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Topic: how to pepare 500 GB notebook for a Dual-Boot of Linux and Linux

hello dear community,


how to prepare a  Dual-boot (Linux - and Linux)


it us a bew HP Notebook hp 14 r 103ng  with 500 GB and a Prozessor  N 3450, RAM 4 GB


note: i do not want to install windows at all: i want to have linux.

how: Make Room For Linux - have a new notebook: HP with 500 GB HDD

i want to create system partition to make room for Linux. All is new - and nothing is on the hard drive.

note: i do not want to install windows at all: i want to install opensuse 13.2 as a first system.

And besides this i want to play with other linux-distributions - as a second system.

How to do this - how to prepare the notebook?


what do i need to do else?do i have to take care of Grub2? and furthermore: do i have to edit or configure the bootloader!?

i heard about this procedures:
ce you’ve installed Linux, it will install the Grub2 boot loader to the system. Whenever we boot our computer, Grub2 will load first, allowing us to choose which operating system we want to boot —


Question: do we need to customize Grub’s options, including which operating system is the default and how long Grub2 waits
until it automatically boots that default operating system. Most Linux distributions don’t offer easy Grub2
configuration applications, so one may need to configure the Grub2 boot loader by editing its configuration files.

But first of all - how to prepare the hdd of the notebook?!
Should i do this with Gparted!?



BTW: here some raw and quick measurements of the notebook - a HP Notebook hp 14 r 103ng - Prozessor  N 3450, RAM 4 GB -


martin@linux-vkhz:~> sudo dmidecode -t0
root's password:
# dmidecode 2.12
# SMBIOS entry point at 0x79025000
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
        Vendor: Insyde
        Version: F.39
        Release Date: 05/26/2015
        Address: 0xF0000
        Runtime Size: 64 kB
        ROM Size: 4608 kB
        Characteristics:
                PCI is supported
                BIOS is upgradeable
                BIOS shadowing is allowed
                Boot from CD is supported
                Selectable boot is supported
                EDD is supported
                8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
                Serial services are supported (int 14h)
                Printer services are supported (int 17h)
                CGA/mono video services are supported (int 10h)
                ACPI is supported
                USB legacy is supported
                ATAPI Zip drive boot is supported
                BIOS boot specification is supported
                Function key-initiated network boot is supported
                Targeted content distribution is supported
        BIOS Revision: 15.57
        Firmware Revision: 57.54

martin@linux-vkhz:~> uname -a
Linux linux-vkhz 4.1.12-1-default #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Oct 29 06:43:42 UTC 2015 (e24bad1) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux                                                                         
martin@linux-vkhz:~> sudo parted -l                                                                                                                                                             
Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABF0 (scsi)                                                                                                                                                             
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB                                                                                                                                                                           
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B                                                                                                                                                     
Partition Table: gpt                                                                                                                                                                           
Disk Flags:                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                               
Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name     Flags                                                                                                                                 
1      1049kB  538MB   537MB   fat32                    boot                                                                                                                                   
2      538MB   43,5GB  43,0GB  btrfs           primary                                                                                                                                         
4      43,5GB  496GB   452GB   xfs             primary                                                                                                                                         
3      496GB   500GB   4174MB  linux-swap(v1)                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                               


see some more commands 

]sudo fdisk -l


sudo sfdisk -l -uM


sudo parted -


and the results:


Festplatte /dev/sda: 465,8 GiB, 500107862016 Bytes, 976773168 Sektoren
Einheiten: Sektoren von 1 * 512 = 512 Bytes
Sektorgröße (logisch/physikalisch): 512 Bytes / 4096 Bytes
E/A-Größe (minimal/optimal): 4096 Bytes / 4096 Bytes
Festplattenbezeichnungstyp: gpt
Festplattenbezeichner: 6229C7C4-758C-450E-9D59-F59E2AE3CB11

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048   1050623   1048576   512M EFI System
/dev/sda2    1050624  84951039  83900416    40G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda3  968617984 976771071   8153088   3,9G Linux swap
/dev/sda4   84951040 968617983 883666944 421,4G Microsoft basic data

