Triple Boot How To (osx, xp, ubuntu)

Hello All,

Here is my guide to triple booting the aspire one.

1. Boot into OSX Install DVD.
2. Open Disk Utility
3. Create 3 or 4 Partitions. ( I created 4, the fourth being for data only) Select Options and set to MBR
4. Format the first partition as HFS+ the rest as FAT32.
5. Install OSX as per your needs on the first partition (I personally dont use speedstep and left iAtkos v4i with all defaults)
6. Reboot into OSX and go through initial welcome screens and setup.
7. Install all the kexts in this install pack. SoundSource and Insomniax are optional but recommended. LINK
8. Reboot machine and install windows xp
9. In the XP setup be sure to select the second partition and install.
10. At this point your one will only boot into Windows. This is not a problem. Boot into windows and use the attached windows drivers to get everything working.
The wifi drivers I have included are for dell 1390/1490. You will need to extract the drivers and manually install them as the dell utility does not work.
11. Reboot the machine and install ubuntu
12. When you are installing ubuntu you will come to the partitioner and you will need to be very careful not to fubar your setup.
13. Select the 3rd partition and select manual setup. I gave my setup a 3gb Swap File and used the remaining for the root directory "/".
14. After the install is done, you should be prompted with grub as your bootloader and you should be able to select Windows XP or Ubuntu. Mac is not yet available.
15. Boot into Ubuntu and we will now add mac to the menu.
16. Check to see what partition grub is installed on by doing the following commands.
sudo grub
find /boot/grub/stage1

note down what it returns
17. Open a terminal window and edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file
title Mac OSX
root (hdx,y) "--replace x and y with the values from the previous command"
kernel /boot/boot_osx
18. Now to make this work properly you will need to unzip the boot.zip file and move / rename it to /boot/boot_osx.
assuming you extracted it to your desktop the command would be
sudo mv ~/Desktop/boot /boot/boot_osx
19. Reboot and ensure that you can get into all operating systems.
20. Enjoy a triple boot super computer, on a mini scale

Some Notes:
1. When i did this, i was able to boot windows and mac from my mac bootloader and it defaulted to mac.
To fix this you will need to set your mac partition as active. So from within mac run the following commands.
diskutil list
fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0 --assuming above command told you it was 0
p --to verify what partition osx lives on
f 1 --to set partition 1 as active, if you followed the guide 1 is correct
write
y
quit

2. I have yet to setup wifi drivers in ubuntu, but they can be done with this guide. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=297092

3. This guide does not provide for info on how to update osx as that is an entirely different animal.

http://fiore-consulting.com/files/one_osx_pack.tar --OSX Driver Pack
http://fiore-consulting.com/files/one_xp_pack.tar --XP Driver Pack

[attachment=0:1tcp9qxt]boot.zip[/attachment:1tcp9qxt]

 

thanks! i dont actually have my aao yet, but ill be ready to set it up with your guide.

 

I notice that your package contains "ALC268_Installer2.app" (i.e. not Installer1). Why did you choose this one? Does it work better?

 

I have all 3 OSes running now... ubuntu and OSX not yet fully functional as I don't have a Dell 1390 card yet.


However, now when i load grub, and I choose the MAC OSX, it goes into the darwin bootloader, counts 2 seconds, then goes into a 5 second option.

it worked fine after i modified using the sudo fdisk command and made partition 1 active.
When i edited the sudo fdisk, it would tell me that it was not able to edit the file or something, and that it would require a restart..

restart, and it would load into OSX when i chose the option
however, after I loaded up windows again, the default for the darwin bootloader would go back to my windows partition, making the OSX option load windows.
the only way I could choose OSX is if i manually chose OSX again in the darwin 5 second option bootloader part..

is there anyway to make the darwin bootloader default to OSX instead of popping back to windows XP when i load it?

thnx

 

simeon,

if you set your mac partition to active it should boot directly into osx via the mac bootloader. for the time out things. read up on modifying com.apple.Boot.plist

 

sbm

i have found the install2 works better. although at this time, im working on a proper solution that will have all audio in /out working. Not sure how long it will take if ever, but i will keep you posted.

dave

 

Could you be more specific, please? i.e. /what/ works better, specifically?

 

would the bootloader for mac be the fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0 command thing?

after i set it to f 1
write,
it gives me a 'device could not be accessed exclusively' error, and tells me that a restart is needed.

if i restart and load up the OSX option in grub, it will load OSX..

however, once i load into windows again, the next time i try to load OSX also goes into windows...

and when i check the fdisk thing again, it shows that partition 2 (my windows partition) is the active one again.

I read up on the com.apple.Boot.plist thing too.. doesn't affect how the darwin bootloader is making windows partition back to active again tho.

 

the com.apple.Boot.plist is for changing timeouts. It will not change the default boot.

This is what i did to ensure it booted directly to osx : http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=22844

 

I'm happy to report that my triple boot is working perfectly! Also, if you're connected to ethernet, Ubuntu automatically detects and is able to dl drivers for the 1390. It shows up in notifications.

 

Just wondering if you got the PCI card slots to work with ubuntu?

Also what partition sizes are ideal for this type of install?

 

can someone repost the boot.zip file since it's not accessible anymore? thanks!

 

Here you go
http://www.filesavr.com/boot_3

 

wondering if anyone has trouble with the system clock where one operating system shows the correct time, and then the next one gets changed to +4hrs or something...

i know it's something to do with UTC, but I have no idea how to get them to all sync to the same exactly time...

 

For Leopard, have a look at the post made by quq at Apr 10 2008, 03:46 PM here:

http://www.insanelymac.com/lofiversion/index.php/t94743.html

This works for me. It doesn't involve any mucking with Windows services (which is a pain on XP Home) like some other solutions, and is not a hack which will break with OS updates.

 

Seems like alot of complicated solutions listed in that thread, an easy way to fix it from the OSX side is to set your timezone forward till you've got the correct time. I set mine to AZOST and I'm located in CST, this keeps my system clock correct and just modifies it from the OSX side. No scripts needed, only downside is you will have to move it manually for daylights savings time two times a year.

 

yeah good idea.

gave up on trying to figure out how to fix it =D

 

Hi can anyone give me a guiding hand on the above section? Im new to terminal, even though Ive been using OSX for years now, and Im struggling a little. Im sure its just me so I apologise in advance for my stupidity.
What Ive been doing is installing Ubuntu and then opening Terminal to find the (hdx,y). It returns hd0,4 but from there Ive got lost.
Ive tried all sorts of permutations of Step 17 but without any luck so Im stuck to go any further.
What I think Im struggling with is what exactly should I be typing into Terminal?
Obviously the tutorial is plainly saying

but Im unsure how to enter this into Terminal.

Do I type

and then

etc pressing enter after each item?
Ive got to say Ive tried this and I get "Permission denied" after the first line even when I try it , as my instinct tells me to, without 'file'.

If someone could help Id really appreciate it.
Ive got OSX running sweetly (apart from no input mic which I did have when I installed it to my replaced SSD {I now have a 30gb toshiba}) and Im hoping I wont have to start again.

Thanks for reading
Lee

 

I used sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

then I added title to the end of that file.

My problem is I am getting "error 2 bad file or directory type" when I try to boot OSX.

Anyone have any ideas.

I know this is a grub error. I didn't do a single update with ubuntu, just a quick install and then edit the menu.lst file. I'm gonna try doing all the updates and see if there is any improvments.

 

I've done all the ubuntu updates now, and it still doesn't work. Same error. I wonder if there is a problem with the boot.zip file? Has anyone used the second posting of the boot.zip file here? I wonder if someone could try posting it again?

Thanks