Hello bullinchinashop, bulldog, gn2 and others,
The 'Alternate' Installations CD has always catered for that, and is the original Ubuntu installer, the only type of installation available for the earlier releases of Ubuntu.
Many people didn't like having so many options, they found it 'confusing', they wanted the install to be simpler, therefore the 'Desktop' Live/Install CD was developed for those people.
The Ubuntu 'Alternate CD .iso is available for each release, downloadable from the same site where you downloaded your 'Desktop CD .iso from. It is quite easy to use, refer to my signature links for some illustrated examples of it's use. It's actually quite straighforward, most people can follow it.
This page
(Click Here) shows how you can choose between Grub or Lilo, or continue without a bootloader at all if you like. Grub can be installed almost anywhere, including to the MBR of any hard disk the user cares to specify. (See figure 10). Lilo can be installed anywhere too. (See figure 13).
If you install with the 'Alternate' CD, (with all your disks plugged in), the installer will have a chance detect your other installed operating systems, and add those to the Grub menu automatically for you. It might automatically mount you other partitions for you in /etc/fstab as well.
It will be less confusing for you in the long run too, as instead of having every disk set up and configured as 'drive C', like an all Windows system, (or all thinking they are 'hda', ignorant of the other disks and partitions in the computer), operating systems on each disk will be set up with thier correct hard drive number.
If you want to see in advance how to later remove Grub from the MBR, I listed quite a few ways on this page, if one doesn't work, you can choose another.
Un-install Page
There is nothing sacred about the MBR, it is made of the same materail as the rest of the hard disk, and can be written to and overwritten as many times as you like. It won't wear out. Grub is easily removed if you no longer need it or decide it isn't working well in your particular installation.
You can use GAG Boot Manager from a floppy disk,
GAG Page
to boot your computer with, or install GAG to MBR, if you wish.
However, it is useful to be aware of the idea of running the installer with the disks unplugged and using the F8 key to boot up with if your particular PC configuration is confusing for the installer and Grub, such as when IDE and SCSI disk are mixed, or when people have a modified computer, with drives plugged in in unique ways. The F8 key idea is a great idea for those installations, and I would like to thank gn2 for thinking of it, realizing it's usefulness, and promoting it, it's a great workaround for some of those tricky situations, so gn2 has done us all a great service by making us all aware of that possibility's usefulness. gn2 really does deserve a pat on the back. =D>
Regards, Herman
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