The Boot Loader Showdown

Francesca writes "What utility do practically all Linux users use, regardless of their job or expertise? A boot loader. In this article from IBM, see how a boot loader works, meet two popular loaders -- LILO (LInux LOader) and GNU GRUB (GRand Unified Boot loader) -- and review the pros and cons of each." From the article: "Most simply, a boot loader loads the operating system. When your machine loads its operating system, the BIOS reads the first 512 bytes of your bootable media (which is known as the master boot record, or MBR). You can store the boot record of only one operating system in a single MBR, so a problem becomes apparent when you require multiple operating systems. Hence the need for more flexible boot loaders."

Comments

The need for a better BIOS

[Henriok]

"Hence the need for more flexible boot loaders"

Really people? Hence the need for a better BIOS!

My GOD you are unimaginative. It's so upsettingly obvious for everyone outside the x86 world that the lot of us are just plain laughing when this issue is brought up.