Re: choice of boot manager
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: My preference goes to Smart Boot Manager http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/ [snip] No need for any partition, just install the full app into MBR. If something goes wrong, boot from floppy and re-install. It doesn't fit into the MBR; the MBR is only 512 bytes. The standard FreeBSD boot manager fits into the MBR, but I don't know of any others that do. The Smart Boot Manager puts most of itself in the first track of the drive, which is normally reserved and unused. ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: choice of boot manager
LILO is the best in my opinion. Quintin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Good morning, FreeBSD enthusiasts. I am planning a multiple operating system installation on a Compaq Proliant 5000. The purpose of the installation is hobbyist and instructional. The computer does not provide network management services. The proposed operating systems are Windows 95, FreeBSD, and Windows 2000 Server. A fourth operating system may be added at a later date. Have you had any experience with any of the following boot manager programs that may suggest their relative applicability to this project? The boot manager programs I am considering include the following: LILO, GRUB, MATT, NTLDR/BOOT.INI, RANISH, and the boot loader that comes with FreeBSD, the name of which I do not know. Any information about positive or negative experiences with any of these programs in a multiple operating system configuration would be appreciated. Your truly, Lee Shackelford L e e underscore S h a c k e l f o r d at d o t dot c a dot g o v ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
choice of boot manager
Good morning, FreeBSD enthusiasts. I am planning a multiple operating system installation on a Compaq Proliant 5000. The purpose of the installation is hobbyist and instructional. The computer does not provide network management services. The proposed operating systems are Windows 95, FreeBSD, and Windows 2000 Server. A fourth operating system may be added at a later date. Have you had any experience with any of the following boot manager programs that may suggest their relative applicability to this project? The boot manager programs I am considering include the following: LILO, GRUB, MATT, NTLDR/BOOT.INI, RANISH, and the boot loader that comes with FreeBSD, the name of which I do not know. Any information about positive or negative experiences with any of these programs in a multiple operating system configuration would be appreciated. Your truly, Lee Shackelford L e e underscore S h a c k e l f o r d at d o t dot c a dot g o v ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
choice of boot manager
Dear FreeBSD enthusiast, In the list included on the original message, I forgot to mention the shareware version of OS-BS boot manager program. Thanks for your assistance. Yours truly, Lee Shackelford - Forwarded by Lee Shackelford/HQ/Caltrans/CAGov on 01/14/2004 08:42 AM - Lee Shackelford To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc: 01/14/2004 Subject: choice of boot manager 08:39 AM Good morning, FreeBSD enthusiasts. I am planning a multiple operating system installation on a Compaq Proliant 5000. The purpose of the installation is hobbyist and instructional. The computer does not provide network management services. The proposed operating systems are Windows 95, FreeBSD, and Windows 2000 Server. A fourth operating system may be added at a later date. Have you had any experience with any of the following boot manager programs that may suggest their relative applicability to this project? The boot manager programs I am considering include the following: LILO, GRUB, MATT, NTLDR/BOOT.INI, RANISH, and the boot loader that comes with FreeBSD, the name of which I do not know. Any information about positive or negative experiences with any of these programs in a multiple operating system configuration would be appreciated. Your truly, Lee Shackelford L e e underscore S h a c k e l f o r d at d o t dot c a dot g o v ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: choice of boot manager
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: not know. Any information about positive or negative experiences with any of these programs in a multiple operating system configuration would be appreciated. This isn't on your list, but I tried using the romantically named gag graphical bootloader http://gag.sourceforge.net/ after a few probs with an OpenBSD/W98 installation, and found it extremely good. It's what I use for customers' dual boot machines now because it's quick to install, easy to configure, reliable and pretty. PWR. ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: choice of boot manager
Lee Shackelford wrote on Thursday January 15, 2004: I am planning a multiple operating system installation on a Compaq Proliant 5000. The purpose of the installation is hobbyist and instructional. The computer does not provide network management services. The proposed operating systems are Windows 95, FreeBSD, and Windows 2000 Server. A fourth operating system may be added at a later date. Have you had any experience with any of the following boot manager programs that may suggest their relative applicability to this project? The boot manager programs I am considering include the following: LILO, GRUB, MATT, NTLDR/BOOT.INI, RANISH, and the boot loader that comes with FreeBSD, the name of which I do not know. Any information about positive or negative experiences with any of these programs in a multiple operating system configuration would be appreciated. Your truly, Lee Shackelford The standard FreeBSD boot loader can boot Windows systems. Its main problem is cosmetic - Linux