installing Ubuntu from under Fedora

[walma]

Hi, I have a laptop having and old version of Fedora OS. It is not possible to boot from USB or LIVE CD. I would like to install Ubuntu to the laptop. How can I do so? Is it possible to do so from hard disk under Fedora? I would be grateful if you can help in this question.

[grahammechanical]

What are the hardware specifications of that machine?

Supported versions of Ubuntu are too large to fit on CD discs. So, if all that machine has is a CD drive that cannot read DVD discs and a BIOS boot system that cannot boot from the CD drive, then it may be too old to have the hardware to run the latest supported versions of Ubuntu.

[walma]

The hardware complies with the system requirements, but the CD driver reads only DVD. However, DVD installation media is not available. Anyway, I do not want to use DVD. The only option is hard disk installation. Internet is available.

[Vladlenin5000]

If the hardware is unable to boot from USB then certainly it's too old to be running any modern Linux distro therefore you're most likely wrong about the requirements, but please post them and we'll see about it and eventually recommend you the best alternative.

[Dennis N]

Hi, I have a laptop having and old version of Fedora OS. It is not possible to boot from USB or LIVE CD. I would like to install Ubuntu to the laptop. How can I do so? Is it possible to do so from hard disk under Fedora? I would be grateful if you can help in this question.

Look at PLOP boot manager. It often is booted from a CD or DVD, but the description indicates it can also be started from the hard disk, and then in turn it will boot from the USB port without BIOS support.

https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html

[yancek]

You can boot the iso from the hard drive from Fedora but the methods vary depending on which bootloader you have. With an older Fedora, you will likely need to loop mount the Ubuntu iso in Fedora, then copy the files to a directory on your Fedora system and then create an entry in the boot menu file of Fedora. Usually works better to install to a second drive but not necessary. Answers to the questions above would be good to start.

[walma]

Thank you for your replies. Here are the details:

Processor:
Intel Celeron 2.4 Ghz
---------------------------------------
Memory:
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 350608 278592 72016 0 4236 106740
-/+ buffers/cache: 167616 182992
Swap: 610460 8992 601468
---------------------------------------
Hard disk:
/dev/sda1 12 Gbyte
/dev/sda3 12 Gbyte
--------------------------------------

Fedora Core 8 is installed on sda1, and it does work well. In my opinion, the latest version of Ubuntu should also work. It should be installed onto partition sda3.

Here is /boot/grub.conf:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sda1
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.23.1-42.fc8)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.1-42.fc8 ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet vga=0x314
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.1-42.fc8.img
---------------------------

The simplest solution seems to be the suggestion of yancek. A new entry should be placed into this file, which would run the Ubuntu LIVE iso when booting. My question is how to do that.

[yancek]

I guess it's time for a new system since Fedora Core 8 hasn't been supported for 7 years?

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/End_of_life



The simplest solution seems to be the suggestion of yancek.

No. The simplest solution would be to burn it to a DVD or put it on a flash drive. If you want to boot Ubuntu from Fedora, you will need to first extract the Ubuntu iso. Boot Fedora and for and create a mount point for the Ubuntu extracted iso in the root of the filesystem as root user. If you have the Ubuntu iso in your Downloads directory, you first need to loop mount the Ubuntu iso. You will first need to create a directory to mount it to so as an example which, in the directory in which the iso file is as root:


mkdir /ubuntu

After doing that loop mount the Ubuntu iso. As root do:


mount -o loop ubuntu.iso /ubuntu

In the mount command above, you obviously need to be in the directory in which the iso and mount point directory are created. You also need the actual and exact name of the Ubuntu iso file in the command. Once you have done that, you will see a message indicating it is mounted read-only. That's expected and not a problem. Copy everything from the ubuntu directory you created with the loop mount command in the Downloads directory to the ubuntu directory in the root of the filesystem. Make sure you get all the directories/files as I believe there is a hiden file named .disks.

Once you have copied that post the, look at the bootloader menu in the extracted iso. I don't have an Ubuntu to look at right now so if there is a grub.cfg or syslinux.cfg boot menu, take a look at that or post it here.

[sudodus]

The linux kernel 2.6.23.1 is very old. The oldest version of Ubuntu which is still supported with security updates, 12.04 LTS, uses the linux kernel 3.2.0-97 (after updating with security updates).

There is too little RAM for a current version of Ubuntu to work. It may work with Lubuntu 14.04.1 LTS (if you use the alternate iso file to install it), but 512 MB is recommended (I guess you have 384 MB installed and some memory is used by the BIOS and some by the graphics chip.)

See the following links

Old hardware brought back to life (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2130640)

Lubuntu/AdvancedMethods (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu/AdvancedMethods)

[walma]

Hello yancek, what you mentioned is done. iso is extracted to the directory /ubuntu. It contains the following config file: "/ubuntu/boot/grub/loopback.cfg", which looks like:

menuentry "Try Ubuntu without installing" {
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper iso-scan/filename=${iso_path} quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Install Ubuntu" {
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity iso-scan/filename=${iso_path} quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Check disc for defects" {
linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper integrity-check iso-scan/filename=${iso_path} quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Test memory" {
linux16 /install/mt86plus
}

How can I proceed further? The entry should be included to the old boot menu, but how? Is it possible to run the installer without booting?

[yancek]

iso is extracted to the directory /ubuntu.

After you extract the directories/files from the iso, you need to copy everything to another directory, as suggested create an /ubuntu directory in the root of the Fedora filesystem. Anything loop mounted will be gone on reboot so you need to copy it to this directory first. Then open either menu.lst or grub.conf in Fedora /boot/grub and put the following entry in it to boot Ubuntu:


title Ubuntu
root (hd0,0)
kernel /ubuntu/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
initrd /ubuntu/casper/initrd.lz


This method has worked for me numerous times. Make sure you have the path correct, the ubuntu directory to which you copy all the files from the extracted iso must be in the root of the Fedora filesystem which you indicate is sda1. After making this change and saving the changes in the file, reboot and select Ubuntu from the boot menu. Once the installation of Ubuntu is complete, just go back and delete the /ubuntu partition in the root of Fedora. If something goes wrong, may a note of any message or error to post here.