On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 11:30:17AM -0400, Stephen P. Molnar wrote: > I have just converted my 64 bit Linux computer to Debian 6.0.5/KDE > 4.4.5 (retaining the Gnome desktop) and have several problems with > which I really need help. Although i have been using Linux since > about 1993, I am neither a software nor hardware person, but rather > a user. Hence, I would ask the readers forbearance. Not a problem. Many people who use Debian do so because they want to be able to fiddle about with it, but it'd not be a Universal Operating System if it didn't cater for those who just want to get going and just USE it. > > I had been using openSUSE for quite a few years, but the v 12 series > don't support some of my major computational chemistry software. > > I had successfully installed Debian on a separate HD from my > openSUSE installation and the first problem involves the grub > menu.list (which no longer exists in grub-pc which is used by > Debian). The distributions currently in the splash screen are: > > openSUSE (this is 12.2 resulting from an upgrade of 12.1) > Advance options for openSUSE > openSUSE 12.1 (x86_64) > Advance options for openSUSE 12.1 (86_64) > Debian/GNU/Linux (6.0.5) > Advanced options for Debian/GNU/Linux (6.0.5) > Debian/GNU/Linux (6.0.4) > Advanced options for Debian/GNU/Linux (6.0.4) > > Now for some reason, even though, I used the Debian 6.0.6 iso DVD > for the reinstallation of 6.0.5, because of a very stupid attempt on > my part to change the video drivers to nVidia which resulted in a > degradation of the monitor resolution and the introduction of a > really ugly font). Trial and error showed me that I want to boot > into the 6.0.4 version (where that version number came from I don't > have the faintest clue) to get the new installation which has the > resolution and font that I want. Of course the default is the first > entry in the menu list. So, the first question is (finally) how do > I change the default order of booting to the one that I want? Grub2 uses a more complicated configuration than Grub1 did. So much so, that it's no longer recommended to modify that directly yourself any more. Instead, the file (grub.cfg) is generated by invoking "update-grub" which will read: /etc/default/grub (for general configuration parameters), /etc/grub.d/* (for generating the various menu entries) and the output of the "os-prober" command (for discovering other operating systems on your system). I'm also not sure why you have entries for Debian 6.0.5 and Debian 6.0.4 in your menu, if you have only one Debian install, but it might be os-prober being over-eager in its detection. If you can live with a little clutter, the extra entry does you no harm. Changing the ORDER of booting in Grub2 is difficult, but can be done if you need it. As an alternative, though, I can offer the ability to change which menu entry is the default? For that, look in /etc/default/grub. Change the "GRUB_DEFAULT" entry to the number of the entry you want to boot by default (bearing in mind that counting starts from zero). > > Next problem. After I selected the primary master HD for the new > installation, the installer only found the one HD and ignored the > others on the system. The default fstab is: > [cut] > > Now, if I hadn't been gun shy before about modifying the OS before, > I certainly am now. > > My second question is that I would like comments about how I think > (dangerous that) I should edit fstab: > > The entries that are already there I would leave alone. I did check > and there are entries in /dev for the other partitions on the HD's > > /dev/sdb1 /sdb1 ext3 defaults 0 2 > /dev/sdc1 /sdc1 ext4 defaults 0 2 > /dev/sdc2 /sdc2 ext4 defaults 0 2 > /dev/sdd1 /sdd1 reiserfs defaults 0 2 > /dev/sdd2 /sdd2 reiserfs defaults 0 2 > /dev/sdd5 /sdd5 reiserfs defaults 0 2 > /dev/sde1 /sde1 ext4 defaults 0 2 > /dev/sde2 /sde2 ext4 defaults 0 2 > > I'm particularly not sure about the last two entries on each of the > new lines. They all look fine to me, assuming that you're happy with the naming of those mount points. You might want to create, say /opensuse-root, /opensuse-usr or whatever to make it easier to find things. You might also want to consider "defaults,noauto" or "defaults,ro" as a safety measure, if these have other operating systems installed on them. But it does depend on what you plan to do with them. > > With apologies for my long windiness, I will appreciate the help > that I'm sure that I'll be receiving. > > Thanks in advance. >
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