Ubuntu...nice...But some questions remain

[netguardianii]

So I finally finish downloading the Ubuntu ISO from Windows XP and burn it to a CD-R. I try installing it, and it works, I recall that prior to the package installation, Ubuntu partitioned my HD to give itself some space. Once finished, a list of 4 partitions were displayed:

Code: Select all

SCSI1 (0,00,0) (sda) - 80.0 GB ATA TOSHIBA
#1 primary 25.8 GB  ntfs  /media/sda1
#3 primary 15.0 GB  ext3  /
#5 logical 509.9 MB  swap  swap
       logical 34.5 GB  FREE SPACE
#2 primary 4.2 GB  fat32  /media/sda2

The installation proceeds rather quickly from there, but pauses at the grub-installation menu. I'm little more than a neophyte when it comes to Linux, but I do know that I don't want grub on my MBR - rather it ought to be installed on the bootsector of the Ubuntu partition. So here's my question: What is the proper (hd0,?) syntax for installing grub, based on the above information?

I've tried (hd0,5), but that led to XP's refusal to boot up - I see a message, "Invalid Partition Table," and the system halts. I try to start into the IBM Rescue and Recovery, but I get, "No operating system installed." I ended up installing grub into the MBR, and typing this message from Ubuntu. I plan on reinstalling the IBM R&R partition and XP once I get the Recovery CD's from IBM, and dual-booting the latter with Ubuntu - so I'll need to know how to get this done right.

PS: Ubuntu has almost full-support for the T43. Hibernation's a bit shaky, though, and the Fn+F5 combo doesn't change the power status of the wireless radio (it does, however, provide support for the wireless networking).

[carbon_unit]

Why don't you want grib in your MBR? It would allow you to choose between XP and Ubuntu at bootup.
Did you check the MD5sum of the ISO before you burned it? MD5summing is a procedure that ensures that you have downloaded the file without errors. Sounds like you may have some errors with the install hanging at grub installation.

[Edward Mendelson]

I think you wanted (hd0,1) for partition number two for GRUB. You don't need the recovery CDs to restore the MBR - just follow the link that you'll find for the Rescue and Recovery restore diskette that you'll find here:

http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/ubuntubre ... guidelines

[netguardianii]

Thanks a bunch, Ed. You're always quick to rescue me. Unfortunately, I don't have a floppy drive on me right now, so the R&R program won't work for me.

After realizing that neither XP nor the hidden partition would boot, I tried restoring the MBR by restoring my HD to its factory state from the R&R partition (which I booted into using the very first Recovery CD made by the included Windows program by IBM). The thing is, I neglected to remove the CD before beginning the process. Thus, the newly formatted HD contained nothing except a R&R partition (No XP partition) that wouldn't boot up w/o "Supplementary CD's." Big mistake there.

Also, partition #2 in my original post corresponds to the IBM HPA. I think #3 is the one that contains Ubuntu.


carbon_unit: I want to keep GRUB as far away from the MBR as possible so as to retain the functionality of the "Access IBM" key at POST.


So am I to assume that, in general, if the ext3 partition number is "x", with respect to the table given by the Ubuntu installation program, then the appropriate syntax to install GRUB to that very partition would be "x-1"?

[Edward Mendelson]

Everyone with a TP4x needs a USB floppy to boot from now and then. You can get them on eBay for about $20. That's what I used to restore the MBR when I needed to.

I admit that I don't really grasp exactly what happened or why, so I can't help with restoring the disk.

As for Grub syntax, I guess I'd advise very strongly that you use Google to get the details. I more or less *THINK* that your "x-1" idea is right, but I certainly wouldn't write anything to a hard disk before doing a lot more searching. You can easily find tables that explain how to match /hdx and (hdx,y) syntax. Also, it's not clear whether or not you've lost the XP partition after using R&R, and it's very possible that everything will be different when and if you restore it. I'd advise booting from a "live CD" of Linux and seeing exactly what's on the disk.

[mariner]

/dev/sda2 is the recovery partition; the grub notation for it is (hd0,1).

/dev/sda3 is your root partition; the grub notation for that is (hd0,2).

In the traditional "/dev/_d_x" notation partitions are numbered starting with 1; in grub partitions are numbered starting with 0.

Note also that (hd0) and (hd0,0) are NOT the same. The first refers to the entire hard drive (beginning with the MBR) and the second refers to the first partition of the first hard drive (beginning with the partition boot record).

As long as I can grub can see and I can boot from the recovery partition, I don't really care whether I can start rescue with the blue button, but YMMV.

[yossarian]

I'd recommend you check out:

http://tuxmobil.org/ibm.html
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... bf5ebd9e00

I had Ubuntu 5.10 installed by firstly entering the bios, and making sure the predesktop access was set to 'secure' instead of normal.

Then when installing grub, I told it NOT to install in the mbr.

This way I get a working predesktop area for R&R through pressing the Access IBM button and grub is still the bootloader. Everybody is happy.

I haven't managed to get predesktop working through grub, but I heard IBM has a fix for that which I haven't yet tried.

[kaiser]

I haven't managed to get predesktop working through grub, but I heard IBM has a fix for that which I haven't yet tried.

That's not a big deal. For the Bootloader, IBMs PreDesktop is just a Windows 2k/XP look-a-like. You just have to name the right partition and use chainloader. And GRUB will boot into the PreDesktop. (i don't know if this works when the P.D.A. is set to "Secure" i just tried it with "Normal" mode.