On Sat, 24 May 2003 17:20:03 -0400 "Scott MacMaster" <me@scottmacmaster.com> wrote:On Sat, 24 May 2003 10:24:16 -0400 "Scott MacMaster" <me@scottmacmaster.com> wrote:I'm attempting to install Debian as my third os on my computer. The installation went fine up to the point where it asks if I wantto install a boot loader or create a boot disk. Since I had problems with boot loaders in the past (trying to boot Windows 2000 or XP with a boot loader usual caused 2000 or XP to fail to boot) I didn't want to install a boot loader. So I used to create boot disk option(an option I used with another os). I then rebooted the computer with the boot disk. Debian started up and then went into the configuration sequence where I select the packages I want to install. I did that and rebooted. However, it goes into that configuration sequence everytime I boot with the boot disk. After that I decided to try the boot loader. I figured that since I have Debian on my 2nd hard drive I can just install the boot loader to just the 2nd hd and tell bios to use it as the boot device (an option I used with another os). That way the boot loader won't effect my installation of XP. After I installed the boot loader I rebooted. I think it was about to boot Debian but it just started printed 48 over and over again on my screen. Well, my question is probably obvious by now. How do I get Debian to bootup?Well, the questions most people will have are pretty obvious: 1. what boot loader?I don't know. Whatever the default is that comes with the 3.0 r1 distribution.
Almost certainly, well, certainly, lilo.
This is where you'll want to start looking: /etc/lilo.conf. After it's configured properly, re-run "lilo".2. what did you put in its configuration file?I didn't configure it. It said it would automatically setup Debian as the default os. It asked if I wanted to setup other os's but I selected no.
Basically, you'll need a stanza (group of lines) for each OS you want to boot. There should be a couple of examples within the file itself to give you a fair idea of what's needed. You might want to post it to the list for other eyes to take a look at.
Unless you have oodles of RAM (like 1GB or so), you probably want a swap partition. Even with oodles of RAM, I'd still keep a swap partition around if I had the drive space for it. But that's just me.3. How did you install it?First partition on my second hd. I didn't create a swap partition.
I would suspect that grub will become the standard boot loader in the future. lilo has been the standard, but grub has a lot more capability, especially when it comes to repairing misconfigured boot loader setups. If you don't have success with lilo after a try or two, you might want to give up on learning the ins and outs of lilo and spend your educational brain cells on grub instead. Then again, you might not.
-- Kent