Topic: Change in install (dual boot choice)

[Senectus]

I noticed that the install doesn't let you have another OS on the same machine.
I commend you on the philosophy that " E-smith is a server and nothing else" as this is a fresh and wonerdfull idea. But don't you think that being able to dual boot the machine its on might give the project some more choices? I have the need to make my e-smith server dual bootable with Win2k server, and I'm finding it very difficult to do so.

Any one?

[Roy Barkas]

I've succeeded in building a multiple-boot e-smith machine.  Looks pretty solid so far.  There's at least two ways to do so that I can think of:

The simplest way works if you have two or more disks - one on the primary IDE and one on the secondary IDE.

Install Win2k (or whatever) on disk 1.  

Then once it's done go into the BIOS and disable the IDE channel that is connected to the first disk and then reboot and install E-smith as you normall would.  

Then (this gets slightly hairy if you're not comfortable with Linux and NT zen) grap the boot sector from the e-smith disk and make it a file on the nt disk.  

Then tell the boot.ini file in NT about the linux system.  If all this is done correctly then you should be able to choose at boot time whether you wish to start Win2k or E-smith.  

There's not sufficient detail above to do all this unless you already know how to use the linux dd program to copy the boot sector and unless you're comfortable modifying boot.ini but all the info you need can be found in the appropriate linux multi-booting HOWTO.

The second way might be to use Partition magic (or something similar) to manage partitions on a single disk - rendering the windows partition hidden - THERE IS A VERY REAL DANGER THAT THIS MIGHT NOT WORK as I don't have any idea if the e-smith install would eliminate and overwrite the Win2k partition even though it's "hidden".  It very well might do so.

I was going to ask why you needed to dual boot as it's sort of an unusual thing to need to do to a gateway / router / firewall but then I realised it might sound like a strange question coming from someone who has done precisely the same thing.  In my case I did it because I want to evaluate and learn E-Smith in the wee hours but easily put the system back into it's original configuration during the day.  In my case I have standard RH7 on one disk and E-Smith on a temporary second disk and I multiboot using LILO.

I tend in general to agree with the way the E-smith folks have decided to 'take over' the entire disk system.  They are, after all, interested in building an easily installed - safe and simple tool, rather than a general purpose system.

[Senectus]

I may give that a go, I'm used to steep learning curves

The reason I need it dual boot, is that I'm an addict of tribes. Tribes is a game that will only run on Windoze, so When I get my LAN parties together I need to boot into 2k so I can run a server for it. Also I need to play with Win2k server a bit as We're going to be using it on the site I work on soon.

Like I've said before.. I admire the bold direction that the E-smith guys are taking, But I still belive that one of the wonders of Linux is the ability to CHOOSE what you want to do.
If I had the time and knowhow I'd change and recompile my own version, but until then..  I'll keep using this great product as is..

BTW how long till they start using kernal 2.4 ? The firewalling abilities in that kernal are VASTLY supirior to 2.3...

Oh and another wish for the list... Spellchecker for this phorum *sheepish grin*

Thanks
Marcus

[Charlie Brady]

Senectus wrote:

> Like I've said before.. I admire the bold direction that the
> E-smith guys are taking, But I still belive that one of the
> wonders of Linux is the ability to CHOOSE what you want to do.

You do have the ability to choose. The e-smith server and gateway is a completely open source product. You can make any change you like.

The feature you are suggesting will not become part of the standard product, for obvious reasons.

However, it is easy to achieve with a custom modification. If you ask on the Experienced User bulletin board, someone may be able to help you to create a custom kickstart file. Start by making a boot floppy, and overwriting ks.cfg on that floppy with images/kickstart/install.cfg from the CDROM.

Regards

[John Sadie]

The easiest way is to use removable hard drive trays. They are cheap enough. Just beware, most of them do not work well. The completely plastic ones semm to work better than the metal/plastic ones. There is even a very expensive one available for about $250US, which guarantees over a 1000 insertions.

I mount my main drive permanently, internally, on IDE2, as master. I set my CMOS to boot from IDE0. PC's takes WHICHEVER hard drive it finds first as IDE0.
I then put a removable tray on the "REAL" IDE0. This way, I don't have to change to CMOS. If the removable tray is removed, it boots from the internal HDDas IDE0. It will boot from the removable HDD automatically when that is insertedas IDE0.


Silly I think, but there you are.

[Charlie Brady]

John Sadie wrote:
>
> The easiest way is to use removable hard drive trays. They
> are cheap enough. Just beware, most of them do not work well.

Also beware - the interfaces are not standardised. Swapping drives between similar but non-identical trays can blow your hard drive electronics.

Charlie

[Larry]

I use vmware within windows 2000. That is where I installed my E-smith server for specific reasons relating to my job. Perhaps VMWARE is a good answer to the DUAL-BOOT.