sd0 vs hd0; gparted vs grub, multiboot issue

[justmgd]

I followed instructions in the thread: "How to install and boot 145 operating systems". I successfully completed installing grub, but I am really confused about the following:

1) I used the Gparted Live CD to build my partitions. All partitions were shown as part of sda, sd0, sd1, sd2, etc. in the GUI.

2) I then launched the Ubuntu Live CD. The gparted application also showed the partitions as sd0, sd1, etc.

3) So, I created the menu.lst file as follows:

color purple/black red/light-gray
title This is one XP and many Linux booting menu
boot

#sda1 is WinXP

title Windows XP
root (sd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title Open BSD @ sda2
root (sd0,1)
chainloader +1

#sda3 is the data-only partition hosting Grub to boot all other systems

title Return to Master menu
root (sd0,2)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

#sda4 is the extended partition

#sda5 is the common swap partition for all Linux

#sda6 is Fat16 data partition

title WeakNet @ sda7
root (sd0,6)
chainloader +1

title Fedora @ sda8
root (sd0,7)
chainloader +1

title BackTrack @ sda9
root (sd0,8)
chainloader +1

4) Upon reboot, the grub menu came up. When I selected XP, I got an error saying invalid parameter. So, I changed all the sd0 to hd0 and rebooted and it worked.

5) I should have known since when I copied grub to the MBR, I had to use the commands: root (hd0,2) and setup (hd0). I installed grub on partition 3.

But why does gparted show the partitions as sd and grub uses hd?

[saikee]

justmgd,

Welcome to Justlinux!

(hd0) is a Grub's convention. Grub is just a boot loader which must use a numbering system for the hard disks and partitions. Grub has no kernel assistance.

The sda, sdb, sdc etc are hard disk device names used by the Linux kernel, as as sda1, sda2 etc as the partition names for disk sda.

The two are two different conventions referring to the same devices.

As an example MS Windows calls the first bootable partition as "C" drive but it can be in any disk and in any primary partition. It may be sda1 in Linux and (hd0,0) in Grub. Every operating system has its own convention for calling hard disks and partitions. Even the BSDs use different systems among themselves.

[justmgd]

Yes, thank you, Saikee.

That make's sense and I am quite sure that I read that in your previous threads on building a multiboot system. Over 7 year's ago, I managed a FreeBSD web and mail server and used to build dual-homed firewalls using old hardware and again the FreeBSD OS. I then joined a company that was part of the M$ collective and gradually lost most of my BSD/Linux skills. However, as I became more specialized in network security, I again realised that "Linux" was the only practical and logical choice to advance my understanding of network security.

I used the "building a multiboot system with 145 OSs" as my re-entry into Linux. I took an old R40 lBM laptop and used GParted to reduce the size of the default partition and then used Clonzilla to image this partition for backup. As mentioned in my original thread, I then used Gparted to build my partitions. When I am finished with my multiboot system, I will post a condensed, but detailed, "How to" to this site as a way of showing thanks and to once again join the Linux community.

Thank you for your explanation!

[saikee]

justmgd,

We can do with more input from experienced FreeBSD users here.

[Parity Error]

Frustrated! Read alot about multi-boot partitions and the like, but I'm having a problem and I need a solution. a few things before I get started:


I'm not running linux
I know nothing about grub, although I've just read a little.
All of this sounds like 0832er4jasdf;lsdfjweroiu2- to me.

My situation is this. I have a few bootable cds.

Gparted
memtest
MS DOS
(and other CD's)

What I would like to do is to make an image of each bootable CD and put it on a DVD. Then I would like to be able to boot into any of those iso images that I have on the DVD via the same DVD, therefore reducing the stack of CD's that I have laying around (and sometimes having problems finding them).

Could I accomplish this with grub or any other bootloader? How so?
Remember I'm absolutely new at this so you would have to explain this in detail, from how to get mini linux os, how to put grub on it, and then to the most difficult task-- booting multiple iso images stored on the DVD.

Please email me as well as post here. It would be greatly appriciated!

Remember that I'm coming from Windows were everything is done for me. I'm ready to learn how to do things myself.

Thank you very much.

[saikee]

Parity Error,

Welcome to JustLinux.

Can I ask you to start a thread of your own? It helps to get each thread concentrated on one problem.

In the mean time this thread (http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150078) may be of interest to you. You could possibly achieve what you want to do with Gparted Live CD but you need to learn how to use the text terminal (equivalent to the command prompt in MS systems).