I have just installed Slackware 13.37 onto /dev/sda1
I during Setup refused to install Lillo. That's a VERY old program
and I can't see why anyone is messing with it these days.
So now all I can boot from is a USB memory stick.
This is a problem, because it is slow and I have another
OS on /dev/sda3 which I would like to have the option
to boot. I need boot manager like Grub to boot from
the hard drive /dev/sda.
I've always had the installing operating system do this
automatically, and I expected Slackware 13.37 would act
like them other modern distributions, but no such luck.
Can anyone tell me where I can get instructions on
installing a boot manager, probably Grub, in a situation
such as this ?

Yeah, and now you're stuck with nothing.
I have not heard such crap in a long time. LILO is perfectly useable and better than grub in a lot of aspects.

Eric

2 members found this post helpful.

If you think like this zee, you really need to change the way you think or find a different distro. Lilo is fine and you should have installed it. If you have some really weird booting needs that require a different boot loader, you can change it AFTER the install, not during.

Now for fun, why don't you go post to a debian forum that grub is stupid and you don't know why anyone would use it and can they help you install Lilo.

1 members found this post helpful.

Did you STFW (google or even search here on this forum)?
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...re-dvd-596254/

lilo works. Most of the Slackware user base can write their conf file by hand so why should we change.

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Best thing to do would be to get your computer booting before you decide to change the boot-loader. Boot your computer using your usb boot stick or the original install dvd, then install lilo. Then run liloconfig.

You will find that lilo is under active development and therefore cannot be considered old. Once you have your machine working properly, then look in /extra on the dvd and you will find /grub if you are running the 32-bit version of Slackware.

samac

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zeelog, lilo works, but having said that, I've had situations that lilo and/or grub wouldn't install to mbr.
Maybe running fdisk /mbr under dos will help. If not, try GAG or google grub/grub2/legacy grub, or dd+mbr.

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Slackware is perfectly functional with lilo.

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There's an old saying (older than lilo): "There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle."
IF lilo was no good, do you seriously think it would be included in Slackware?

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Bash is a very old program. I wonder why anyone is using it these days.

cheers,

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Lilo is the default boot loader and has been for many moons. Providing direct grub support in Slackware has been debated for many years. That has not happened. Grub is supported only indirectly. I use grub and have done so for many years. So don't panic.

Traditionally Slackware is not a "hand-holding" system. People who choose Slackware prefer to control many aspects of how their systems are configured. Therefore certain configuration tasks you might normally expect with other distros don't happen with Slackware.

You won't find any formal instructions within the Slackware documentation because lilo is the default boot loader. So here are some basic instructions.

Do you have grub already installed? That is, can you boot into another operating system on the same hard drive with grub? If yes, then boot into that system. Then manually edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to add a boot option for Slackware. For example:

title Slackware 13.37
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro

If you do not have grub or another operating system installed, then head to any Slackware mirror web site. Look for the extra branch. There you will find a package for grub. Download that package. For example:

http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub....97-i486-9.txz

Save the package.

Then boot with the Slackware DVD or CD. Follow the instructions on the screen. For example:

hugesmp.s root=/dev/sda1 rdinit= ro

After the DVD/CD boots into your installed Slackware, install the grub package you downloaded and saved. Use the installpkg command. For example:

installpkg /path/to/where/you/saved/grub-0.97-i486-9.txz

After you install the grub package, run the grub-install command to load grub to the MBR. For example:

grub-install /dev/sda1

Do not yet reboot. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to add a boot option for Slackware.

If you have a default stock installation of Slackware, then the default kernel link /boot/vmlinuz will point to vmlinuz-huge-smp-2.6.37.6-smp. You can boot with and use that kernel, but the traditional suggestion is to create an initrd as soon as possible and then use the generic kernel. Or compile your own custom kernel. When you do that be sure to add a new menu.lst option for the new kernel. Do not yet delete the menu.lst option to the huge kernel. Do that only after you verify the system boots with the new option.

With that all said, I needed more time to write this response than I would to actually install and configure grub. In other words, the process is fairly straightforward if you have a modicom of computer experience.

2 members found this post helpful.

Thank you all for your relies, even the critical ones.
This is all going to be very useful.
I used to be OK on the command line, but I've lost
a lot of that since using these other user-friendly
distributions. It's the old story of use it or loose it.
Thank you again !

I'm not going to make this mistake again.
Install Lilo for sure.
This thread is solved.