I hope this isn't too stupid a question:

I have just come from FC2 to Mandrake 10.0. I allowed the installer to add the bootloader and it did a wonderful job of picking up all of my bootable partitions and gave me some options I've never seen before that appear to be for diagnostic use.

The only trouble is that of course, it picked itself as the default choice on the bootloader menu. My wife uses that machine all the time so I want to make it boot win98 by default. In FC2, I would have gone to /boot/grub/grub.conf, edited the file to give the labels and defaults I want to have and then rebooted.

Well Mandrake has the /boot/grub/ directory, but no grub.conf file. I looked at the other files in that directory and nothing seems appropriate. It looks like none of them are even ascii files.

Where are the defaults stored in Mandrake?

It depends what bootloader you chose to install. Mandrake usually uses lilo as default so the file you may need is /etc/lilo.conf.

Thanks, /etc/lilo.conf was the ticket!

Also, as I got in, I happened to notice the intro splash screen (which I have not yet disabled) which had a link to configure boot options. I used the gui but then checked the /etc/lilo.conf file it was indeed the target of the gui tool.

Oddly, during the installation, it doesn't tell you whether the bootloader it's adding is lilo or grub - I incorrectly assumed it was grub. see screenshot:

http://doc.mandrakelinux.com/Mandrak...rBeginner.html

It would be a welcome change for the installer to tell you which one is loading. Just a suggestion.

Somewhere in the installation I distinctly remember having a choice to choose either LILO or GRUB. It was either just before or just after your screenshot. I chose GRUB.

For future reference, the bootloader file for GRUB is in /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Boot loader options can also be changed through the Mandrake Control Center (MCC).

>KDE Menu>system>Configure your computer (root pw required)>Boot menu

Regards,
Crispus

I think the option is there to install lilo or grub, only if you do your installation in expert mode, but don't quote me on that, I could be wrong.

You can change the bootloader using the System/Configuration/Configure your Computer which calls the Mandrakelinux Control Center and change it from there. Grub is located in the /usr/sbin/grub directory.