heya guys, ive pretty much always used Grub as a boot loader on different distros, this is the first time ive used slack and see that you only have the option to use lilo or none (and then just install Grub if i want at a later time)

My first reaction was go with what i know and skip Lilo (had bad experiences with it in the past, but i havent really used it since i started to learn the OS) but in your opinions, is that a good thing to do? Is Lilo better and should i just force myself to get use to it?

I prefer Lilo, but that's just one opinion. I find working with it much easier than grub.

lilo gets pretty annoying specially when you compile the kernel alot (kernel 2.6.16 already had its 14th patch set) and you must run /sbin/lilo everytime. grub is just an edit away. so in mine, i installed lilo then changed it to grub after the system was up and running.

I like lilo it makes it simple for me to use, yes running /sbin/lilo after each edit isn't fun but it isn't that hard.

I multiboot a lot of distros and rerunning lilo is a 2-second job. I really don't think that is a reason not to use it. Lilo is great and does everything I want at this point.

But Grub is also good and I would say, go with what you know.

maby ill try lilo

only reason i diddnt use it was when i was learning about kernel compiling, the last steap where it had me set lilo config's was always where i screwed up :P never had probls when i learned it with grub though :P

The other thing is even though people do it, it's probably better if you don't run both Lilo and Grub on the same machine. Choose one and make it work for you.

I like LILO more myself. It seems I can get a new entry setup faster in LILO than I can in GRUB.

there is nothing wrong with Lilo or Grub, so just use what you like the best, or have used the most

I prefer grub, because you first don't have to run something like /sbin/grub. I know something like that is trivial, but what's more important is that I couldn't figure out how to modify the boot settings from inside Lilo. With grub you just hit "e" when you're in the menu and start editing. It can come in VERY handy sometimes..

-A

Yea, I always used Grub with Redhat back in the day so that's what I use now. Has a very powerfull CLI that let's you do just about anything right at the boot prompt. Lilo has a really cool 'mkiso' command (mkrescue --iso perhaps?) for making boot CD's tho. So I keep both installed but just grub on the MBR...

Sure would be nice if grub was an option after the install.... Just like a 4gb high memory default kernel...

Whats so hard about running lilo? It's a 4 letter command geez. At least with lilo you know when you've screwed something up before you try to reboot.

ive used lilo forever on every box i have... except my laptop. for some reason, on my laptop, lilo would take 1.5 minutes to do its little video bios check. i worked on fixing it over and over.. just some bug.. or harder to fix than installing grub.. so.. i installed grub. both are equally functional.. grub is quite a bit more powerful though. more options from the boot line.

There is nothing _wrong_ with lilo. It functions as it is desinged. But I do agree that grub is easier to manage, customize, and has more options available at boot. I would say that each is equally reliable. All that being said, had I never heard of grub I would be perfectly happy with lilo.

With Slackware I usually use LILO, with SuSE Grub, because it think it will keep my system upgrade-safe, when the vendor/distributor provides a new version.

But: Grub is superior in many ways. One big advantage is that debugging the config file is so much more comfortable thanks to the powerful CLI of Grub.

On the other hand, with correct config files, LILO has never let me down.

On my multiboot system I use Grub in the MBR. In the Grub boot menu page I can then select which system to boot. When I choose SuSE, Grub just boots it, when I choose Slackware, Grub calls LILO as a chainloader and LILO, locate in /root, will boot Slackware.

LILO is simpler, Grub more modern.

gargamel