Partitionstabelleneinträge sind nicht in Festplatten-Reihenfolge.

martin@linux-vkhz:~> sfdisk -l -uM
Absolute path to 'sfdisk' is '/usr/sbin/sfdisk', so running it may require superuser privileges (eg. root).
martin@linux-vkhz:~> su
Passwort:
linux-vkhz:/home/martin # sfdisk -l -uM

Festplatte /dev/sda: 60801 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Einheiten: 1MiB = 1024*1024 Bytes, Blöcke von 1024 Bytes, Zählung
beginnt bei 0

   Gerät  boot. Anfang Ende   MiB    #Blöcke   Id  System
/dev/sda1         0+ 476940- 476941- 488386583+  ee  GPT
                Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (0,0,2) gefunden (0,0,1)
/dev/sda2         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
/dev/sda3         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
/dev/sda4         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
linux-vkhz:/home/martin # parted -l                                                                                                                                                             
Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABF0 (scsi)                                                                                                                                                             
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB                                                                                                                                                                           
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B                                                                                                                                                     
Partition Table: gpt                                                                                                                                                                           
Disk Flags:                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                               
Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name     Flags                                                                                                                                 
1      1049kB  538MB   537MB   fat32                    boot                                                                                                                                   
2      538MB   43,5GB  43,0GB  btrfs           primary                                                                                                                                         
4      43,5GB  496GB   452GB   xfs             primary                                                                                                                                         
3      496GB   500GB   4174MB  linux-swap(v1)                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                                               
linux-vkhz:/home/martin #                                                                                                                                                                       

now i try to find out how to do the first steps with GParted - what do you suggest

2

Re: how to pepare 500 GB notebook for a Dual-Boot of Linux and Linux

If you are preparting to dual boot GNU/Linux, then start by creating the partitions required by the two distros you wish to use.  Next install the first distro and ensure you manually select the partitions for the install.  Then install the second distro again manually selecting the partitions for install.

3

Re: how to pepare 500 GB notebook for a Dual-Boot of Linux and Linux

hello dear gedakc

manymany thanks for the quick answer - this is very very helpful!

Have a great day

4

Re: how to pepare 500 GB notebook for a Dual-Boot of Linux and Linux

Best wishes with your installation.  :-)

5

Re: how to pepare 500 GB notebook for a Dual-Boot of Linux and Linux

great to hear from you! I am very happy.


For an openSUSE hard disk without Windows, I think your advice is apropiate and very very close to a partition setup like this:

0. /dev/sda, Load MBR with Grub
1. /dev/sda1, Primary SWAP (4 GB)
2. /dev/sda2, Primary EXT4 "/" openSUSE Partition Marked Active for booting (36-60 GB)
3. /dev/sda3, Primary EXT4 "/home" Your main home directory (Rest of the hard disk)

well - see below the current setup:  I guess that i have do do some wiping - i will do that with gparted


Festplatte /dev/sda: 465,8 GiB, 500107862016 Bytes, 976773168 Sektoren
Einheiten: Sektoren von 1 * 512 = 512 Bytes
Sektorgröße (logisch/physikalisch): 512 Bytes / 4096 Bytes
E/A-Größe (minimal/optimal): 4096 Bytes / 4096 Bytes
Festplattenbezeichnungstyp: gpt
Festplattenbezeichner: 6229C7C4-758C-450E-9D59-F59E2AE3CB11

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048   1050623   1048576   512M EFI System
/dev/sda2    1050624  84951039  83900416    40G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda3  968617984 976771071   8153088   3,9G Linux swap
/dev/sda4   84951040 968617983 883666944 421,4G Microsoft basic data

Partitionstabelleneinträge sind nicht in Festplatten-Reihenfolge.

the current setup of the HDD is quite very very MS-based. I do not need these Microsoft things any more.

this will get a Linux Machine...  So i use Gparted to get rid all the unnecessary things... - i wipe all - or what do you suggest!?

