[ale] Getting Linux OS to boot

[Michael Hirsch]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
Trey
> Sizemore
> Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 4:56 PM
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> Subject: Re: [ale] Getting Linux OS to boot
> 
> Michael Hirsch wrote:
> 
> >>Well, in the Mandrake rescue mode, I told it to install the
bootloader
> >>to the MBR for /dev/hdb, but it didn't prompt me for which one.  I
can
> >>find a lilo.conf but no grub.conf even though both are installed.  I
> >>don't know *which* bootloader it is!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >When you boot /dev/hdb do you see LILO or GRUB?  That'll tell you.
:-)
> >
> >You might also look for menu.lst instead of grub.conf.  menu.lst is
the
> >original name, though people seem to be moving towards grub.conf.  I
> >don't recall which Mandrake uses--I think they are symlinked
together.
> >
> >Michael
> >
> It's LILO.  Now I just want  to make sure that the syntax is correct
per
> my post a little higher up in the thread.

You really want to switch to grub--especially if you are booting
multiple OSes.  With grub, if you get it wrong you can still use the
command line to figure it out at boot time.  (I did this just yesterday
when we were having boot problems.)  With lilo any time you upgrade the
kernel you have to rerun lilo.  So if you are using mandrake's lilo
setup and you upgrade your SuSE kernel, how are you going to run
mandrakes lilo install?  

Grub is just a simple text file.  You install it once and edit the file.
No danger of rendering your system unbootable by forgetting to rerun it.
And even if you mess up the config file, you can always edit it at boot
time to get your system running again.

Michael