and FreeBSD slices are recognised, but Windows is displayed as '???' and these labels cannot be customised. I use grub-0.92 (/usr/ports/sysutils/grub/ or a package on the 3rd CD). It's thoroughly customisable and supports a wide range of operating systems - some Linux distributions use it instead of LILO. After installing the package, you have to copy a few files and run the grub(8) program to install it on the MBR. In an attempt to be OS-neutral, grub uses its own naming scheme for disks: (hd0,0,a) is the first BSD filesystem on the first slice of the first disk. Here's my boot menu: # defaults color light-gray/black white/blue default saved timeout 10 # Desktop title FreeBSD 4.9-RELEASE root(hd0,a) kernel /boot/loader savedefault # Win2k title Windows 2000 Professional root(hd0,1) chainloader +1 savedefault # shutdown title (power off) halt The 'savedefault' feature is handy - whichever OS you select will be the default next time. Without this, rebooting the non-default OS is a real pain. I've had a couple of tries at using the NT boot.ini method. The procedure has been well documented by many people, but it never went smoothly for me - I always had the feeling that Windows didn't really want to boot another OS. ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: choice of boot manager
On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 17:09:04 +, Peter Risdon [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: not know. Any information about positive or negative experiences with any of these programs in a multiple operating system configuration would be appreciated. This isn't on your list, but I tried using the romantically named gag graphical bootloader http://gag.sourceforge.net/ after a few probs with an OpenBSD/W98 installation, and found it extremely good. It's what I use for customers' dual boot machines now because it's quick to install, easy to configure, reliable and pretty. GAG is more automagic than the others you've named, and I think it is a good choice. Ranish shouldn't be used unless you know a *lot* about partitioning. Otherwise it's darned easy to mess things up. GRUB is worthwhile - a good learning experience precisely because it is not automagic. FreeBSD's BootEasy and the NT bootloader both work, though you have to learn how to configure the NT loader, and BootEasy is bare-bones. I currently use GAG with no problems at all to boot -STABLE, -CURRENT, Slackware Linux, Windows 2000 and Windows 98 on a system with a RAID-0 array and a third hard drive. It finds all the OSs itself; all you have to do is assign a number to each. (To boot Linux, you must install Lilo or Grub to the kernel partition.) Hit a number on the keyboard when GAG's screen comes up, and the corresponding OS boots. Easy as that. Jud ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: choice of boot manager
My preference goes to Smart Boot Manager http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/ Free and lots of options. Let's say you have 2 windows installations on two different hard drives (I know that's too much). You may run into troubles (like starting booting from the second one and getting your desktop from the fisrt one) if you start booting from the second disk directly. With SBM you can swap the drive IDs so the second one becomes the first one Windows is looking for. No need for any partition, just install the full app into MBR. If something goes wrong, boot from floppy and re-install. Dany Quoting Rob [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Lee Shackelford wrote on Thursday January 15, 2004: I am planning a multiple operating system installation on a Compaq Proliant 5000. The purpose of the installation is hobbyist and instructional. The computer does not provide network management services. The proposed operating systems are Windows 95, FreeBSD, and Windows 2000 Server. A fourth operating system may be added at a later date. Have you had any experience with any of the following boot manager programs that may suggest their relative applicability to this project? The boot manager programs I am considering include the following: LILO, GRUB, MATT, NTLDR/BOOT.INI, RANISH, and the boot loader that comes with FreeBSD, the name of which I do not know. Any information about positive or negative experiences with any of these programs in a multiple operating system configuration would be appreciated. Your truly, Lee Shackelford The standard FreeBSD boot loader can boot Windows systems. Its main problem is cosmetic - Linux and FreeBSD slices are recognised, but Windows is displayed as '???' and these labels cannot be customised. I use grub-0.92 (/usr/ports/sysutils/grub/ or a package on the 3rd CD). It's thoroughly customisable and supports a wide range of operating systems - some Linux distributions use it instead of LILO. After installing the package, you have to copy a few files and run the grub(8) program to install it on the MBR. In an attempt to be OS-neutral, grub uses its own naming scheme for disks: (hd0,0,a) is the first BSD filesystem on the first slice of the first disk. Here's my boot menu: # defaults color light-gray/black white/blue default saved timeout 10 # Desktop title FreeBSD 4.9-RELEASE root(hd0,a) kernel /boot/loader savedefault # Win2k title Windows 2000 Professional root(hd0,1) chainloader +1 savedefault # shutdown title (power off) halt The 'savedefault' feature is handy - whichever OS you select will be the default next time. Without this, rebooting the non-default OS is a real pain. I've had a couple of tries at using the NT boot.ini method. The procedure has been well documented by many people, but it never went smoothly for me - I always had the feeling that Windows didn't really want to boot another OS. ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
