Unable to install Fedora 16 beta on 32-bit machine with XP dual boot

[Al Dunsmuir]

On Friday, October 7, 2011, 4:05:11 PM, Stephen wrote:
>On Oct 7, 2011 9:58 AM, "Al Dunsmuir" <al.dunsmuir at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>> Folks,
>>
>> I  have  a  32-bit test machine (Dell GX270, 1TB SATA, 2GB RAM) running XP
>> (SP3)  where  I had successfully installed the Fedora 15 beta last release
>> (500  MB boot, no LVM), and continued to use (in GNOME compatibility mode,
>> the  Radeon  7500  PCI video card not being rich enough for the full GNOME
>>
>> Surely my experience is not typical?  Suggestions anyone?
>> Al

>Your experience is not typical because your use case is not typical. Trying
>to install two linuxes on the same system with different boot loaders is not
>standard and prone to break.
>
>My guess is that 16's grub2 and 15's grub1 are antagonistic

Not  everyone  uses  VMs, or dedicated hardware for testing.

In  all  previous  Fedora  beta  testing,  it  has  been  a well supported
scenario.  Install  your  beta on new partitions with a custom layout, and
replace  the existing grub with the new grub.  Edit the grub configuration
files, et viola!

I could deal with setting up a separate grub to chain load the F15 boot.

I could even deal with grub2 wiping out the F15 /boot setup, and requiring
new table entries.

What I can't deal with is the F16 install having NO IDEA how to handle the
old F15 grub setup, and refusing to continue even when the resource it has
asked for (but should not need) has been put in place.

If  the  F16  install can not deal reasonably with an existing F15 grub we
have  a  very bad situation. Remember, in the last iteration that F15 grub
in the MBR is all that remains of the previous Fedora install.

I would expect the F16 grub2 setup to offer to wipe out the existing grub1
in   the  MBR,  and  and  as  part of that grub2 find and hook in the boot
for the XP partition.

I see a few ways out:
- Do  a  non-LVM  install that takes all of the now free space, and then
  shrink that down with another partial iteration.
- Install Ubuntu (which uses grub2 and had no issues with replacing grub1)
  with a custom layout, and then install the F16 beta over top of that.
- Give up trying to beta test F16, wait for GA and hope for the best.

Not  too  long  ago,  dual  boot  with  Windows  was  a primary vector for
introducing folks to Linux. Now that seems forgotten (or ignored).