using ubuntu waiting for Mageia2 (set up dual boot ))

[johnnybevo]

I reinstalled ubuntu yesterday.
Let my explain , I want to use Mageia but my wife loves ubuntu she says it is easier to use.
UHH ok.
So I have decided to wait for Mageia 2. I have began to research setting up a dual boot system.
Any advice would be great.

I am very new to the linux world, but understand that ubuntu and mageia use different versions of the grub.
I wonder would it be better to install Mageia first then ubuntu, so that my system would use the ubuntu grub?

[JoesCat]

It should not make a difference which grub you use, as long as you collect the correct information to find the kernel. With Mageia, when you look at the info, it usually wants to find /boot/vmlinuz in /dev/sdaX where X happens to be the partition where you put /boot. If you kept partitioning simple, it is in "/"

Keep your wife happy. Let's install Ubuntu first.
When you install it, leave room for a separate install of Mageia - when you become more familiar with both, you could intermingle more parts with each other, but to play it safe for now, treat them as separate. Also, because you are new to the linux world, let's keep your install somewhat simple too.
Perhaps /home and "/" for now, plus SWAP space. SWAP can be shared by both operating systems since you are only using one at a time for now.

Let's say for example, that you have a 100GB drive.
Let's assume the drive is seen as /dev/sda
Let's assume you have 2GB of RAM, so we want a swap space of 4GB

Installing Ubuntu, create a /home partition on /dev/sda1 of 49GB
create a / of 49GB in location /dev/sda2 (this may perhaps be /dev/sda5 or /dev/sda6)
Leave an empty gap of 98GB (reserved for your future Mageia)
at the very end of the drive add a swap space of 4GB (this can be shared by both operating systems)

Don't bother customizing it too soon in case you want to adjust this or redo it again.
what you do want to capture is the bootup parameters required. You'll have info such as:
/boot/vmlinuz
/dev/sda2
resume=UUID=abc123 splash=silent
whatever those parameters may be, write them down because you'll need them for Mageia's boot later.

After you've installed Ubuntu, next, install Mageia in that empty space you had earlier.
49GB for /home and another 49GB for "/" (these may be /dev/sda7 and /dev/sda8)
don't worry if the numbers are different, just use them as examples for now.
During the install process, if you want to link the Ubuntu to be seen by Mageia, you may want to add them as, but not as "/home" and "/", choose locations "/mnt/Ubuntu_home" and "/mnt/Ubuntu" or something similar in the /mnt subdirectory.

After you have installed Mageia, start Mageia and then go to the Mageia Control console. Inside the control console, you'll find a section where you can setup boot. That is where you add additional other operating systems. In the step where you see:
linux
failsafe
this is where you'll add your information (from the ubuntu definitions you got above).
Just add another line
Ubuntu
and fill in the require info that was found/required by Ubuntu, stuff like:
/dev/sda2
/boot/vmlinuz
resume=UUID=abc123 splash=silent

[Ken-Bergen]

49Gb for / 10-15 is usually enough, 20Gb if you're going to install everything including the kitchen sink.

[JoesCat]

Just doing quick math of 100 / 4 and guessing a 100GB drive. May be over, may be under only the user knows best what their own situation requires. Cheers!

[Ken-Bergen]

Just doing quick math of 100 / 4 and guessing a 100GB drive. May be over, may be under only the user knows best what their own situation requires. Cheers!

I understand where you were going but just saying make / half and /home the other half of available space gives the wrong impression.
After installing everything you need or want to try disk usage on / will remain static and should be as small as possible, whereas /home and or other data partitions should be as big as possible as that's where you'll be storing your personal documents and anything you download.

[johnnybevo]

here is screen shot of what i have right now with ubuntu installed.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/81 ... 05211.png/
I have to go back and read the above post, then I will have more questions.
I do thank you guys very much for your help.
Once I get up and running and caught up on a few things, I will contribute some artwork.

