skinpusher Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 I'd been having some correspondence with another member on the forums in regards to a thread I posted detailing my successful triple boot install of Leopard, Windows XP and Ubuntu Hardy on two of my computers. I was more than willing to help this guy out and give him some pointers on how to get his computer to triple boot. I have a method that worked for me and I came up with it after a lot of trial and error. The fact that I was able to follow the same procedure on two very different computers and still get the same results was indicative to me that my procedure would work on at the very least, MOST computers. This is the message that I recieved this morning after several PM's back and forth here is what I see in diskutil when I lauch ideneb dvbd disk0 is my 120 gb hd in ide disk1 is my 250 gb hd in SATA I want to install XP and Ubunut in the 120gb HD (disk0) with 2 partitions of 60 gb and install OSX in the 250 GB (3 partitions NTFS and 1 partition for osx) can I do triple boot whit this config For the sake of this persons anonymity I won't point any fingers. It's not their fault that they are not computer savvy enough to take on the challenge of installing OSx86 on their computer alongside other operating systems. I will ALWAYS be the first person to want to share my knowledge and help other people out, regardless of whether it's changing the oil in your car, making lasagna or in this case trying to triple boot a computer. What I will not do, is do everything for someone else. There is no benefit in that. And the problem is, people are so used to being able to call technical support whenever they have a problem with their computer, regardless of how mundane. In many cases when and if you do call tech support, the technician on the line will either walk you through the process step by step, or they will access your computer using remote assistance and physically take over your computer. There is absolutely no benefit from that in terms of sharing knowledge, and from the company offering that service to the consumer it makes more sense for them to keep their customers unaware. It's just good business. I'd been having correspondence with this member on the forums in regards to a thread I posted detailing my successful triple boot install of Leopard, Windows XP and Ubuntu Hardy on two of my computers. I was more than willing to help this guy out and give him some pointers on how to get his computer to triple boot. I have a method that worked for me and I came up with it after a lot of trial and error. The fact that I was able to follow the same procedure on two very different computers and still get the same results was indicative to me that my procedure would work on at the very least, MOST computers. The quick and dirty is a simple 5 step method: 1) boot your computer using an Ubuntu live CD and erase your entire hard drive and set up 4 partitions on your HD using GParted: NTFS for Windows FAT32 for OSX EXT3 for Ubuntu Swap Space (optional) 3) Install Windows XP on the NTFS partition. Boot into XP to make sure that you can boot into it. Worry about confuring it all later. 4) Boot OSX install disk and use DiskUtil to format the FAT32 partition as HFS+ "journaled". Then install OSX on the HFS+ partition. Make sure that you select MBR instead of GUID for your boot loader. Double check that you can boot into OSX and Windows XP. 5) Install Ubuntu on the EXT3. Check to make sure that you can boot into XP and Ubuntu. Then edit your menu.lst and add the OSX partition to it. Without getting into any details about HOW to configure each operating system, or the ins and outs of trying to install one OS or another, or how to use programs like Gedit or GParted to perform these operations, that is the basics of how to do it. I never intend to hold someone's hand through the entire process. Before EVER even attempting to install AN operating system there are steps that need to be taken to prepare. First you need to know HOW to install it. Then you need to make sure that your computer is compatible with it (meets minimum hardware requirements). Once you are sure that you can install it (and I mean absolutely POSITIVE) you can proceed with trying to install. In the case of OSx86, unless you're incredibly tech savvy or just incredibly lucky, odds are you will have to format and reinstall multiple times before you find a configuration that works for your system. Its much easier to make an isntallation work from the get go than it is to try and fix a broken installation. But it was NEVER my intention to ever walk someone through the entire installation. I sent this person a very DETAILED step by step tutorial on exactly how to set his computer up. I even took the time to explain how GRUB works, how to use GParted, I gave him a bill of materials he would need and I gave him detailed instructions on how to install EACH operating system and common pitfalls. The fact that he sent me this message after sending me a message several days ago stating he intended to proceed with installing his triple boot irritated me to no end. The fact that he was looking at two blank hard drives with no partitions in DiskUtil means that he didn't listen to a DAMN word I said. Step one is to wipe your hard drive(s) and create your partitions with GParted and then step two is to install windows. He did neither, obviously. I don't mean to sound condescending but it sounds like this is a little bit over hes head right now. He needs to do some research and come back to it when he's comfortable. Installing a single OS on a computer that was not designed to run it takes a good amount of knowledge. I have a friend who is fairly computer literate, but his only experience with computers comes from Windows. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to install Ubuntu on his laptop, and I had to help him and walk him though the process yesterday. The problem with that scenario is that he doesn't know how to do it himself. He didn't get the knowledge and if anything goes wrong he'll be asking me again to reinstall it on his computer. It's like the adage "You can give a man a fish and he will be fed for one day. If you teach a man to fish, he will be fed for the rest of his life." I don't mean to be a {censored} about things but the purpose of the forums is NOT to hold people's hands every step of the way through your installation and trouble shooting. It is to create a general wealth of knowledge for the OSX86 community so that we all may learn from each others findings and through trial and error, so that the general knowledgibility of the community as a whole will benefit. If I give you a simple step by step procedure, you will not gain much, if any knowledge from it. This is not Microsoft technical support. YOUR'E HACKING YOUR COMPUTER, AND IT IS ILLEGAL. Car thieves do not stand behind each other and say, "okay, now unlock the door with the slim-jim. Once you have successfully unlocked the door, open it making sure not to leave any fingerprints on the handle. Then use a knife or a screw driver to crack open the steering column. Once you've done that find the iginition switch and..." You get what I'm saying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmdshft Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Post in the right section first of all. Secondly, there is nothing wrong with helping. Some people a new to this type of stuff, and have to start somewhere just like you did. Yes, you are being a condescending {censored}. Hacking your computer is not illegal. Hacking someone else for malicious intent, is. lrn2law You, sir, are an idiot and should stop posting immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxintosh Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I disagree! I don't think he's being condescending AT ALL! I think the person he was trying to help miscalculated and got in over their head, WAY in over their head, and then expected him to fix everything because it was the easiest route to take. Keep in mind that he's not getting paid for any of this help. He probably went into more detail with this person then he should have, but on the other hand that, in and of itself, should have been a red flag to him too. Yes we all had to learn this stuff in the beginning, but when most of us learned at least we took the initiative to learn some things on our own and not expect everyone to hold our hand and spoon feed us the entire way. It's like someone just learning how to swim expecting to instantly become a member of the Olympics, it's just not going to happen. They should probably just swim in the shallow end of the pool for a while. BTW- I didn't see a 'step 2' in the 5 step method mentioned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Not news is not. Plus, you only have 8 posts. You aren't that big of help, versus people here who have thousands of posts and know what they're talking about, when some of them make osx86 possible. You can't talk like you're ontop of the world with only 8 posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
braveskunk Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 agree with vbetts and the rest:) only 8 posts? man! that makes you a massive helper! anyway, you shouldn't be mad at someone when you're starting to help. keep helping till the problem is gone or till the moment you can't do anything else or don't offer any help at all. good thing is to ask on the begining what person you want to help can do ...and this is not a news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomazzzi Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 ROFL I had big laughts when i read your post man thanks !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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