Re: Prepartitioning, Grub location for Lenny?

[Frank Lin PIAT <fpiat@klabs.be>]

On Sun, 2009-06-28 at 08:22 -0500, postid wrote:
> I'm preparing to install Debian Lenny on an IBM R40 laptop. My 
> old layout was as follows:
> 
> hda1=primary=WinXP
> hda2=primary=Debian Sarge
> hda3=primary=swap
> hda4=primary=Knoppix
> 
> (There's also a hidden partition with WinXP recovery stuff at the 
> end of the drive. I'm going to leave that designated by the BIOS 
> as hidden.) I've wiped the partitions and reinstalled WinXP on 
> hda1.
>  I'll again use Partition Magic under WinXP (or a parted 
> magic live CD) to create a new layout:

For the record, You don't have to use special tools. Debian-Installer
can shrink Windows partition. (and it can create almost any partition
you want)

> hda1=primary=6GB=WinXP
> 
> hda2=primary=10GB=Debian Lenny /
> 
> hda3=primary=12GB= /home

I I were you, I wouldn't use a primary partition for /home (you you can
use that partition to install another OS)


> In order to get WinXP to boot during the reinstall, I did 
> an "install-mbr /hda."

??

> After installing Lenny, should I install 
> Grub on the mbr or should I locate it somewhere else (for 
> example, at the beginning of hda2)?

Usually, you should install grub on the MBR.

However, in your situation, you could reinstall IBM's rescue tool's
boot-loader on the MBR, then install grub on Debian's partition (you
need to set Debian's partition as the "bootable" one, I guess.)... But
be prepared it's going to be a tough game.

So I recommend you just install grub on the MBR (i.e on /hda). If you
ever want to use the IBM's rescue tool, you would just restore the
tool's MBR.

Franklin