From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 28 14:11:07 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1FCEE37B401 for ; Mon, 28 Apr 2003 14:11:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: from anchor-post-34.mail.demon.net (anchor-post-34.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.92]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F379D43FAF for ; Mon, 28 Apr 2003 14:11:05 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jeff+sender+e8ec28@jrpenn.demon.co.uk) Received: from jrpenn.demon.co.uk ([194.222.241.254]) by anchor-post-34.mail.demon.net with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1) id 19AFtv-0003MU-0Y for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Mon, 28 Apr 2003 22:11:04 +0100 Received: from jrpenn.demon.co.uk (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by jrpenn.demon.co.uk (8.12.8p1/8.12.8) with ESMTP id h3SKK3IG003926 for ; Mon, 28 Apr 2003 21:28:03 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from jeff+sender+e8ec28@jrpenn.demon.co.uk) Received: by jrpenn.demon.co.uk (tmda-inject, from uid 1001); Mon, 28 Apr 2003 21:19:58 +0100 Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 21:19:57 +0100 To: Free BSD Questions list Message-ID: <20030428201957.GB904@jrpenn.demon.co.uk> References: <20030428000300.GA11646@teddy.fas.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20030428000300.GA11646@teddy.fas.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i From: Jeff Penn Mail-Followup-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Delivery-Agent: TMDA/0.74 (Citation) Subject: Re: Dual Boot FreeBSD and Linux X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 21:11:07 -0000 On Sun, Apr 27, 2003 at 08:03:00PM -0400, stan wrote: > I've got a new laptop that I want to dual boot FreeBSD, and Debian > Linux on. > > I installed FreeBSD specifying the boot loader, and then rebooted the > machine. I then installed Debian, specifying to leave the MBR alone, > and install LILO in /target on the linux filesystem partition. > > However now when I reboot, I get a choice for Linux, but pressing that > key (happens to be F3) just beeps. I looked in the handbook, and all I > could find about this was how to make LILO do this. I've run multi > boot machines in the past using the FreeBSD bootloader, but it's been > a while, and I forget the details of making it work. I'm currently running freebsd & debian. I initially installed freebsd & libranet with freebsd installed first on slice one without any problems. However, I found that running other fdisks, such as debian & freedos, would corrupt freebsd's superblock. Moving freebsd out to another slice (four) overcame the problem. I also found that unless the partitions within the freebsd slices are configured on a cylinder boundary debian complains during a reboot; but boots without problems. > Would I be better off using LILO or the FreeBSD bootloader (or Grub)? If you want to run Linux from an extended partition you will need to use lilo or grub. I boot using grub installed on freebsd, with debian installed on hda5-10. Grub has the advantage of understanding filesystems, whereas lilo needs to record the physical position of the kernel on the disk each time the kernel is updated. Jeff