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Whatever is in the code section of the MBR of the boot disk gets invoked by the BIOS.
You don't get any choice.
Once it presents the menu you can elect to chainload another loader.
People who choose to use XP to load Linux, or vice versa do this all the time.
Makuyl,
What I meant was to know if I can choose either a GRUB or a LILO
during the system boot, not selecting which distros to boot.
I'm more interested in syg00's idea. So, I can "chainload" other Linux
boot loader? For instance, I start out GRUB in the MBR and chain load
LILO as a boot option?
Syg00,
Can you give me a more specific example such as the "menu.lst" file
that lists GRUB/LILO as a boot option? Also, instead of chain loading,
is there a way I can boot to either GRUB or LILO during the MBR boot?
You don't need to chainload between lilo and grub. You pick which one you want to use and install it to the MBR. menu.lst is grubs config and lilo.conf is lilos config. You can add as many distros and kernels and windows in them as you like, then at the splash screen you pick which OS and kernel to boot.
Have a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_loader#Boot_loader
Thanks for your comment. I'll have a look at your link more carefully.
So, it appears I can only place either GRUB or LILO in the MBR, but
not both and have an option to choose either one or the other during
the MBR boot process.
Originally posted by pcandpc So, it appears I can only place either GRUB or LILO in the MBR, but
not both
Correct. There are other bootloaders as well, but I think for now it's best to stick with those two that are most common way of booting linux.
Quote:
and have an option to choose either one or the other during
the MBR boot process.
Hopefully correct. That is, you get the one that you installed to the MBR.
Read from the link this part at least: Boot sequence on standard PC (IBM-PC compatible)
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