SOLVED ¬ dual boot: Mint 64bits besides Ubuntu 32bits?

[mayid]

Is it possible to share two distros but one being 32bits while the other being 64bits?

Nowadays i have Ubuntu 11.04 (32bits) installed, with my /home file in a separated partition. I'd really like to install Mint now. Is this straight forward?

So, having two distros, would you discourage to share the same /home files?

And finally, is there a change to install Linux Mint 64bits instead of 32bits? Would i be able to easily share files between both?

Thanks in advance.

[Aging Technogeek]

Installing Mint beside Ubuntu should not be much trouble even if you originally installed Ubuntu to the entire hard drive. There are several ways to do it, the easiest being to choose the "Install beside existing OS..." option on the Installation Type page. That way, the installer will shrink the Ubuntu partition and put Mint in the space freed up. If you need assistance installing Mint, just ask and someone will be there fairly quickly.

I would not use the same /home for both Ubuntu and Mint, even if they were both 32 bit. There are a lot of hidden configuration files in /home that could cause problems if Ubuntu and Mint tried to share the same partition (click "View"in the upper left of the /home folder page, then click "Show hidden files" to see them). Even using one /home for two Mint installations is not recommended unless you use different uesr names in the two OS.

You can mix 32 and 64 bit OS one one computer with no problems. As far as data sharing, the 64 bit OS will be able to use most or all of the 32 bit data. Unfortunately it does not work both ways. 32 bit OS can not read or use data in a 64 bit format. I normally have a mix of 32 and 64 bit OS on my computer(s) and the solution I found was to keep all of my data in a separate partition in 32 bit form and symlink it into each OS from there. All OS have access to the data they need.

[mayid]

Great! That's encouraging. Many thanks. I'll go for the 64bits installation and experiment a bit about file sharing.

Kind regards,
Mayid

[mayid]

I'm on Linux Mint 64bits now

I installed side-to-side with Ubuntu but i'm missing the option to choose between one and other when booting. Also, i have Windows in a separated hard drive and i'd like to have it as an option, as it were in Ubuntu. What should i do?

[xenopeek]

Usually, running the following from the terminal will fix that:

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

[mayid]

Thanks. That detected the other OS in the machine, but only in the console. I mean, when i restart the computer the grub (or whatever) menu isn't there.

Do this have something to do with menu.lst? When updating Mint (after install) it warn me about a modified menu.lst file, if i remember well, and i preferred to overwrite the existing file

Searching here and there i found Grub Customizer: https://launchpad.net/grub-customizer
I put my hope on it. However i don't know how to use it yet.

[mayid]

Mh... Using the mentioned soft solved nothing. But there's a strange behavior when rebooting the computer anyway. My monitor says "Signal out of range" for a while. Could this be related to the grub menu not being able to display itself? This message stays for about 10 seconds.

[xenopeek]

Yeah, the signal out of range means the GRUB menu is showing but in a resolution your monitor can't handle. Doh! I should have thought of that...

This should help you fix it: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 30#p521192

[mayid]

Good! That make it!

That can be setted from Grub Customizer also

Cheers!

Ps: What are -pae versions on the grub list? And how can i shrink the options? (i can do this un checking options in the GUI, but there must be a parameter to display only last kernel option)

[xenopeek]

You can uninstall older kernels, though I suggest you don't and keep them for any emergency need. Can Grub Customizer not re-order the list? I'm not sure...

The -pae means you have installed that Linux in 32 bits mode, and it is using a feature called Physical Address Extension to make it possible to address more than 4 GiB memory on a machine (normally, in 32 bits mode, you can address a maximum of 4 GiB--the biggest 32 bits number).

[mayid]

Thanks again for the tips.

The Grub Customizer can't reorder the items in the list, as far as i see. But you definitively can select wich options to display and wich one is the default one.

One last comment: i installed Cinnemon because the default desktop was too heavy (but also more fancy). So, my installation is working great and i like Mint much. I'll see how to import the thunderbird configuration. But most than all will look for a way to work in my web proyects directly over the Ubuntu partition. Hope this will not cause troubles because of the 64/32bits difference.

Kind regards,
Mayid.

[Aging Technogeek]

Mayid,

As xenopeek mentioned, if you have the pae kernel in Mint, you do not have the 64 bit version. The pae kernel is only installed with the 32 bit version and then only if the computer has more than 4 GB of ram. To check which version you have installed, go to System Profiler and Benchmark. In the left panel, click on "Operating System". In the right panel, if the kernel is identified as "Linux 3.0.0-xx-generic-pae (i386)", you have the 32 bit Mint. he 64 bit kernel is "Linux 3.0.0-xx-generic (amd64).

On another subject, if you want a shorter boot menu, you can install Burg bootloader by following the directions here to install Super-Boot-Manager

http://www.addictivetips.com/ubuntu-lin ... t-manager/

then use Super-Boot-Manager to install Burg, you will get a boot loader that can look like this.

[xenopeek]

But most than all will look for a way to work in my web proyects directly over the Ubuntu partition. Hope this will not cause troubles because of the 64/32bits difference.

As long as those web projects are scripted, like as in PHP and such, I can't imagine you'll run into trouble from mixing 32 bits with 64 bits OS.

[mayid]

Yes, i was meaning php files and so. Then, as long as i don't compile stuff or something i can use my Ubuntu partition still, and configure my new Netbeans and SVN client pointing to there, sharing those files. COol. Many thanks.

Hope the same could be valid fro thunderbird... Is it?

[xenopeek]

The only stuff that won't work is compiling a binary on a 64 bits system, and trying to run it on a 32 bits system. Everything else works, and data files from applications that run on both 64 bits and 32 bits systems will generally be interchangeable.