Puppy Linux Saves the Day
by bergamots
I destroyed the master boot record this morning. This basically turns your computer into a rock. I’m honestly not sure how I managed to do this. I was trying to install Fedora 17 onto one of my many Linux partitions (I currently have 6 of them in addition to Windows – long story). Anyway, when Fedora asked me if I wanted to install a boot loader, I unchecked that option. I didn’t have Slackware install a boot loader, and that didn’t hurt anything. I just booted up (normally) into another system, ran sudo update-grub in the Ubuntu terminal, and it found Slackware and added it to the list of operating systems, no problem. However, Fedora must have done something different, because when I booted up my computer after the install it only showed a black screen with white letters on it: “Error No active partition.”
Luckily, I had Puppy Linux installed to a flash drive, and was able to boot from that. I used this string of commands in the terminal to fix the problem:
| You enter: - – - – - – - – - – grub Computer returns: – - – - – - – grub> You enter: - – - – - – - – - – find /boot/grub/menu.lst Computer returns: – - – - – - – (hd0,7) You enter: - – - – - – - – - – setup (hd0) Computer eventually returns: - Succeeded… Done |
[Source]
And here is another way of doing that: Restoring an Overwritten Grub Bootloader – ignore the random <br /> tag under “Mount the Partition.”
What happens is that each new Linux system you install recreates the boot loader by installing Grub to its own root folder and making its own partition the bootable one. It also puts itself at the top of the operating system list you see when you turn on the computer, and makes itself the default distro to boot into.
I recently learned that, in Ubuntu, you can edit the order of appearance and default systems by installing Grub Customizer. This is a graphical tool that allows you to avoid sudo-editing various little text files. Awesome stuff.
Glad my computer works now.
I avoid all of this by utilising VirtualBox on my Linux Ubuntu desktop. I even was able to install my Windows 7 as a virtual machine so I no longer have to put up with dual boot I just switch desktop workspaces.
I tried using VirtualBox at one point and it really slowed down my computer. When I was testing Linux Mint in a virtual machine and I kept getting messages about how the graphics wouldn’t be fully functional. I guess I need to read more about it and learn how to correctly set one up.
I probably should have asked what kind of processor your computer has. Virtual computing works best with a multi core processor because you will be dedicating at least one core to each operating system. It’s good to have lots of RAM so that you have enough to supply each operating system.
The graphics alert box is often because the host OS might report to VB that it is running as 24 bit even though it is often running as 32 bit, usually, you can ignore it.
If you have the hardware VirtualBox can be real sweet because it can use a shared clipboard & shared folders between the OS’s.
If it’s web servers you like to run you can easily run Linux headless to cut down on the amount of resources used.
I have an Intel Core i3 CPU, M 380 at 2.53 GHz (2 cores, 4 threads). Plenty of RAM though (6 GB).
I’m running a 64-bit operating system on here now, so maybe it will work better with that.
I believe you have enough machine to keep 3 OS’s running at the same time 2 desktops and one headless Linux for a small server.
Ubuntu will work just fine for you though make sure to go to VirtualBox site to get the download because it is often further ahead with patches than the apt repositories.
It’s very important to make sure that you have the least amount of errors & issues with your host OS.
Keep an eye on your startup and shut down to figure out which errors actually need fixes versus watching the logs in too much detail. Sometimes errors in the logs can be false flags for issues that are not really jamming up your actual hardware resources.
I use Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit and windows 7 64 bit and my windows activated easily using the OS serial number from my box label.
I understand people’s issues with using unity because it is a mind shift that eliminates the time waster called “browsing” for files or programs.
I feel that when you gain a good understanding of “the semantic” web you will find that searching the web, sites & your computer becomes much easier and more consistent with where the web & computing is headed for the future.
I recommend that you wo”man up” and learn how the tags(keywords) work in relation to the semantic web it makes Unity so much more understandable and in the end it will speed up ALL of your computing.
BTW I am completely self taught (with grade 8 education) so my posts are “opinion” not necessarily fact…lol.
Thanks for the advice!
You are so welcome.
I very much appreciate being able to assimilate your knowledge of Grub. I will be adding your blog to my “pocket” app for future reference from any of my devices.
What I have learned through computing has mostly been from open source communities and it was free so I feel it is only fair to pass it along.
Please have a most awesome New Year!