Installing LMDE side by side with LM10-WIN7 dual boot

[JaguarNight]

Hi all,

my current setup:
newer laptop
single hard drive
dual boot: LM10 | Win7

My plans is to install LMDE as 3rd OS,
to check it out and if all is well then I will stick with LMDE and remove LM10,
leaving LMDE and Win7 as backup.

Questions about installing LMDE next to LM10 | Win7:

1. anything special about installing or running LMDE next to LM10 | WIN7 , partitioning, etc...?

2. anything I have to be aware of during installation in this case?

3. since I have GRUB2 already installed , ***do I have check [x] grub2 during the installation*** or not?
How to best proceed with grub setting during the installation ?

Any help or pointers is much appreciated !

JN.

[wayne128]

1. anything special about installing or running LMDE next to LM10 | WIN7 , partitioning, etc...?

Just normal method of creating a new partition for LMDE will do

A few things I found about LMDE,
1. Hibernation does not work, you need to do something on enable SWAP and /etc/fstab
2. Networking with existing windows/linux OS does not work like Mint10, you can follow altair4 tutorial to set up if you need to share files with other local area network
3. Mint-Menu 'search' would hang up if certain strings are typed like rar, etc,, there are a few threads on this.
4. Do you have nVidia graphic? if yes then you might need to install nVidia drivers for better graphic.

2. anything I have to be aware of during installation in this case?

If 32-bit, do not use the original iso dated 201012
the respin works well, it is dated 201101
if 64-bit, then 201012 is OK.

3. since I have GRUB2 already installed , ***do I have check [x] grub2 during the installation*** or not?
How to best proceed with grub setting during the installation ?

Yes, you need to check Grub2 to make LMDE bootable.
As you have win/LM, it is easier for you, just select default, or /dev/sda ( which means install Grub2 on MBR of first drive).
Grub2 is able to check the existing OSes ( Windows, LM10) by its os-prober, then it can detect them and provide them with the proper Grub2 commands. At the end of installation you have LMDE, Win, LM10 in your Grub2 start up menu.

[JaguarNight]

Thanks Wayne,
Thanks for the pointers!

If hibernate is not working in LMDE, unless there is a workaround or a fix - it's a very major issue, to the point that's it's not worth installing then, meaning it's not matured yet.
Networking issue is major one as well.

Points well taken, will research the LMDE hibernate problem, if no fix then I will hold off installing till next release.
Still eventually hope to switch LM10 -> LMDE permanently.

Thanks!

[dawgdoc]

My plans is to install LMDE as 3rd OS, to check it out and if all is well then I will stick with LMDE and remove LM10, leaving LMDE and Win7 as backup.

This is definitely possible. I tri-boot with WinXP, Mint 9, and LMDE. They were installed in that order.

1. anything special about installing or running LMDE next to LM10 | WIN7 , partitioning, etc...? .

By this point you will be installing some of the partitions as logical partitions within an extended partition. It would probably do this with Manual (Advanced) partitioning.

2. anything I have to be aware of during installation in this case?.

You will not need to create an additional /swap partition. LMDE can share the one which you already created when you installed LM10. When you designate the current /swap during LMDE installation be sure you do not format the /swap.

3. since I have GRUB2 already installed , ***do I have check [x] grub2 during the installation*** or not?
How to best proceed with grub setting during the installation ?

This is going to take the most consideration on your part. I did not install Grub2 when I installed LMDE. After LMDE was installed I had to boot into LM9 go to a terminal and sudo update-grub. This worked for me. But I intend to keep LM9 since it is the LTS. If I ever remove LM9, I will have to install Grub2 under LMDE. You will be faced with this you decide not to install Grub2 with LMDE and later remove LM10.

On the other hand, if you install Grub2 with LMDE and subsequently decide that you dislike LMDE and proceed to remove it. You will have to restore/reinstall Grub2 under LM10, I think.



Oh, if Win 7 releases a service pack it may well overwrite the MBR, causing you to have to reinstall Grub2. Lesser updates may or may not require this.

EDIT Sorry, for some reason I posted my reply thinking there had been only the original post.

Hibernate does work, at least for me, and has since installation. IF you format your current /swap partition it will cause you issues, probably in LM10. You will need to edit /etc/fstab if you either do not designate a /swap during installation of LMDE or install a separate /swap for LMDE and decide to use the same on that already exists.

[JaguarNight]

Thanks for the pointers again !

After I sort out the backup options to make sure my LM10 partition is 100% save, as well as win7, I will give LMDE a definite try.