Multi-Multi Booting from the Ground Up

Let us know how you go, and then we will proceed further, or fix any glitches.

Done.... but when I log in to LM I get my desktop but nothing works. The LM Welcome screen appears, I can move the cursor but can't open anything.

Update
: after rebooting again this problem seems to have resolved. The shutdown process is still very slow however
 
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From your post #23 - now I see where I screwed up (or was too enthusiastic) with my little experiment on the back up laptop. Anyway, I need to get my LM running again then I can worry about new distros. However, I have a related question. On laptop #1 I have a /boot/efi for Ubuntu MATE on the HDD and a /boot/efi for LM on the SSD. Is that what is preventing me from running LM?
 
Screenshot at 2018-10-04 06-19-49.png


Do I need to delete the /boot/efi partition for MATE?
 
All over the map here (me, not you) but I am confused. How do I get multiple distros to share the same /boot/efi?
 
Yep ... nuke it all? Sorry to sound negative, but the plethora of small fat32 partitions appears to be an attempt to set up a /boot/efi, that is, an ESP ... but they are not.

I had some extra time today and I don't want to mess up what we've done so far on laptop#1 so I did this on laptop #2 after reading your post and doing a bit more research.

Screenshot_20181004_160226.png
Screenshot_20181004_160301.png

I answered my own query about the /boot/efi and although they are all just different Manjaro flavors it seems like I did it correctly...
 
OK so Laptop #2 is looking good, and you can see the difference with the ESP on /dev/sdb1, where it has flags boot,esp instead of mfstdata? That is how it should be, and all sharing the one ESP. :)

If you are going to hold that config for any amount of time, be sure to enable your firewall on each one

Code:
sudo ufw enable

I think they should all have UFW in their Repos, not sure on Budgie, have not used.

If not

Code:
sudo pacman -Syy

#to sync your repos

sudo pacman -S ufw

sudo ufw enable

Have to go for a bit.

On laptop #1

If LM is still freezing, boot into Ubuntu MATE and run Timeshift to take a current snapshot of it. All Timeshift snaps from whatever Distro should be directed to that Timeshift partition on /dev/sda.

When complete, use the most recent incremental or full snap of MATE to reinstall over itself, make sure that Timeshift is going to use the ESP on /dev/sda, not /dev/sdb.

Run the Restore, and that will move Ubuntu MATE to the top of Grub and we can then take a look at Linux Mint.

Cheers

Wiz
 
Eureka! I think I have the “basics” down! I am running into an issue w/ Citrix and a signature key (ran into it before) but I’m going to experiment with using a different method (rather than yaourt) to install Citrix before I give in.

Still having crazy log in and shut down issues with LM. I will Timeshift MATE as you suggested so we can correct that. I guess my next step will be removing the swap partitions off of laptop #1?

I never really set up LM on laptop 1, I set up MATE instead and just did a few things on LM. At this point would it make more sense to start with a clean ssd?
 
Last one first.

Do Debian based systems (Deepin 15.7) play nicely with Ubuntu based systems?

Typically, yes :). Is it the full Distro Deepin or the Manjaro with the Deepin DE? I have the latter on this Dell, and I have the former sharing with 40 other Distros on the Toshiba Satellite. I have not been into the former much, but it seems to be "happy" so far.

I never really set up LM on laptop 1, I set up MATE instead and just did a few things on LM. At this point would it make more sense to start with a clean ssd?

Up to you. If you choose to install LM fresh on the SSD (or any other Distro), that would be quickest. If so, then choose "Something Else" in Ubiquity, or Manual Partitioning in another Distro. Otherwise Ubiquity will install a Swap by default, and likely to the size of your RAM, ie 16GB. Ubiquity may also seek out and find the ESP that is on /dev/sda, currently being utilised by Ubuntu MATE, and use it to boot from.

There are Pros and Cons to this. With two physical drives, if a Distro on Drive B is booting from Drive A's ESP, and Drive A falls over or is removed or replaced, then the Distro will not start without installing an ESP on its own drive, and editing its fstab to reflect same. Vice-versa applies.

If you choose to have an ESP on each drive, then each time you install a Distro to that Drive, you want to choose Something Else, and as a part of that, select the ESP you do not want to use and choose "Do not use this Partition". Otherwise Linux will either try to head for the nearest one available, or try to use them both and get confused.

