hda3/boot
mkdir /mnt/hda3/boot/grub
cp /lib/grub/i386-pc/* /mnt/hda3/boot/grub
grub
root (hd0,2)
setup (hd0)
quit
On a reboot the hda3 will be booted to a Grub prompt and nothing else. This indicates Grub is now in charge of the MBR, linked to partition hda3 and is controllable by the configurator file always named “menu.lst” if there is one in the /boot/grub or /boot directory of hda3. When Grub can't find it it defaults to a Grub prompt.
Note some versions of Grub, especially in the Red Hat family, can be modified to read "Grub.conf" instead.
Although the Grub Manual does not claim it but it is in my experience no PC operating system cannot be booted by a Grub prompt. It doesn’t look much at the first sight but there is seldom something so simple can be so powerful.
(C) Now is the time to write a menu to boot 145 systems. It is just a text file must named menu.lst to be stored in the subdirectory /boot/grub. Grub boots each system iy 3 lines as follow:-
A “title” statement to display the name of the system in the screen. Any ttext after the word "title" is displayed and has consequence to the booting except to remind you what the system is.
A “root” statement specifies the root of the operating system. This means the partition the target system residing. Grub counts everything from 0 so to boot a system at the 9th partition of the 2nd disk is “root (hd1,8)”. Similarly (hd0,0) mean the 1st partition of the 1st disk.
A “chainloader” statement which always ends with “+1”.
So you see there is nothing to it. Even a simpleton like me can cope with this.
Being lazy I wrote a small program to generate the booting menu because it is just doing 4 loops, each loop per hard disk in my case.
Therefore my menu.lst initially will look like this
Note some versions of Grub, especially in the Red Hat family, can be modified to read "Grub.conf" instead.
Although the Grub Manual does not claim it but it is in my experience no PC operating system cannot be booted by a Grub prompt. It doesn’t look much at the first sight but there is seldom something so simple can be so powerful.
(C) Now is the time to write a menu to boot 145 systems. It is just a text file must named menu.lst to be stored in the subdirectory /boot/grub. Grub boots each system iy 3 lines as follow:-
A “title” statement to display the name of the system in the screen. Any ttext after the word "title" is displayed and has consequence to the booting except to remind you what the system is.
A “root” statement specifies the root of the operating system. This means the partition the target system residing. Grub counts everything from 0 so to boot a system at the 9th partition of the 2nd disk is “root (hd1,8)”. Similarly (hd0,0) mean the 1st partition of the 1st disk.
A “chainloader” statement which always ends with “+1”.
So you see there is nothing to it. Even a simpleton like me can cope with this.
Being lazy I wrote a small program to generate the booting menu because it is just doing 4 loops, each loop per hard disk in my case.
Therefore my menu.lst initially will look like this
Code:
title Empty @ hda1
chainloader (hd0,0)+1
title Empty @ hda2
chainloader (hd0,1)+1
title Empty @ hda3
chainloader (hd0,2)+1
title Empty @ hda4
chainloader (hd0,3)+1
and so on
The menu is edited whenever I wish to update it with the name of the operating system replacing the word “Empty”. Life could be so simple except the MS systems which needs extra work. That I shall go into later.
The simplified installation scheme
Linux is easy to install so I describe it first.
Linux rarely need to defrag its filing system because it makes use of a scratch area call swap. Thus a swap partition is needed for the first Linux system. Thereafter all the other Linux will proceed to use it without saying a thank you. There is nothing needed done except to create it using the Linux cfdisk program, to the size about twice the physical memory, and select it partition type as 82. Every Linux installer will know how to use it. Some insist on checking it, others ask you for permission to format it and many don’t even tell you what they do with it. I create one in partition hda5 so whenever an installer asks for it I just respond with “hda5”.
In the installation of every Linux we can “instruct” the installer to place Linux in any partition we want. This is done by nominating a single partition to mount the root or “/” of the Linux. If no more than one partition is given to an installer it will place a Linux's directories of /boot, /home, /usr…..as subdirectories to "/" inside the single partition, stacking them back to back so that you only need to worry only if the accummulative content starts to excced the overall partition capacity.
The choice of the boot loader, usually either Lilo or Grub, is immaterial to the proposed scheme.
When it comes to the location of the boot loader it is another matter. Every Linux installer would let the boot loader installed either in (a) the MBR or (b) the root partition of the Linux being installed. My proposed scheme “ONLY” works if the latter is chosen. Some naughty Linux could omit giving you a choice and steals the MBR position. You could also having tea and press the wrong button to lose the MBR. In such a case you can claim the original MBR back again by booting up the Live CD (with Grub inside), click terminal and fire these commands to restore Grub
The simplified installation scheme
Linux is easy to install so I describe it first.
