topic title: AntiX 13.2 and grub customizer
Posts: 5
thecomputerdoctor
Joined: 06 Oct 2014
#1
Hi and nice to meet you AntiX people (greetings anticapitalista!), I have an old packard bell igo laptop with an AthlonXP 1600+, 352MB RAM and a new 160GB IDE HDD. and the will to experiment with it! I though to give it some life so I first installed Lubuntu, AntiX and Bodhi (Bodhi on extended partition). Really liked AntiX but wanted to put Tiny 7 on its partition since it was a primary one, just to see how would it work. I then installed AntiX on a second extended partition with the mbr option disabled to find that it simply reboots my laptop when ever I select it from the grub2 menu Lubuntu has (found by os-prober on grub customizer). I installed it once more on a third extended partition of the disk with the mbr option enabled to rewrite sda but after restarting I got a grub error 15. So I resc-a-tux back the mbr of Lubuntu, but I just can't boot AntiX... please help save AntiX on this laptop.
I just want it to be the main os of this laptop, but I would also like a grub2 menu with a photo

Also, if you like pls propose any other distros to put in there!

edit: adding an entry through EasyBCD 2.2 on Tiny 7 grub4dos 0.4.5c seemed to do something, but inconsistent data reads gave an error 15 again...

edit2: my english suck...
Posts: 4,164
rokytnji
Joined: 20 Feb 2009
#2
When you installed AntiX. Did you tell grub to install to root instead of MBR?
It sounds like you said no when it asked to install grub or you pointed grub install to the wrong location.
On the live cd. It is possible to repair grub if using the full iso cd.


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=MEPIS_System_Assistant"
linktext was:"http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php? ... _Assistant"
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Just tell grub to install to root partition. Then run update-grub in root terminal. Then boot your grub2 distro controlling booting. Run sudo update-grub in it.
It shold find the AntiX entry in /boot/grub./menu.lst. Add to toi grub2 config. And just work.

At least that has been my experience letting grub4dos or grub2 control boot on multiboot systems with AntiX.
Posts: 5
thecomputerdoctor
Joined: 06 Oct 2014
#3
hi and thanks for your prompt reply! i made 2 installations of antix one on sda7 one told grub not to install and one on sda8 where, yes, i told grub to become a mbr and overwrite everything. sda7 never booted (normally i assumed), while after restarting sda8 gave me an error 15. sda6 is the first extended partition of the hdd and has bodhi working normally.
The funny thing is that after installing this damned tiny 7 (wouldn't install on a extended partition only on a primary one) i think i lost antix...
does it make a difference if you install antix on a primary partition or an extended? i think it doesn't/shouldn't...

anyway I did sudo update-grub on lubuntu sda1 but didn't change a thing...

i will change the mbr again using resc-a-tux and point it to the sda8... then try to sudo update-grub.
Posts: 4,164
rokytnji
Joined: 20 Feb 2009
#4
does it make a difference if you install antix on a primary partition or an extended? i think it doesn't/shouldn't...
No. Does not make a difference. Reading your post. You are flying blind trying to multiboot.
I used to fly blind myself. So know how it feels. It is the only way I learn. Poke and Hope.

Anyhows.
antix one on sda7 one told grub not to install
Tell grub to install to root. Not MBR. on /dev/sda7.
i will change the mbr again using resc-a-tux
Ok. As long as one bootloader on MBR to rule them all (Hobbit Quote). Then all other boot loaders get installed to root.
Keep plugging away at it and you might get lucky yet.

