Salix Not Showing in Boot Menu

[TommyBeep]

I have installed Salix on two laptops but neither show me Salix in the bootloader. I know it's my fault but as I'm still a newbie with Linux I can't figure how to get it to work, plus I'm only just learning about bootloaders. Also it is Salix Fluxbox I'm wanting to try and I don't see a Live CD version. I already have Mint XFCE one one machine, and Mint KDE & Archbang! on the other. The laptop with Mint XFCE is a Macbook which uses rEFIT as the bootloader and it shows both Mint and Mac OS X when it boots up. The other laptop uses Grub 2. Both installations went fine it appears and took up 1.73GB in the partition I loaded it on to (I did basic install). Of course both times I declined to install Lilo when instaling Salix becuase as I already had bootloaders I didn't want to complicate matters by adding another, and besides, from what I read Grub 2 is the preferred bootloeder these days. Also I don't know whether Lilo would work on a Macbook and rEFIT hs been great so far. I really want to try Salix on the Macbook as I am thinking of replacing Mint XFCE with it. The only reason I installed it on the second laptop was to see whether it would show up in Grub 2 but am not planning on using it on that. Any ideas what I need to do to get Salix Fluxbox to show in the rEFIT bootloader on my Macbook?

[gapan]

I have installed Salix on two laptops but neither show me Salix in the bootloader...

Of course both times I declined to install Lilo...

Do you not see a problem here?

from what I read Grub 2 is the preferred bootloeder these days.

No, it isn't. Otherwise we wouldn't be using LILO.

Any ideas what I need to do to get Salix Fluxbox to show in the rEFIT bootloader on my Macbook?

Use whatever means you are offered by your bootloader to add Salix to it.

[TommyBeep]

I did make it clear that I'm a Linux Newbie. I come froma Mac world where I have had no dealings with bootloaders except just recently when I put rEFIT on and Mint showed up in afterwards like a charm. Salix didn't. Salix didn't show up in Grub 2 either. I had assumed that once you have Grub on a computer then each susequent OS you install would show up in the boot menu. It seemed to me that if I already have a bootlader on a machine it is uneccessary to put others on too, which is why I didn't install Lilo. I figure it might cause conflict or some such thing having more than one bootlader. I am unfamiliar with bootloaders because I'm a newbie. To be told "Do you not see a problem here?" isn't helpful, it's smug. Nor is "Use whatever means you are offered by your bootloader to add Salix to it." helpful either. Anyone on the street could have given that advice to me. Thanks a lot. If this is the sort of help that is offered on Salix I'll go elsewhere.

[gaucho]

Hi, TommyBeep,

AFAIK, the Fluxbox edition of Salix 13.37 doesn't have a Live CD; it's only available as an Installation CD.

You're correct that bootloaders can be tricky -- especially in a multiboot scenario, and when one of them is rEFit (which I don't have experience with). I'm sorry I can't offer you a detailed how-to, but it sounds like rEFit has to sync your partition tables after you install a new OS. I found some possible help here:

http://lifehacker.com/5934942/how-to-du ... e-hardware
Henry, Alan. "How to Dual Boot Linux on Your Mac and Take Back Your Powerhouse Apple Hardware." 15 Aug. 2012.
(Scroll down to the section "Let rEFIt Fix Your Partition Tables")

I should probably say also that although I multiboot several Linux distros, my MBR (Master Boot Record) is controlled/managed by GRUB Legacy, the older version of GRUB, rather than the newer GRUB2 bootloader. However, here's my educated guess as to how you might be able to successfully boot Salix ...

I would try installing Salix from scratch again.

First, you'll need to know or write down which partitions you'll install Salix on; there should ideally be a root (/) partition, a /home partition and a Linux swap partition. It's especially important to know the designation of the root partition, because you'll be choosing to install LILO there.

I think you ran into problems because you opted to not install LILO, and I believe that you can remedy the situation by installing LILO to the root partition of your Salix installation. (Please note that you should not choose to install LILO to your MBR. Let the combination of rEFit and GRUB2 continue to do that).

When you reinstall from the Salix OS Installation Disc, one of the later steps in the installation routine involves LILO: "Install LILO". At this stage, the user is offered three choices:

simple -- "Try to install LILO automatically"
expert
skip

I recommend the "simple" option because I found the "expert" too complicated (I was totally confused by its configuration options). After selecting the "simple" option, you will be presented with a step called "Select LILO destination", which also has three choices:

root -- "Install to superblock (not for use with XFS)"
floppy
MBR

The "root" option will install LILO to your Salix root (/) partition, which allows GRUB on your MBR to continue controlling a multiboot setup. Do not install LILO to your MBR.

When the installation finishes, you can reboot and either (a). let rEFit try to fix your partition tables, or (b). boot into Mint and auto-update GRUB2 from there (by running the

Code: Select all

$ sudo update-grub

command from a Terminal. This will hopefully allow GRUB2 to pick up/recognize Salix).

