Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora on one machine

[Parakeet]

Hi, I installed Ubuntu first, then I installed Debian and Finally I installed Fedora. If I remember correctly Fedora's Grub did not include Debian in the list. Then, I tried to install Debian's Grub but it did not see Fedora. Finally, Grub from Ubuntu sees all OSes. But Grub seem's to be updated everytime the updates install a new kernel, and so, Ubuntu's Grub gets replaced by Debian's Grub and I can't choose to boot Fedora anymore. Is there a way I could go about this? Like, preventing Grub from being overwritten or something? Or a way to make sure all OSes appear in each of the Grubs?

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @Parakeet and welcome to linux.org

Pick a Distro and hop into it, and show us your output from Terminal of

inxi -Fxz

If you have any external/portable HDDs, USB sticks, &c, plug 'em in first then run the command.

using the "z" filters out your MAC address/es for privacy purposes, but if you try for yourself

inxi -Fxs

... save the output for a rainy day, comes in handy for eg WiFi when multibooting &c.

I use about 80 Linux - 30 on this one and 50 on another, so I will likely be helping you a fair bit.

But I am also from DownUnder, so my evening comes in an hour and I will be out for the night.

Which Ubuntu, which Fedora, and can I take it it is Debian 9 'Stretch'?

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[Parakeet]

Thank you for your help and sorry for the delay.

I have installed: Ubuntu "Bionic" 18.04 (with KDE), Debian 9 Stretch, and Fedora 29 (LVM partition).

Here is the output of inxi and as you can see this is a pretty old computer:

System:    Host: sc-System-Product-Name Kernel: 4.15.0-39-generic x86_64
           bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.12.6 (Qt 5.9.5) Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS           
Machine:   Device: desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P5B v: Rev 1.xx serial: N/A           
           BIOS: American Megatrends v: 0170 date: 06/27/2006                         
Battery    hidpp__0: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh                                 
           model: Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 status: Discharging
CPU:       Dual core Intel Pentium D (-MCP-)
           arch: Netburst Prescott rev.2 cache: 2048 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 vmx) bmips: 13591
           clock speeds: max: 3397 MHz 1: 3397 MHz 2: 3397 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 8400 GS Rev. 3] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
           drivers: nouveau (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: [email protected]
           OpenGL: renderer: NVA8 version: 3.3 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 NVIDIA High Def. Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-39-generic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIE Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: c800 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:17:31:66:d5:f1
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (2.5% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB temp: 34C
Partition: ID-1: / size: 439G used: 24G (6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 85.0C mobo: 35.0C gpu: 41.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 2678 psu: 0 sys-1: 0 sys-2: 0
Info:      Processes: 218 Uptime: 7 min Memory: 1072.1/1993.1MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @Parakeet , I like the avatar, is that your li'l fella?

Thanks for the output

Pick me up where I am wrong :

You have a 1TB HDD, 2GB RAM, CPU supports 64-bit architecture, 2-card audio Intel-Nvidia, you're running on Ethernet cable, no WiFi. The nVidia graphics card is presenting no problems, and its running on the Nouveau driver provided by our friends at x.org.

There appears to be 439GB available for Linux, and your Ubuntu is allocated a certain portion of that, and there will be perhaps similar amounts for Fedora and Debian.

Sounds like you have Windows 7 or Windows 8, and you've used Windows Disk Management tool to shrink the Windows and it has told you you can shrink it to half the drive, and you have done so.

How am I doing so far?

What we in Australia call a mobile phone you may call a cell phone. Can you take a snap of your Grub Menu as it stands and upload it here? Just boot, move the highlighted entry with an arrow direction key, and you'll have the time.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[Parakeet]

Hi. That system was given to me by a friend after I replaced the PSU. He had it in a closet for a long time since it was no longer working. After I fixed it he told me he didn't want it anymore, I hesitated since it's an old machine but he felt sorry putting it in the garbage and insisted I take it. So I figured I would use it to test different OSes but I didn't want to put to much money on this old machine. I put a cheap Geforce video card in it because Linux didn't like the ATI card it already had. I also replaced the HDD with a cheap 1Tb WD hard drive. So there never was a Windows version on this new HDD, I installed Ubuntu right away. After that I split the HDD into two 500Gb partitions to install Debian, so one 500Gb for Ubuntu and the other 500 for Debian. After that, I split one of the 500Gb partitions in two to add Fedora. But the only Grub that shows all three Linuxes is the one created by Ubuntu so I reinstalled that one using my Ubuntu Live-CD and Boot Repair like explained on a web page I found, But as I've said, whenever Debian updates it's kernel it also reinstall it's own Grub and thus, I can't see Fedora anymore in the Grub menu.

The system has a 1Tb hard drive, 2Gb of RAM, it's 64-bit and has Ethernet and no Wifi. There is one integrated audio card and one Geforce 8400GS video card.and I guess all three OSes use Nouveau as the driver since I haven't installed any driver for that, and all resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 are available even though I selected 720p to make things bigger since i'm sitting far from my TV most of the time. And finally, I think I used the "Disks" software included in Ubuntu and Debian to resize the partitions.

I keep nothing of importance on that machine and I only use it for fun and learning and I am aware that the specs are pretty low but still, all three Linuxes run rather well on it.

I have included a picture of the grub menu that's has been created in Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE Plasma), this is the menu that works well:

 

[Parakeet]

Also, Fedora created an LVM type partition and maybe that's why Debian ignores it when it installs Grub. On the other hand, when installing Grub in Ubuntu I saw a line that mentions LVM in the Terminal.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Gotcha, ta (Aussie for thank you, pron. "tar") for that

I've gotta scoot for my evening but I'll be back on deck tomorrow to take a further look.

It's really quite a good rig to test Linux on

Cheers

Chris

 

[Parakeet]

I thank you very much also and I hope the weather is good for you in Australia. Here in Montreal Canada it's 4 degrees Celsius at this time. I see you tomorrow!