So far the only problem is operator error and I have plenty of experience sitting in that chair myself. __{{emoticon}}__
Posts: 5
thecomputerdoctor
Joined: 06 Oct 2014
#5
rokytnji wrote:
So far the only problem is operator error and I have plenty of experience sitting in that chair myself. __{{emoticon}}__
true, true __{{emoticon}}__
Posts: 667
jdmeaux1952
Joined: 01 Nov 2013
#6
A computer is only as smart as the programmer.
Operator errors
account for over 98% of all errors. And most of those errors are from not fully understanding what you WANT the computer to do.
Posts: 5
thecomputerdoctor
Joined: 06 Oct 2014
#7
greetings jdmeaux. hmmm... earlier i ran a third antix installation and i noticed gparted popped something about rebooting if you are going to make a new partition. this is a step i didn't do by error in the previous 2 installations. so i did it and then i got a grub error 18. But not an error 15 (that's something) so i then read rokytnji post and did once more the installation when i noticed that you can uncheck the mbr option (didn't see this earlier, but I dig it!) so I did this, boot with lubuntu edited grub customizer and .....
...........
............
voila.... no error this time but the laptop just rebooted to the grub2 menu again .... man this is intriguing! I will try to sort it out and post back!
Posts: 4,164
rokytnji
Joined: 20 Feb 2009
#8
You are getting close. Unchecking MBR was your Eureka moment.
Like I said. Poke and Hope.
When you recieved the lubuntu grub menu.
Boot into Lubuntu like you would normally do.
Then open terminal and do

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub
Look for AntiX and Tiny Core to print out in the readout inside of terminal.
If you get it. Then reboot. Tiny Core and AntiX shou;ld show up in Lubuntu grub menu list.
To get the lubuntu grub menu list to display.
Hidden

Normal Hidden Operations Enabled:
No menu entries are displayed. The splash screen, if configured, will be displayed.

The time the screen remains blank but available for display is determined by a setting in /etc/default/grub (GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT)

GRUB 2 can display a countdown timer to provide visual feedback on the time remaining until the default selection is chosen. The timeout setting is enabled in /etc/default/grub (GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET)
The user may display the menu by pressing any key.
Once the menu displays, the GRUB_TIMEOUT counter begins. Pressing any key stops the countdown.

If no key is pressed by the end of the timeout the default entry determined by settings in /etc/default/grub will be selected.
Hidden Menu Operations Not Expected (Abnormal):
The user may be able to display the menu in one or more of the following ways:
Holding down the SHIFT key early in the boot process until the menu displays.
GRUB 2 searches for a depressed SHIFT key signal during boot. If the key is pressed or GRUB 2 cannot determine the status of the key, the menu is displayed.
Pressing the ESC key during a 3 second window as GRUB 2 runs.
From:
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url was:"https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2"
linktext was:"https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2"
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Posts: 667
jdmeaux1952
Joined: 01 Nov 2013
#9
Observations from my own experiences.

Most versions of Linux (especially versions of Ubuntu) have a tendency to automatically write their version of the grub menu to the MBR, even if you have another already written there. Modifying this can be a PITA to correct. But as roky says, going to a terminal and doing

Code: Select all

update-grub
will usually include all the versions of Linux you have on your drive. This usually isn't a problem unless you want a particular grub menu written to MBR.

My laptop has MX-14 as the primary Linux with several"experimental" versions of antiX on different partitions. I tinker with various versions of Linux just to examine them (and to help explain them to others). My preference is to KEEP the grub menu written by MX-14. But when some other version of Linux overwrites the MBR, I have a disk called"Boot Repair"


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair-cd/home/Home/"
linktext was:"http://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair-cd/home/Home/"
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that I use to get rid of the"offensive" grub menu so I can re-install my MX-14 grub menu. It actually works best AFTER I uninstall the Linux version I don't want. (To date, I have tried about 42 different versions of Linux, but have stuck with antiX and MX-14 as my mains.)
Posts: 5
thecomputerdoctor
Joined: 06 Oct 2014
#10
it was an hdd problem on the packard bell machine after all - I have successfully installed AntiX in all my pcs...
big thanks to you guys for your support and all who help building and maintaining such a great distro!

btw, is there a code that fixes hdds? __{{emoticon}}__
Posts: 850
fatmac
Joined: 26 Jul 2012
#11
thecomputerdoctor wrote:...btw, is there a code that fixes hdds? __{{emoticon}}__
Yes - dd, /dev/zero & fdisk usually give me back mine. __{{emoticon}}__