From: dsb@world.std.com (David Boyce) Subject: FAQ-finding mission 1: boot techniques Date: 22 Jun 1992 03:50:05 GMT
As a newly-successful Linux user, I want to contribute some things
to the FAQ while the problems I've experienced are still fresh in
my mind. So I'm going to post a few questions on carefully-chosen
topics; the hope is that this will stimulate enough responses
to provide definitive answers, which I will then summarize in
an article and contribute to the FAQ.
This one's on booting from the hard disk. There is a discussion
of this in the FAQ and the install notes, but it's incomplete.
Following is my (limited) understanding of the various options based
on the few docs I've been able to find. Please correct and
expand this, by email or net as you judge appropriate (but you
might want to lean towards email since everything that's worth
keeping will end up in the FAQ anyway).
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There are 4 known methods of booting Linux off a hard disk:
bootlin, shoelace, bootany, boot.sys/bootlin.
Bootlin simply boots Linux off the hard disk. If you want to
have the option of running DOS, Minix, etc., you lose.
Shoelace boots up with a menu which allows you to choose an
operating system to boot. It has a timeout-preference feature
which allows you to set a system to boot if you don't respond
within a certain time. So this is good for multiple system users.
The downside is that it overwrites the boot sector on the disk,
which can be dangerous. [The FAQ should describe the procedure
for backing this up. Right now it just says "make sure you back
up the old boot sector", but doesn't say how].
Bootany - The FAQ lists it but doesn't follow through. I can't
find it at tsx-11. This should get more description in the FAQ
or get flushed.
Boot142 (boot.sys) This is a DOS driver which gives you a menuing
capability a la shoelace. It is useful only if one of the systems
you want to run is MS-DOS or PC-DOS (DR-DOS is incompatible with
boot.sys). If DOS is your "other" system, this is a nice solution.
The good news is it doesn't mess with your hard disk's boot sector.
[Note: boot142.zip is shareware; if you end up using it you need
to send something on the order of $39 to the writer. This information
is in the package. It doesn't bother me that this is shareware
because it's not really part of Linux, it's part of your DOS system].
-- David Boyce dsb@world.std.com 1-617-576-1540