If the rEFit update doesn't find or add Salix to your main menu, I'm guessing it may be possible for your to boot up Salix from Mint's GRUB2 menu ...

If the GRUB2 update fails to add Salix, you will have to manually add a new GRUB stanza for Salix. You can see a couple of examples (which you'll have to modify to match your specific setup) in the forum thread below:

http://www.salixos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3283
"Can't find kernel or initrd files." 12 Mar. 2012.
(Scroll down to post #4 in thread)

HTH and Good luck to you.

[TommyBeep]

gaucho

Thank you very much for the reply it, that is excellent information and even makes sense to me! Hopefully I can get around to reinstalling Salix tonight. I've been interested in trying Slackware or a variation of it and came across Salix. I used the Live KDE CD which I really liked but I need something using less resources for my old Macbook, and after watching a YouTube video of the Fluxbox version I figured it would be a good choice. Looking foward to getting it up & running.

Cheers!

[VastOne]

Excellent How To and walk through gaucho, thank you for that!

[gaucho]

TommyBeep and VastOne,

You're both very welcome. Since you are new, I'd like to point out a couple of resources which you might find useful to read: the Salix Startup Guide (for version 13.37) and a tutorial on GRUB 2 (in case you're multibooting and GRUB 2 is controlling your MBR).

http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/S ... rtup_Guide
Start up guide for Salix OS 13.37. (available in both PDF and HTML)

Igor Ljubuncic (aka Dedoimedo) has a nice introduction to GRUB 2 which isn't overly technical:

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/grub-2.html
Dedoimedo. "GRUB 2 bootloader - Full tutorial."

@TommyBeep,

Please be patient ... It may require some trial and error to get Salix booted up on your Mac OS system. What I think may work, may not work so well in reality. If I had a dime for every mistake and misstep I've made in Linux, I'd be a multimillionaire. Linux's initial learning curve can be a bit steep; however, IMHO, it's worth it.

If you run into more trouble, please post back and someone will try to help you. I don't have experience with Fluxbox, but I imagine there are folks here who are familiar with it. An alternative DE (Desktop Environment) you might also consider for your old Macbook is LXDE. LXDE doesn't have all the bells and whistles of KDE (or even Xfce) but it works well. I have Salix 13.37 LXDE installed on my desktop PC and it has been a rock-solid performer.

[TommyBeep]

gaucho

Your instructions and links were great (I have already come across the Dedoimedo article) and I reinstalled Salix and go it working. There is a slight hiccup in booting up but I can live with for now and will attempt to sort it out later. What happens is that the machine boots up into rEFIt as usual and gives me the option to choose Mac OS or Linux but it only has one option for Linux. After I choose Linux the Grub menu appears giving me the option for all three operating systems on the machine and from there I can boot into Salix. So now I have two bootloaders showing up as I had suspected might happen! Still, it's a minor inconvenience and I have Salix running which was my goal.

Also, after seeing a few avatars of dogs on the board including the really cool looking dog of yours I have put my onw avatar up of my awesome doggie friend Cooper.

[gaucho]

TommyBeep,

You're welcome. I'm relieved that my semi-educated guess allowed you to boot up Salix OS. (I wasn't sure if it would work). From what you describe, it sounds like a chainloader setup: rEFIt is making a handoff to GRUB 2, which is in turn handing off to LILO, so that Salix can boot. I don't know how to fix things so that rEFIt will show you both Linux options initially ... It's great, though, that GRUB 2 recognized Salix.

So you can start exploring -- and asking more questions. My best advice is to be patient, take small steps and not expect to learn everything overnight ... it will take some time. Also, try not to panic when stuff breaks (easy to say when things are running smoothly, harder to remember when you're under pressure ) There are Linux gurus around who can probably help you solve your problem.

I've been doing some reading about rEFIt and found a few sources which might be useful. (You may have already seen these yourself).

General Background:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Macte ... stallation
Mactel Support Team / Apple Intel Installation.

-----

Do a Google search for:

"Intel Mac Triple Boot" [PDF file]
by a sysadmin named Ashley from the U of Western Australia (csse.uwa.edu.au)
Last Updated: 25 Feb. 2009.

On resyncing your system partitions:

http://tech.its.iastate.edu/macosx/how- ... boot.shtml
Klein, Patrick. "How to Setup a Triple Boot Mac." 14 Nov. 2012.

See step # 5:

Reboot and select the Partitioning tool from the rEFIt menu. If it asks you if
you want to sync your GPT and MBR partitions choose yes. If you make any changes
to your system's partitions you will want to run the Partitioning tool again.

-----

http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/c2s2_startos.html
rEFIt Documentation. "Starting an Operating System: Using the rEFIt menu."

Hope to see you around the Salix forums.

P.S.
About our dog: She's a German Shepherd mix named Precious, whom we adopted from a shelter three years ago. She's now about 7 years old. My son picked her out; I was afraid she was too big for him to handle, but she's turned out to be the best dog ... Smart, calm personality, big-hearted, loves air conditioning, watching (not chasing) squirrels and going for walks.