[johnnybevo]

Would it be possible for someone to put up some screen shots from the Mageia install, based on the linked image above, so I will know what to do when I get to set up partitions part of the install. I would be even better if maybe someone you do screen recording and put it up on youtube. I know that is asking a lot but I learn best that way.

[jkerr82508]

This and the following pages may be of help:

http://docteam.mageia.nl/installer/cont ... Disks.html

Jim

[johnnybevo]

I am doing a lot of reading and research.
during installation of Mageia is there an option to not install the Mageia grub?
The reason I am asking I is I came across this statement.

If you install another linux distro to another partition, it will likely take over the boot loader. If you can ask it not to install a boot loader, then when you boot back into Ubuntu, run sudo update-grub, and it should detect the other distro and add it to your grub menu.

[doktor5000]

@JoesCat: Hardcoding bootloader entries is not a sustainable way nor good practice, normally you want to use chainloader entries, that way you can update the other system as you want, it will still boot and you get the full bootloader of the other system, not only one hardcoded entry, which you have to keep in sync with the actual values on the other system, which may change with updates and stuff.

Also for the partitioning, better do like the installer does, use a percentage of the available space and give a minimum and a maximum. Ken-Bergen is totally right there, IMHO.

@johnnybevo:
Yes there is, but it's actually a bit hidden (the same as in Ubuntu, IIRC )
Maybe have a look at http://docteam.mageia.nl/installer/cont ... inner.html
So you want to select not to install to the whole drive (as in the example screenshot there, /dev/sda would mean directly into the MBR, the master boot record, which would overwrite your existing bootloader) but choose the partition where you created the new /-partition for Mageia, e.g. /dev/sda7

[johnnybevo]

@ doktor5000
So It it looks like the 1st thing I should do i create a new partition while I am in ubuntu.
Since I a new to linux I am not sure I know how to do this. I would assume I can use gparted to do so.
After I create the new partition I should be able to install Mageia on the new partition.

Then boot back into ubuntu run sudo update-grub, and it should detect the other distro and add it to the grub menu.
This next statement may be completely newbie, but when I boot up (i.e. ubuntu ) it just boots right into ubuntu.
so if I sudo update-grub it would then give me the boot options at restart?

[johnnybevo]

I am burning a copy of gpated live right now to make the Mageia partition.
Even though this is all new to me I am having a lot of fun learning and having the support of this forum is awesome.
Thanks again guys.

[johnnybevo]

new partition done

[Ken-Bergen]

new partition done

It looks like you have no /home partition.
Was that intentional or is Ubuntu following the Microsoft model of everything on one partition?

[johnnybevo]

@ ken
It was not intentional. When I installed ubuntu I chose to erase and install and that is the way it installed.
I am a complete newbie to linux. I have always used windows until about 7 weeks ago. I never done anything like this in windows.
I mostly us my pc for 2d/3d graphics and recording video tutorials for 3d modeling applications. I have a lot to learn.

[johnnybevo]

I now have unallocted space on my hard drive and have downloaded and burned Mageia 2 to cd.
When I start to install mageia will i be able to select the unallocated space in the installer and do I need manually create the home, swap ect. ?

I have 3gb of ram does the swap need to be 6gb?
Will magei setup the boot manager?
Maybe I have asked some of these things before but I am trying run through everything over and over. So I can better remember the process.

[doktor5000]

When I start to install mageia will i be able to select the unallocated space in the installer and do I need manually create the home, swap ect. ?

I have 3gb of ram does the swap need to be 6gb?
Will magei setup the boot manager?
Maybe I have asked some of these things before but I am trying run through everything over and over. So I can better remember the process.

Yes, no, yes, yes.
The partitioning is quite easy and allows for quite a bit of flexibility, you can let the installer use the free space, or maybe even do some custom partitioning if you want. If you let it automatically create partitions, it will default to setup a /, /home and swap partition. The swap should normally be 1.5 times the size of your RAM, if you want to use something like suspend. Mageia does setup the bootloader for you, but as already told, it defaults to install it in the MBR, which is not that obvious, but can be changed in the last step of the installation, during the summary screen. Maybe read my previous post again for more details on this