In the case of starting the SSD from scratch, then, I would best advise you to choose "Something else" or its equivalent by Distro, Then create /dev/sdb1 as your ESP, 300 MiB or so (550 MiB if you ever want to use Solus on that drive, it insists on it), /dev/sdb2 as your Distro's / and go from there. The ESP option in your circumstances will be offered as a choice of /boot/efi and make sure it is FAT. Once created and installed, GParted will reflect it in "flags" as boot,esp.

Cheers

Wiz
 
There are Pros and Cons to this. With two physical drives, if a Distro on Drive B is booting from Drive A's ESP, and Drive A falls over or is removed or replaced, then the Distro will not start without installing an ESP on its own drive, and editing its fstab to reflect same. Vice-versa applies.

If you choose to have an ESP on each drive, then each time you install a Distro to that Drive, you want to choose Something Else, and as a part of that, select the ESP you do not want to use and choose "Do not use this Partition". Otherwise Linux will either try to head for the nearest one available, or try to use them both and get confused.

Could the fact that laptop#1 currently has an ESP on each drive be the source of my issues w/ LM?
 
create /dev/sdb1 as your ESP, 300 MiB or so (550 MiB if you ever want to use Solus on that drive, it insists on it),

You mentioned a while back that there are issues with Solus and multi-booting so I have stayed clear of it.
 
Typically, yes :). Is it the full Distro Deepin or the Manjaro with the Deepin DE? I have the latter on this Dell, and I have the former sharing with 40 other Distros on the Toshiba Satellite. I have not been into the former much, but it seems to be "happy" so far.

Good to know! I just recently started to explore Deepin and I am so far impressed. I put it on to laptop #2 (Manjaro Deepin) and I am leaning toward using the full Deepin distro on laptop#1. I decided, for the time being I am going to avoid mixing Manjaro and Ubuntu/Debian based systems on the same machine. I have the instructions that you provided for solving the kernel panic issue saved for a later date. I ran into an issue with Citrix and Arch based systems yesterday and I have resolved to leave it for another day to solve!
 
Could the fact that laptop#1 currently has an ESP on each drive be the source of my issues w/ LM?

Let's leave Laptop #2 out of the picture for now or else I and The Viewers will just get (more) confused. It should be subject of a separate Thread Ron (lateR ON).

Wizard
 
#66 page 4 might be the issue

7acpRpk.png


That /boot/efi reference should be /dev/sdb1 not /dev/sda1, that is if you populated the SSD sequentially with partitions - sdb1 for ESP, sdb2 for Tara &c.

A glitch with Timeshift that I should have noticed sooner.

You could remedy that by using Timeshift again, if the snapshot is still intact, and make the alteration.

Then we can see how the performance is, there might still need to be a tweak with initramfs images, but first things first.

Wiz
 
I completely missed that! I actually wiped the laptop and started from scratch. Right now I have Mint 19 Cinnamon running solo. As we discussed previously I am experimenting on a different laptop (I now have 4 distros running on it!)
 
Absolutely! I didn't mean to confuse anyone!

Not quite sure how to say this subtly (subtlety is not my middle name), but, Jeffrey I just can't keep up with you. :(:(

You've learned a lot in a short period of time which some might say is enough to make you dangerous, but I am loath to do so, because I remember me 4 years ago :)

I look forward to hearing of your continuing adventures, and through this Thread is as good a place as any, and of course there are a large number of people here besides myself whom are only too happy to help a person in need, should the need arise on your part.

For now, I am going to have to recuse myself from this Thread, to get on with other projects and priorities. Regrets.

But enjoy your Linux, it is worth the efforts, IMO :D:D

Cheers

Wizard
 
Yes, this project definitely went in ways I did not expect it to. I truly appreciate all of your help thus far. I am having a serious issue with laptop #1 and it’s performance (even now that it’s a single OS machine). I had to reinstall multiple times (LM cin) before it would not shutdown spontaneously. Im not using the Nvidia driver (using the open source). It seems to be running now but lags on shutdown. Adding a swap partition seems to have helped prevent the spontaneous shutdowns.

The multi booting is something I will play with on a different machine. You have given me a ton of information through these threads and with that I can experiment.

Thanks again for everything!
 

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