I have an existing installation of CentOS 6x 64-bit on my notebook for work purposes and seeing that there are some unpartitioned space available, I would like to install openSUSE 13.2 64-bit.
Before I proceed may I know what are the steps required for me to do before I can install 13.2? I understand that there may be issues with the GRUB2 loader.
Please do advise. CentOS is great but I much prefer to use Geeko for my personal computing - and who knows I might be able to convince some customers to give it a spin.
First of all I recommend a backup of the existing system.
Best would be an image backup.
I any case you should make a copy of the MBR because openSuSE loves to overwrite this one.
Next steps would be dependand on the partitioning scheme you are having at the moment.
Basically openSuSE can install into the unpartitionned space especially if you do the partionning “by hand” instaed of relying on the installer’s suggestions.
You can re use the swap and home note that if you use reuse home use a different user since differences in desktop and other programs could cause a conflict in some config files
So assuming you reuse home you just need a root partition.And you need to decide which OS will control the boot. Eisest is to just let the new OS control but if you want CentOS you will install grub to the openSUSE root partition and NOT to the MBR. Then you need to boot to CentOS and rescan for other OS’s
Note I’m assuming MBR format since the list you gave appeasers to be MBR
If this is an EFI based BIOS then you will need to boot the install media in legacy. If not EFI then forget this line
I agree on re-using the swap partition.
I would not re-use the /home partition as the uids will not match - it seems to be a standalone system without a centralized LDAP user mgnt or so.
It cannot be an EFI System because there is no EFI boot Partition…
I agree that I should not be re-using /home as I would very much like to isolate my personal stuff (e.g. movies, MP3s, photos etc) from my work profile.
So I take it that I would just install openSUSE 13.2 on the remaining space and loader into MBR and it will detect CentOS6 and openSUSE 13.2? Sorry, I need to be slightly long winded on this as I would hate to rebuild.
Just watch the installer and don’t just assume it is correct always double check that the partitioning is set to what you want and not what the installer assumes. You have complete install control so use it.
BTW no reason not to use the same home just use different log ins. But then maybe you do have a business reason to keep them on separate partitions. Up to you.
