[ale] GRUB issue on boot

[Michael B. Trausch]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: RIPEMD160

James Sumners wrote On 04/13/2006 06:33 PM:
> I don't see what is so inflexible about LILO. It does its job. Plain and simple.
> 

You can't do dynamic things with LILO.  LILO allows you to do one task,
and only one task:  Boot one or more systems that have their own boot
loaders; or, boot Linux.  It only does that one task, without any
flexibility for boot-time alterations to what it knows how to do.  You
cannot switch out the kernel file or the initrd file without telling it
that they changed, because LILO doesn't know how to read a filesystem.
LILO uses a program run in userspace, post-boot, that tells the boot
sector what sectors to read to get its information and boot.

The GRUB, on the other hand, can boot Linux, custom boot sector
programs, and Multiboot kernels.  It has a shell so that you can try to
diagnose problems or reinstall without booting into the operating
system.  It allows you to boot new systems without configuring the
entries in the boot config, if you so wish.  You can change the files it
loads and boots out from under it without it getting surprised, since it
can read filesystems.  It's a powerful, and flexible boot loader.

The only thing that would top either, is the replacement of the BIOS,
which is starting to finally happen, with EFI.  Once EFI is covered
across all levels of PC class machines, the world will be a better
place, at least IMHO.

	- Mike
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFEPt9P0kE/IBnFmjARA2NGAJwO0F1oyZ6XD8mn45I5EbBYjc7SswCfXo5I
1z5cgLsZ0NL77Bh1oRzgZkU=
=VZtK
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----