let me say first that i am fairly new to linux so this may be a silly
question.
I currently have SuSE 9.1 and Win XP co-existing in my desktop. My
problem is I want to replace SuSE with Slackware due to some
flexability issues and I am concerned that I may have issues with Grub
in the process. Anyone know what I am in for? Also I am trying to
figure out if i need to uninstall SuSE from my dedicated partition or
will the Slackware install delete everything on that partition
anyways(including the replacement of Grub/LILO). Thank you in advance
to any insight anyone may have.

dkissell wrote:

> let me say first that i am fairly new to linux so this may be a silly
> question.
> I currently have SuSE 9.1 and Win XP co-existing in my desktop. My
> problem is I want to replace SuSE with Slackware due to some
> flexability issues and I am concerned that I may have issues with Grub
> in the process. Anyone know what I am in for?

I have no clue about the "why" with grub and lilo, so I'll just say it.
Every time I've tried to destroy GRUB and load LILO instead, somehow i've
screwed up my MBR on the drive. If I were you, I'd get several people who
know what and why, and have successfully migrated from GRUB to LILO.
However, Slackware works with Grub, supposedly, and there's a package
somewhere on the CD (if I remember correctly) for GRUB. Sorry, I don't
know much of anything about GRUB. Maybe if you migrated SuSE to LILO
first, successfully, then installed Slackware ....

> Also I am trying to
> figure out if i need to uninstall SuSE from my dedicated partition or
> will the Slackware install delete everything on that partition
> anyways(including the replacement of Grub/LILO). Thank you in advance
> to any insight anyone may have.

--
BOFH Excuse #380: Operators killed when huge stack of backup tapes fell
over.

dkissell wrote:

> let me say first that i am fairly new to linux so this may be a silly
> question.
> I currently have SuSE 9.1 and Win XP co-existing in my desktop. My
> problem is I want to replace SuSE with Slackware due to some
> flexability issues and I am concerned that I may have issues with Grub
> in the process. Anyone know what I am in for? Also I am trying to
> figure out if i need to uninstall SuSE from my dedicated partition or
> will the Slackware install delete everything on that partition
> anyways(including the replacement of Grub/LILO). Thank you in advance
> to any insight anyone may have.

Here's my recommendation. Boot the XP CD and do recover, work your way
to the C:\ prompt. You can restore the MBR from there. Type help if you
need to. If you're still not sure, google xp recover mbr and you'll see
some examples.

Then look over this.
http://www.slackware.com/book/index....rce=x1776.html
Pay attention to the Windows NT section. This is where you use the NT/XP
boot loader to load Slackware.

Install Slackware, and install Slack's boot loader on the /boot
partition, NOT the MBR. Setup the XP's C:\boot.ini as mentioned. LILO
may have problem storing the boot record on a cylinder > 1024, can't
remember as I've used grubs for many years and you can get it for
Slackware.




--
Robert - slackware

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 15:19:02 -0700, dkissell wrote:

> let me say first that i am fairly new to linux so this may be a silly
> question.
> I currently have SuSE 9.1 and Win XP co-existing in my desktop. My
> problem is I want to replace SuSE with Slackware due to some
> flexability issues and I am concerned that I may have issues with Grub
> in the process. Anyone know what I am in for? Also I am trying to
> figure out if i need to uninstall SuSE from my dedicated partition or
> will the Slackware install delete everything on that partition
> anyways(including the replacement of Grub/LILO). Thank you in advance
> to any insight anyone may have.


boot up with a windows boot disk, and at the prompt, type fdisk /mbr and
that will wipe out grub for you and restore your MBR to just boot XP.
you don't need to uninstall suse..slack will install over it...while
installing slack it will give you the option to install the bootloader(i
think it uses LILO by default) and that should get your boot loader up and
running.

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 15:19:02 -0700, dkissell wrote:

> let me say first that i am fairly new to linux so this may be a silly
> question.
> I currently have SuSE 9.1 and Win XP co-existing in my desktop. My
> problem is I want to replace SuSE with Slackware due to some flexability
> issues and I am concerned that I may have issues with Grub in the
> process. Anyone know what I am in for? Also I am trying to figure out if
> i need to uninstall SuSE from my dedicated partition or will the
> Slackware install delete everything on that partition anyways(including
> the replacement of Grub/LILO). Thank you in advance to any insight
> anyone may have.
>
Caveat: I am not using SuSe.

If you learn some basics about grub, you will see there is no reason to
panic. If grub is installed at the MBR (i.e. controls the boot process
from the outset), then there is really no reason to change anything yet.
If grub is not installed at the MBR, then install it there now,

# grub
root (hdx,y)
setup (hdx)

x,y are system dependant digits.

Take five minutes and study the grub.conf (or menu.lst) file. One of the
neat things about grub is the commands in the configuration file can be
entered at the grub prompt to enter new instructions or to modify existing
menu entries in the configuration file. It's harder to describe than it is
in actuality.

If grub is at the MBR, then you'll see that you can always boot your XP
selection by manually entering

rootnoverify (hdx,y)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Or you can boot a linux kernel:

root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/hda1

If you know how to enter proper nomenclature for grub and for linux,
you're home free- because you'll understand what it is you are trying to
do.

Also, if you know this method to start your system, then it is OK if you
end up wiping out the partition where the SuSe menu is installed now when
you switch to Slackware. You can always manually boot you system with
this method until you can finally fixup your loader.

--
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0361596/
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0079400/

Thnak you all so much for your help. Also is it necessary to dl all 4
iso files to get slackware 10 up and running?

dkissell@mail.com wrote :

> Thnak you all so much for your help. Also is it necessary to dl all 4
> iso files to get slackware 10 up and running?

No, if you can live without KDE and Gnome you'll only have to download
the first iso. If you want KDE and/or Gnome then you'll need the second
iso too. The last two hold the sources and you'll only need these if you
want to recompile everything.
--
Thomas O.

This area is designed to become quite warm during normal operation.