Re: [TCLUG:5494] lilo.conf and dual booting

[Kevin Bullock <kbullock@ringworld.org>]

First of all, sorry if you get this message twice because of the CC.

On Sat, 24 Apr 1999, Me wrote:
<snip>
> I installed linux 5.2 successfully on my 1st hard drive...everything Ok
> boots fine
> I then added another hard drive as the master drive and changed the
> linux hard drive
> to a secondary master.
First some theory: Linux started out as hda (= primary master). Now it's
on hdc (= secondary master). A simple table:
----+-----------------
hda | primary master
hdb | primary slave
hdc | secondary master
hdd | secondary slave
----+-----------------
Now either you installed linux entirely on one partition (except swap), in
which case it's now (most likely) /dev/hdc1; or you split up partitions
between /usr, /var, /home, all that good stuff, in which case your linux
boot partition is now (most likely) /dev/hdc1.

<snip>
> I then installed system commander deluxe ( latest version) in the C:\
> system commander found Linux and NT [on the first drive] but would not
> boot up linux
Now some more theory: The computer first goes to the Master Boot Record on
the primary IDE drive to boot (after checking a:). This is where system
commander is now. NT has its own boot sector at the beginning of its
partition (/dev/hda1?), so system commander boots it nicely. Linux now
needs its own boot sector on /its/ partition (/dev/hdc1) for system
commander to jump to.

<snip>
> I wanted to proceed to change the Lilo.conf file to allow the linux
> drive to boot but I
> do not know what the settings should be.
Now for the good stuff, editing /etc/lilo.conf:
My guess is that it looked something like this before, pretty basic:
#---begin /etc/lilo.conf
boot=/dev/hda
root=/dev/hda1
install=/boot/boot.b
map=/boot/map
vga=normal
delay=20
image=/vmlinuz
label=Linux
read-only
#---end /etc/lilo.conf

What you want to do is set boot=/dev/hdc1 and make system commander boot
linux there. If there's a delay= line in yours, you can set that to 0 so
that lilo doesn't wait for you to press a key.

The other option is to set boot=/dev/hdc and make system commander boot
linux there, which has the same effect but installs LILO on the master
boot record of hdc instead of on the linux boot partition. It matters
little which you do. Whichever you prefer.

> also is there any way to boot to the second hard disk from a linux boot
> floppy?
Possible, but extremely cumbersome given that you have system commander.

Hope this helps you without being too confusing. If you need a simplified
explanation, feel free to e-mail me.

Love in Christ,
Kevin R. Bullock
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