Re: buntu kybosh
Lisi Reisz composed on 2016-06-01 00:40 (UTC+0100):
On Wednesday 01 June 2016 00:15:20 Felix Miata wrote:
Lisi Reisz composed on 2016-05-31 18:06 (UTC+0100):
> ...I have just kyboshed the computer I have attached
> to the television by trying Ubuntu MATE 16.04 as a dual boot. I am
> mentally working out the best way at least to make it take a very back
> seat, before I wipe the lot in frustration. And Debian Jessie was just
> working nicely.
Just what constituted the kyboshing? Neither boots?
The word was a little stronger than is totally justified. This is attached to
a television. I want to just turn it on. Ubuntu boots but is unusable, so I
have to hover over it, grab GRUB and get into Debian, because Ubuntu has
kyboshed (=destroyed) Debian's GRUB (of course!!).
That's what *every* Linux installer will do if you do nothing to stop it,
just like Windows will do unconditionally when it doesn't find compatible MBR
code already installed. Had you installed Buntu first, then Debian after,
Debian's installer would have usurped Buntu's Grub.
Anytime anyone wants an additional Linux distro alongside (an) already
installed other(s) on a BIOS system, and you *don't* want the existing
bootloader usurped or otherwise tampered with, you absolutely *must* do
whatever it takes to instruct the installer to *not* put bootloader on MBR -
even if that means installing no bootloader at all.
In most multiboot environments, MBR is the wrong place for a bootloader in
the first place. Bootloader on MBR invites its own destruction in every BIOS
multiboot environment:
https://old-en.opensuse.org/Bugs/grub#How_does_a_PC_boot_.2F_How_can_I_set_up_a_working_GRUB.3F
Since seeing the screen is difficult, and I watch television only when I am
tired, this is tedious in the extreme, and it was working beautifully, all
but Channel 4 replays, before I gave Ubuntu a chance. I thought that dual
booting couldn't do any harm. I had forgotten Ubuntu's ability to do harm
when in my hands. What was that Stephen said about guns and feet. ;-)
When you get a little ambitious, boot Buntu, reconfigure it with bootloader
on / partition, then go into Grub menu next boot and choose to boot Debian.
Reinstall Debian's bootloader back to MBR, and you should be good to go.
Alternatively, as above URL suggests, install Debian's bootloader to Debian
/, install generic MBR code, and mark Debian's / partition active. That way
you'll be booting same as Windows and DOS, as PCs have been booting since two
decades before Grub was conceived, and with a configuration that can be
repaired from a DOS floppy if necessary in little more time than it takes to
boot a floppy or CD.
--
"The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/
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