Linux rarely need to defrag its filing system because it makes use of a scratch area call swap. Thus a swap partition is needed for the first Linux system. Thereafter all the other Linux will proceed to use it without saying a thank you. There is nothing needed done except to create it using the Linux cfdisk program, to the size about twice the physical memory, and select it partition type as 82. Every Linux installer will know how to use it. Some insist on checking it, others ask you for permission to format it and many don’t even tell you what they do with it. I create one in partition hda5 so whenever an installer asks for it I just respond with “hda5”.
In the installation of every Linux we can “instruct” the installer to place Linux in any partition we want. This is done by nominating a single partition to mount the root or “/” of the Linux. If no more than one partition is given to an installer it will place a Linux's directories of /boot, /home, /usr…..as subdirectories to "/" inside the single partition, stacking them back to back so that you only need to worry only if the accummulative content starts to excced the overall partition capacity.
The choice of the boot loader, usually either Lilo or Grub, is immaterial to the proposed scheme.
When it comes to the location of the boot loader it is another matter. Every Linux installer would let the boot loader installed either in (a) the MBR or (b) the root partition of the Linux being installed. My proposed scheme “ONLY” works if the latter is chosen. Some naughty Linux could omit giving you a choice and steals the MBR position. You could also having tea and press the wrong button to lose the MBR. In such a case you can claim the original MBR back again by booting up the Live CD (with Grub inside), click terminal and fire these commands to restore Grub
Code:
root (hd0,2)
Setup (hd0)
which literally asking Grub to “source” the necessary file from the specified root and install itself in the whole of disk (hd0) and that could only be the MBR.
A word of caution on Linux’s ability to be installed/booted at high-number partitions or beyond 137Gb barrier in a hard disk
The systems that I arranged can all be booted as per menu.lst. Some older distros will have difficulties to recognise partitions higher than 16, not anticipating device names for high-number partitions and can’t access beyond 137 Gb in the hard disk. These distros have to be installed at the lower-number partitions and inside the first 137Gb of the hard disk. If you find a distro refuses to boot or install take a look at my menu.lst and check the partition position it is known to work.
Dos and Windows systems
There are many ways to install MS systems. For simplicity, ease of control and maintenance I recommend each system to be installed in a “C” drive as a stand-alone independent system. This is to say no dual booting among the MS systems by NTLDR. I have a mobile rack system so I can pull out all the other hard disks and leave only one to install a MS system. Thus every MS system in my case was installed as the first bootable disk. Once installed I do not change its partition position but can put hard disk in other positions. Grub has a facility to re-map the hard disk order on-the-fly and gives back the first bootable disk status to a MS system.
To install a MS system in a “C” drive means there should be no partition recognised by the installer except the partition for installation so it can rightfully claim the first partition status. If there is a partition the MS can recognised, say a Dos partition, then this can be overcome by hiding it, using the Live CD again. If one wants to hide the first disk’s 1st partition, unhide the 2nd partition and make it bootable for a MS system the command in Grub prompt are
A word of caution on Linux’s ability to be installed/booted at high-number partitions or beyond 137Gb barrier in a hard disk
The systems that I arranged can all be booted as per menu.lst. Some older distros will have difficulties to recognise partitions higher than 16, not anticipating device names for high-number partitions and can’t access beyond 137 Gb in the hard disk. These distros have to be installed at the lower-number partitions and inside the first 137Gb of the hard disk. If you find a distro refuses to boot or install take a look at my menu.lst and check the partition position it is known to work.
Dos and Windows systems
There are many ways to install MS systems. For simplicity, ease of control and maintenance I recommend each system to be installed in a “C” drive as a stand-alone independent system. This is to say no dual booting among the MS systems by NTLDR. I have a mobile rack system so I can pull out all the other hard disks and leave only one to install a MS system. Thus every MS system in my case was installed as the first bootable disk. Once installed I do not change its partition position but can put hard disk in other positions. Grub has a facility to re-map the hard disk order on-the-fly and gives back the first bootable disk status to a MS system.
To install a MS system in a “C” drive means there should be no partition recognised by the installer except the partition for installation so it can rightfully claim the first partition status. If there is a partition the MS can recognised, say a Dos partition, then this can be overcome by hiding it, using the Live CD again. If one wants to hide the first disk’s 1st partition, unhide the 2nd partition and make it bootable for a MS system the command in Grub prompt are
Code:
hide (hd0,0)
Unhide (hd0,1)
Makeactive
Hiding a partition in a PC doesn’t physically hide the partition away. It just alters its partition type number. Normally a digit “1” is added. Thus if a fat32 and ntfs partition with type c and 7 will become invisible to a MS system when the type number is altered to 1c and 17 respectively. To unhide it is to strip off the digit “1”. It is the oldest trick in a PC, invented at the time Dos was the de facto operating system, to allow a user to bootmore than one operating system.
A MS system may need its own MBR for an installation. It has come to my notice that the MS systems share a common MBR. This MBR's function is to search each of the 4 primary partitions and load the one with the booting flag switched on.
