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[LUG] Dual booting Debian and Ubuntu

 

Hi

Some time ago I posted on the list asking about adding debian as a dual
boot onto an existing Ubuntu laptop.

This was fairly successful except that I now have a problem with Grub.

Ubuntu was already installed on (hd0,0). Debian is now installed on
(hd0,1) with separate swap and home partitions.

The problem is that debian has installed its own grub onto hd0,1. I had
to edit the menu.lst file on the debian partition when I upgraded from
Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10 (fortunately I made a copy of the menu.lst on hd0,0
before I restarted after the upgrade) otherwise grub on debian couldn't
see a valid ubuntu kernel.

This means that whenever I upgrade, or install a new kernel in Ubuntu, I
will have to re-edit the menu.lst file on the debian partition.

Also, because the system initially boots from debian and then passes to
Ubuntu, I am getting lots of errors and warnings, as debian has the
ubuntu partition and swap partition mounted and ubuntu can't start
properly until the mounts are released. I now have a /var/log/syslog
approaching 3Gb!

I would like to set up the system so it boots first from the Ubuntu
partition - is this as simple as executing 
sudo grub-install '(hd0,0)'
and if so, do I execute this from ubuntu, or does the ubuntu partition
need to be unmounted?

Many thanks

Phil


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