6

Re: how to pepare 500 GB notebook for a Dual-Boot of Linux and Linux

say_hello wrote:

So i use Gparted to get rid all the unnecessary things... - i wipe all - or what do you suggest!?

Assuming that you have already created and tested a backup all of the data you need from drive, I suggest using GParted to remove all of the partitions.  If your computer uses UEFI (instead of BIOS) to boot, then recreating an EFI System partition is a good idea.  Either that or keep the already existing one.

7

Re: how to pepare 500 GB notebook for a Dual-Boot of Linux and Linux

many many thanks - i will check that out - EFI and UEFI....

First of all i wipe all the windows things...  Is this a good idea!?
BTW- i have no (!!!) absolutly no data on the machine.

so what would you wipe - all most all / everything.


i want to create a Partitionsscheme only for Linux.
i do not want to install windows any more - i want to install opensuse 13.2 (others do not run propperly on the machine)

which partition sheme would you create:

 /dev/sda, Load MBR with Grub
1. /dev/sda1, Primary SWAP (4 GB)
2. /dev/sda2, Primary EXT4 "/" openSUSE Partition zum booten (36-60 GB)
3. /dev/sda3, Primary EXT4 "/home" das home directory (Rest of the hard disk)

...what is on the notebook at the monent is the following

Festplatte /dev/sda: 465,8 GiB, 500107862016 Bytes, 976773168 Sektoren
Einheiten: Sektoren von 1 * 512 = 512 Bytes
Sektorgröße (logisch/physikalisch): 512 Bytes / 4096 Bytes
E/A-Größe (minimal/optimal): 4096 Bytes / 4096 Bytes
Festplattenbezeichnungstyp: gpt
Festplattenbezeichner: 6229C7C4-758C-450E-9D59-F59E2AE3CB11

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048   1050623   1048576   512M EFI System
/dev/sda2    1050624  84951039  83900416    40G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda3  968617984 976771071   8153088   3,9G Linux swap
/dev/sda4   84951040 968617983 883666944 421,4G Microsoft basic data

Partitionstabelleneinträge sind nicht in Festplatten-Reihenfolge.

martin@linux-vkhz:~> sfdisk -l -uM
Absolute path to 'sfdisk' is '/usr/sbin/sfdisk', so running it may require superuser privileges (eg. root).
martin@linux-vkhz:~> su
Passwort:
linux-vkhz:/home/martin # sfdisk -l -uM

Festplatte /dev/sda: 60801 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Einheiten: 1MiB = 1024*1024 Bytes, Blöcke von 1024 Bytes, Zählung
beginnt bei 0

   Gerät  boot. Anfang Ende   MiB    #Blöcke   Id  System
/dev/sda1         0+ 476940- 476941- 488386583+  ee  GPT
                Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (0,0,2) gefunden (0,0,1)
/dev/sda2         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
/dev/sda3         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
/dev/sda4         0      -      0          0    0  Leer
linux-vkhz:/home/martin # parted -l                                                                                                                                                            
Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABF0 (scsi)                                                                                                                                                            
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB                                                                                                                                                                          
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B                                                                                                                                                    
Partition Table: gpt                                                                                                                                                                          
Disk Flags:                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                                              
Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name     Flags                                                                                                                                
 1      1049kB  538MB   537MB   fat32                    boot                                                                                                                                  
 2      538MB   43,5GB  43,0GB  btrfs           primary                                                                                                                                        
 4      43,5GB  496GB   452GB   xfs             primary                                                                                                                                        
 3      496GB   500GB   4174MB  linux-swap(v1)                                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                                                              
linux-vkhz:/home/martin #    

note: i want to wipe all windows things - How to do that with GPARTED

would love to hear from you

8

Re: how to pepare 500 GB notebook for a Dual-Boot of Linux and Linux

You're partitioning scheme looks good to me.  To remove Windows with GParted, delete the partitions containing Windows (NTFS).