can other os be added to grub through fedora?

[sseipel133]

I am going to install fedora along with other operating systems. I have tried this before and failed because I first installed sam linux, then pcbsd, then fedora. I used the sam linux bootloader and added pcbsd and it worked fine. I tried the same with fedora but it didn't work. There were four partitions on the harddrive. One for sam, one for pcbsd, one for fedora /boot, and one for fedora volgroup. I edited the boot loader to add volgroup but when I tried to boot it it would not load. So I went back and replaced it with /boot but the same thing happened. In other words, the first two systems would load but not fedora.

So if I plan ahead so that fedora is the last one and I install it's bootloader, will I be able to add entries for the other two and have them boot properly? It seems like the last time I looked at the fedora bootloader the only option it had was to change the default entry. I don't remember if entries can be added at installation time or not.

Is it normal for fedora to only boot if it's own bootloader is installed and not the bootloader of another os?

If I add something else later, is there some way to add it to the menu? Just going to system-administration-bootloader won't do it.

One last, I hope, question- I have fedora ten. If in the future I upgrade to 11 or 12 will the bootloader and it's menu stay the same?

[scottro]

Grub should have actually been pointing at Fedora's /boot, not the volume group.

If you install Fedora last, it might or might not see some of the other systems--it's good at seeing Windows or other Fedora/RH/CentOS installs, but actually, on various laptops where I"m testing different O/S's , I install it first.

If it doesn't see the other systems, grub has a 0 time out, a poor decision in my opinion. However, as long as it boots properly, that's fine, you can fix it after the first boot. (You'll see timeout=0, change it to 3 or 4.

What I usually do is this. Install Fedora first. Install the next one, and make sure (one usually has to pick advanced options when installing the boot loader) that system2 installs *its* grub in its own partition. (That choice should be offered by most systems.)

Hrrm, not sure what PCBSD does. With FreeBSD, I choose to not install a bootmanager, then, boot it with

(say it's on partition 3)

title PCBSD
root (hd0,2,a)
kernel /boot/loader

Then for sam linux, be sure *it* installs grub in its own root partition. You can then boot it with

root (hd0,3)
chainloader +1

That's if you're install Fedora first. If you do the others, PCBSD should still work the way I've described it. With Sam Linux, I would, if Sam Linux hasn't done it already, symlink its vmlinuz and initd.img. For example, if in Sam Linux's /boot you have vmlinuz-<longnumber> and initrd-<longnumber>.img I would

cd /boot
ln -s vmlinuz-<longnumber> vmlinuz
ln -s initrd-<longnumber>.img initrd.img

Then in Fedora's GRUB, I *think* this will work

title SAM Linux
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/initrd.img

(Not positive about that though.)

This is if you put in PCBSD and SAM Linux first, lettting them put their boot loaders where they will.

[sseipel133]

It turns out that the key is to use the Sam bootloader and add all the others to it. Fedora and BSD bootloaders will detect other systems but not load them.

[scottro]

Whatever works is good.

Seriously, usually folks have one main O/S, and add the other systems to it. Some have versions of grub that are better at detecting other systems. Fedora's isn't that great at detecting other systems, Ubuntu's usually is, as is ArchLinux's.

Glad you got it working.