Optionally boot TC, XP or Ubuntu

[adszhu]

Hi,
I have 2 NTFS partitions, one of them (C:\) is for OS. I have an XP on it, and an Ubuntu installed with Wubi. On boot time, I can choose which OS to boot.
I have tried TC with netboot, and now I would like to install it, too, so that I can choose even TC to boot.
What do you recommend?
- Do I need a new Linux partition?
- How to achieve that at boot time I can select TC, too?

Thanks in advance

Ádám

[Guy]

Do I need a new Linux partition?

I suggest using a new Linux partition, and a swap partition.

To select which operating system you want to boot, I suggest Grub.

Info on how to Install Tiny Core, including setting up Grub: /net-install.html][removed due to policy violation]/net-install.html

Grub commands for Windows: /grub.html][removed due to policy violation]/grub.html

The ideal way would be to create a Linux partition for Ubuntu, and install it there. If you have Windows already installed, Grub in Ubuntu will automatically include commands to start Windows. You can add commands for Tiny Core to Grub in Ubuntu.

[adszhu]

Thanks for the tips, Guy, I am going to do that!

[alu]

i think that you don't need a new partition, just grub: grub your hd, copy your bzImage and tinycore.gz to your hd and edit the proper line in menu.lst; at boot prompt, grub displays an entry for tc in order for you to boot it; if you want to save some extension, create a tce folder on your hd (at the root of your hd if you want tc to load the extensions at boot);

[adszhu]

Hi Alu,
I need some clarification

grub your hd, copy your bzImage and tinycore.gz to your hd and edit the proper line in menu.lst

Currently I boot TC using netboot. How should I "grub my hd"?
Thanks,
Ádám

[alu]

mmhh. it seems less easy that i believed. yes, you can grub your ntfs partition maybe even using tc (i think, since it has the grub 0.97 version which should do that); you will find more info in the installation rubric of the site at point 6.

but... i am not sure that you can load the bzImage and tinycore.gz from your ntfs partition once grub works.

So, in order to test this before grubing your partition, you might use an empty vfat formated usb stick and syslinux it with tc in order to boot from it (you don't need to have anything on the usb stick):

syslinux -f /dev/yourusbstick

Then, create a folder named boot on your ntfs partition at the root of your master hd and copy the bzImage and the tinycore.gz into it.

Now, edit the syslinux configuration file on your usb stick with these lines:

label tinycore
kernel /boot/bzImage
append initrd=/boot/tynicore.gz quiet

Shut down your machine, plug the usb stick, start your machine and press F8 (it can be another key depending on the machine) in order to get the boot options; choose the boot from your usb stick (you can also edit this in your bios). If nothing appens, you are good to partition your hd in order to setup a linux partition, or to boot tc from an external media.

[Lee]

Just a heads-up about grub:

I notice that /mnt/hda1/boot/grub contains files like e2fs_stage1_5, fat_stage1_5, etc but I don't see one named ntfs_stage1_5.  I haven't experimented with installing grub on an ntfs drive or trying to boot windows from grub - but its things like this that make me want to let someone else try it first.   

[alu]

yep, your are right; i think that the grub utility of etch installs grub on ntfs; however, i don't know if it is worth the pain if it is possible just to load tc from ntfs with the help of an external media or, why not, the windows boot.ini.

[alu]

i wanted to try it with my install (dualboot ubuntu & winxp on ntfs and grub bootloader), but my grub does not handle ntfs, so it cant mount it (where i have loaded my tc); forget my post with syslinux, it can't mount ntfs (where did i have my mind??); so, i am trying something else, and will report back if it works

[Guy]

I suggest new users don't even try to install Linux on NTFS. It is not straightforward.

The easiest way is to make a Linux partition.

[adszhu]

OK guys,
created a new Llinux partition, installed TC as recommended, but grub cannot find the boot files of TC, and I also lost the opportunity to boot my XP...
I must have set up grub incorrectly. Could you help me configure grub to give me the option of booting windows, too? And how could I check what went wrong with the setup of booting TC?
I have now 1 hd with 3 partitions:
1 - for Win XP, bootable
2 - for data
3 - for Linux
On startup, grub immediately starts up, offering to boot TC, but it cannot fin the files specified. I guess it searches on the wrong partition

[curaga]

Post your menu.lst?

Also, bzImage has a capital i, many others have made a typo there.

[alu]

got it from ntfs with grub, but it is too much a pain; adszhu, in your menu.lst for windows, you must have the following lines:

title WinXP
rootnoverify
makeactive
chainloader +1

[Guy]

adszhu

Here is the an example of the type of thing you need in /boot/grub/menu.lst
There can be some variations.

Use the correct partition numbers and letters.

default 0
timeout 5

title   Windows
root   (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader   +1

title   Tiny Core
root   (hd0,2)
kernel   /boot/bzImage quiet tce=hda3 home=hda3 max_loop=255
initrd   /boot/tinycore.gz

If you still can't get it working, post more details about what you have done.

[adszhu]

Thanks a lot, guys, your help is extraordinary valuable to me! Gonna try these tips in minutes