As an example these are brief steps of how I installed Windows Vista in hdc3
Removed disk hda, sda and sdb disks and slide hdc into the rack previously occupied by hda. The original hdc3 partition is know as (hd0,2) to Grub.
Boot up a Dos floppy and restore the MS MBR into the hard disk by command
A MS system may need its own MBR for an installation. It has come to my notice that the MS systems share a common MBR. This MBR's function is to search each of the 4 primary partitions and load the one with the booting flag switched on.
As an example these are brief steps of how I installed Windows Vista in hdc3
Removed disk hda, sda and sdb disks and slide hdc into the rack previously occupied by hda. The original hdc3 partition is know as (hd0,2) to Grub.
Boot up a Dos floppy and restore the MS MBR into the hard disk by command
Code:
fdisk /mbr
Boot up a Grub floppy and hide the first two partitions and then check disk geometry
Code:
hide (hd0,0)
Hide (hd0,1)
Geometry (hd0)
The geometry command is to check everything is in order before installation. Hda3 should have already been created with sufficient space in type 7 for ntfs filing system.
Install Windows Vista and select the 3rd partition for its home.
Check Vista working satisfactory on a reboot after installation.
Power down the PC, add the hard disk that is intended for the permanent home for the Vista, say this is a slave drive called hdc already has in the third primary position a partition with identical size as hda3, insert a Live CD, boot up the system and clone the Vista system across by root terminal command
Install Windows Vista and select the 3rd partition for its home.
Check Vista working satisfactory on a reboot after installation.
Power down the PC, add the hard disk that is intended for the permanent home for the Vista, say this is a slave drive called hdc already has in the third primary position a partition with identical size as hda3, insert a Live CD, boot up the system and clone the Vista system across by root terminal command
Code:
dd if=/dev/hda3 of=/dev/hdc3 bs=32768
I then power down again, restore all the hard disk, boot up a Live CD again and use it to amend the /boot/grub/menu.lst in hda3 with the following entries for booting hdc3 partition
Code:
title Vista @ hdc3
root (hd1,2)
hide (hd0,0)
hide (hd0,1)
hide (hd0,2)
hide (hd1,0)
hide (hd1,1)
unhide (hd1,2)
makeactive
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
chainloader +1
The two map statement instructed Grub to swap the (hd0) and (hd1) position so that when Vista boots it will find itself still in the first bootable disk as per the original installation. The 5 hide statements are necessary to hide the 5 Dos and Windows partitions which if Vista picks up can upset its “C” drive status.
I used the same principle on every other MS systems and managed to get 3 Versions of Dos and 5 versions of Windows in the same PC. More MS systems can be accommodated but these are all I got.
Ending notes
My original intention was to learn Linux, understand how it work and be able to boot it. It was a huge surprise to see how easy and logical in a Linux world. It almost seems everything I could not understand how a computer works, after all these years with MS systems, suddenly become comprehensible in Linux when the inner working of the system is a published public knowledge.
People can say anything they like about Linux but my 2.5 years with it has taught me using one of the oldest partition (fat16) to house an obsolete boot loader (as the Grub described here is known as the Grub legacy that the GNU/Grub maintainers had already declared cesation of support to move their effort to the new Grub 2 at the time I started Linux) to boot the 145 operating systems I can access. The scheme is laughingly simple.
I am hugely indebted to many GNU/Linux volunteers who unselfishly maintain and develop the open source software. I come to know some of them could risk litigations from the money-grabbing corporation because their effort has reduced our dependency on the commercial software.
From the 2.5 years into Linux I witnessed a huge leap in functionalties and user-friendliness in Linux. I am also inspired by so many nations contributing efforts in bringing this operating system to the public. Many of their distros are technically outstanding.
I used the same principle on every other MS systems and managed to get 3 Versions of Dos and 5 versions of Windows in the same PC. More MS systems can be accommodated but these are all I got.
Ending notes
My original intention was to learn Linux, understand how it work and be able to boot it. It was a huge surprise to see how easy and logical in a Linux world. It almost seems everything I could not understand how a computer works, after all these years with MS systems, suddenly become comprehensible in Linux when the inner working of the system is a published public knowledge.
People can say anything they like about Linux but my 2.5 years with it has taught me using one of the oldest partition (fat16) to house an obsolete boot loader (as the Grub described here is known as the Grub legacy that the GNU/Grub maintainers had already declared cesation of support to move their effort to the new Grub 2 at the time I started Linux) to boot the 145 operating systems I can access. The scheme is laughingly simple.
I am hugely indebted to many GNU/Linux volunteers who unselfishly maintain and develop the open source software. I come to know some of them could risk litigations from the money-grabbing corporation because their effort has reduced our dependency on the commercial software.
From the 2.5 years into Linux I witnessed a huge leap in functionalties and user-friendliness in Linux. I am also inspired by so many nations contributing efforts in bringing this operating system to the public. Many of their distros are technically outstanding.
LibreOffice
Firefox
No comments:
Post a Comment