[Dell with MediaDirect] XOSL Bootloader, Hardware dual boot made easy

Hi ! Thank you very much for this excellent software ! (Boou Jolicloud with DMD and seven with power !!)
But, is it any way to make the same with xosl2 ?

 

Has anyone tried this with the Dell Latitude ON button on the Latitude series?

Wondering if this same guide will work for an E4310.

 

[Edited -- nevermind.]

 

The guide I posted will work on any system...it's not specific to a particular brand. As far as the functionality of the ON button...that probably wouldn't be present. I didnt read to see exactly what that button did..but i'm sure it's software driven, and that software will only be within the dell tools, and drivers.

 

You could try pressing that button when telling the bootloader what you want the hotkey to be...not sure what the results would be though..

 

Works great! I'm using an Inspiron 6400. The colours of XOSL's display are a little weird on my machine, but I've noticed the same for many boot CDs etc. Not an issue, simplay disable the GUI

My system now has Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.10 all running nicely. A few tips:

Install windows 7 or Vista first. Then install XOSL. This installation will corrupt the Windows installation (changes the Disk Signature). So after installing XOSL, boot from the windows DVD, and select repair, and it will automatically fix the signature without affecting XOSL. After confirming that windows boots, then you can install Ubuntu (or whatever), making sure that the bootloader (probably GRUB) is NOT installed to the MBR. That's it!

Thank you for a great little hack! Now if only I could change the BIOS picture that is displayed when pressing the MediaDirect button on boot (horrible media direct logo, would be cool to be Tux or something else... even blank lol)

 

hey man thanks a lot for this write-up. I spent a while unsuccessfully trying to get the rmbr DELL 1 3 command working - but to no avail (extended partition being the issue? not sure.)

XOSL is great- thanks for the link- couldn't find it in the usual places.

one question- i think i may have installed it twice- so now when it boots windows it first goes through a second XOSL- any suggestions for uninstalling one copy?

cheers

 

oh a few notes- I found the same things that thedogcow did- you must use the Windows installation disk to repair startup and then install ubuntu.

i have an xps m1330 w/32-bit Windows 7 and Ubuntu. working with no bootloader screens to dual boot, button-dependently

with 10.10, ubuntu comes with Grub 2, so you can't just edit menu.lst. I tried the GUI start-up manager to shorten the timeout period, but that actually didn't do anything. you can modify the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file to read timeout=0 and that works.
command to sudo modify:
alt + f2
gksudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

 

Hello,

I'm trying this out and so far so good. All that is left for me to do is to install Linux. I have chosen Mint, which is Ubuntu based, or alternatively either Ubuntu or Fedora.

Unfortunately all of these systems use Grub 2 nowadays and they all automatically install that in the MBR. I am trying to find out a way to install Grub 2 in the Linux partition but from what I have been able to discover so far I can only try this after the installation - which means I'll have to boot back into the XOSL CDROM for repair.

But is it even possible to install Grub 2 in the Linux partition or should I revert back to Grub 1.5 ?

Thanks for your help.

Michael

 

With Ubuntu, in the advanced settings during setup, there is an option to tell it where to install the bootloader