How to Create Dual-Booting System

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have just started out using Linux (Ubuntu) and I basically know nothing about this operating system!

I currently have Ubuntu 10.04 LTS installed on my PC. The details of how it got installed I cannot explain… I installed it on a HD that was not partitioned and I accepted all the defaults that Ubuntu suggested. So as far as I know right now Ubuntu “owns” the whole HD.

I now would like to create a dual-boot system by installing openSUSE 11.3 alongside Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. By reading things here and there, my guess is that I need to create a partition for openSUSE by shrinking the one for Ubuntu. But I am really not sure.

So I downloaded the CD version (GNOME) only of openSUSE, launched the installer and the process came to the following suggestions which is basically all Greek to me:

 * Delete partition /dev/sda1
 * Create root volume /dev/sda1 with ext4
 * Create volume /dev/sda3 for /home with ext4
 * Use /dev/sda5 as swap

As I said before, what I would like to do is install openSUSE side-by- side with Ubuntu and create a dual-boot system. I do not want to delete Ubuntu! I got scared by that “Delete partition /dev/sda1” thing mentioned above and so I aborted the installation.

What is the installer suggesting? Has it realized that I already have Ubuntu installed and that I want to create a dual-boot system? Is there anyone on this forum armed with lots of patience that can explain to me the details of what to do?

2

Boot ubuntu and open a terminal
Paste this in there with your mouse: sudo fdisk -l

Post result here please

3

Here we go:

Disk /dev/sda: 30.7 GB, 30735581184 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3736 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000e5c97

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 3577 28730368 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 3578 3737 1282049 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 3578 3737 1282048 82 Linux swap / Solaris

4

But you only have a 30GB disk

If I were you I would leave this alone. If you want another OS installed I suggest you add a Bigger HD and start over or add an additional HD and install to that.

5

Yes, I only briefly want to install openSUSE side-by-side with Ubuntu to see which one I prefer. After a while I would delete one or the other.
Surely there must be a way to set up a dual-boot system even if the HD is smallish. (Right now, I do not have the funds for a bigger HD or better PC…)

Should I accept openSUSE’s default installation suggestions as I outlined them in my initial post?

6

Should I accept openSUSE’s default installation suggestions as I outlined them in my initial post?
Hell No

You need to get Parted Magic and shrink sda1 to create space

But first tell us how much space is there remaining on sda1

7

The command for checking free space on a HD is “df -h”?
Just want to make sure that I will give you a good answer. I am really not a Linux espert…

8

Yes
When in Ubuntu do that and post result

9

Here’s the information:

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 27G 3.3G 23G 13% /
none 497M 280K 497M 1% /dev
none 501M 112K 501M 1% /dev/shm
none 501M 84K 501M 1% /var/run
none 501M 0 501M 0% /var/lock

10

So you are only using 3.3GB of the 27GB on sda1.

Can you backup important files? Ideally you should copy them to a spare HD or a CD-R/DVD-R or flash drive.
Even if you only install dropbox in Ubuntu and put them there.

Then. With Parted Magic (Preferably) But the suse install media can shrink partitions too, shrink sda1 to grab no more than 10GB
Then create a primary ext4 partition in that space. Install suse there (do not use a separate /home). You need to go via the Custom Partitioning. This will show you that route:
Picasa Web Albums - caf4926 - openSUSE 11.2…

11

Thanks for all your help! I am going to work on this project during the weekend. We’ll see what happens…