Re: Geek blowing smoke? (dual-boot advice)

On 2007-05-19, Jack Crenshaw <jcrens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Looking back, I finally remember the trick. With Linux (I'm told, you
have your choice of putting Lilo in the MBR, or in an ordinary file.
According to the PM docs, the trick is to _NOT_ put it in the MBR. Boot
Magic inserts itself there, and flips the "virtual" MBRs in and out as
needed.

Strictly speaking, you'd install grub/lilo into the superblock of your
....uh, either root or boot filesystem (I can't recall ATM--probably boot
if you forced me to guess).

As near as I can tell, Grub serves the exact same function as Boot
Magixc or System Commander. I get it, that Grub comes with Linux
installations, but in fact I don't think any of the boot managers use OS
resouces at all (would be difficult, since the OS hasn't booted yet). I
suspect that they all just call BIOS functions directly.

Grub *does* use the filesystem to read its configuration file. This is
a major difference between grub and other bootloaders like lilo. This
is why, if you install grub, then erase linux for some reason, grub no
longer works, whereas lilo continues to work fine. (IIRC you can still
get into the grub CLI, but then you need to know the syntax for booting
your other OSes.)

I would go back to the guy, ask for his advice, and do the exact
opposite of what he suggests.

<GRIN!> Good advice. Thanks

Thanks. ;-) Just remember that you don't know us, either, so you
should try to confirm what we're saying with other docs if you feel
you need a third opinion.

--keith

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