Partitioning, home desktop, Fedora Core 6
Hi,
I would like to try Solaris 10 on my home desktop Dell PC.
I have 2 hard disks with 80GB each. I am using WinXP as well as Fedora Core 6. Fedora uses ~30GB on the 2nd hard disk.
I would like to delete the Fedora installation and use this space for Solaris. I read the "Installation How-To" on http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/howtoguides/installationhowto.jsp but I am unsure about how I should partition the space.
Fedora uses the following partitioning:
/dev/hdb2 586M 324M 231M 59% /
/dev/hdb3 289M20M 255M7% /boot
tmpfs505M0 505M0% /dev/shm
/dev/hdb8 15G 505M13G4% /home
/dev/hdb6 9,5G 211M 8,8G3% /opt
/dev/hdb9 775M17M 719M3% /tmp
/dev/hdb5 9,5G 2,0G 7,1G 22% /usr
/dev/hdb7 1,9G 119M 1,7G7% /var
I just would like to obtain an overview of Solaris 10 and would like to code in Java. No server installation or the like.
Are ~30GB enough? Which partitioning scheme should I use? What do you suggest? Where can I find more information about this topic?
Thanks!
Edit: I already found some more information on the Sun website: /, /swap (512MB) and /export/home should be ok for a standard Solaris installation... right?
Message was edited by:
SFL
[1271 byte] By [
SFLa] at [2007-11-27 4:01:47]
# 1
First of all, Solaris should be installed on single partition (as seen by "fdisk"), which is divided by Sol installer into "slices". This partition should be tagged as "bf".Next - more info can be found in the post by Jags_Fl - April 7 on this forum.Good luck!
# 2
Thanks for your reply! Hadn't enough time to install Solaris up to now...Is it enough for a desktop installation to create://swap and /export/home (or just /home?)?
SFLa at 2007-7-12 9:06:32 >
# 3
In the principle - yes, these 3 slices are sufficient. However due to security and ease of upgrading creation of more slices is recommended. During installation, even after selection of manual partitioning (into slices), installer presents quite reasonable suggestions. It is advisable to allot more space for root slice (/) or to create /opt slice, if You plan to install StarOffice or SunStudio (compiler package). It seems that ca 3 GB space for /opt will suffice in this case.
Good luck!
# 4
Thanks for your help :)
I installed Solaris today, installation was easy and successfull. However, I can't start Solaris because GRUB (or another boot manager) hasn't been installed.
I installed Solaris into the 2nd partition of my 2nd HDD. It's a Dell Dimension 8300 machine, I can select my 2nd HDD to boot from but then I get a "BAD PBR sig" error.
How can I start Solaris? Do I have to re-install it? Can I install GRUB somehow?
Thanks again! :)
SFLa at 2007-7-12 9:06:32 >
# 5
GRUB has been already installed on Solaris partition. Try following procedure:
1. Disable (BIOS) first disc.
2. Include second (now the only active) disc into boot sequence.
3. Make active Solaris partition (fdisk).
After these steps GRUB installed by Solaris should take control during boot proces.
In the case of positive result of this test, You should reconfigure GRUB (simple modification of text file and reboot) including the OS installed on the first disc. Otherwise, You have the option to install GRUB in the MBR of first disc.
# 6
How can I make the Solaris partition active? Point 1 and 2 are no problems; however, I can't boot from the 2nd HDD since I have the following partitioning scheme: 2nd HDD:40GB WINXP NTFS (partition 1), 40GB SOLARIS (partition 2)Should I change the partitioning
SFLa at 2007-7-12 9:06:32 >
# 7
I hope that Solaris has been installed in primary partition.
Next:
Making a partition active is easily performed with the aid of "fdisk". Personally I use Linux rescue CD (I hope that as experienced Linux user You have one handy), boot the computer with it and start "fdisk". "fdisk" command "a" (called "toggle a bootable flag" - if I remember precisely) should switch off booting from Win partition and next - switch on Solaris partition.
Good luck!
# 8
I started a Ubuntu Linux 6.10 LiveCD and looked at the partition table using fdisk:
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hdb: 81.9 GB, 81964302336 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9964 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device BootStart EndBlocksId System
/dev/hdb114737380499217 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdb2*4738996441985877+ bf Solaris
Solaris has already a bootable flag. I removed it for testing purposes; the Dell BIOS then says that it can't find a bootable partition. If I enable it I get a "BAD PBR sig" error.
SFLa at 2007-7-12 9:06:32 >
# 9
This disc seems superficially OK. But.... PBR = Partition Boot Record signals some problems with the partition. Try following attack methods:
1. Remove Solaris partition. Restart. Create Solaris partition. Restart. Format it (!!!). Install Solaris using most recent Solaris Express distro. If this approach fails, archivize WinNT and completely rearrange the disc (partitioning, formatting).
2. Use google (keywords: PBR sig) for the search of various recipes for solving the problem. No single solution exists. Above is one, seemingly quite (?) efficient.
Good luck!
# 10
Again the same error... no fun at all: I deleted the two partitions on my 2nd HDD, formatted it and installed Solaris: I created a primary Solaris partition (30GB) and a prim鋜e DOS partition (50GB) in the Solaris installer. After the successfull installation and reboot WinXP started; I did a restart, selected my 2nd HDD to boot from and again got a "BAD PBR sig" error.
Why can I install various Linux distributions (Suse, Fedora, Ubuntu) without any problems and have such a problem with Solaris?
Is there a Windows or Linux tool with which I can have a look into this PBR or can set it to some default settings?
Otherwise I will go with Fedora 7...
SFLa at 2007-7-12 9:06:32 >
# 11
I finally managed it :) I booted from the installation DVD, started into the singel user shell and ran the following command:
/a/sbin/installgrub -m /a/boot/grub/stage1 /a/boot/grub/stage2 /dev/rdsk/c0d1s0
When I boot from my 2nd HDD I get into the GRUB menu where I can select Solaris and Windows :)
Now I just have to change GRUB so that I loads from my 1st HDD...
SFLa at 2007-7-12 9:06:32 >
