GRUB 2 now default for new installations

[Felix Miata]

On 2009/06/11 20:27 (GMT+0200) Markus Hitter composed:

> Am 11.06.2009 um 10:35 schrieb Felix Miata:

>> Astute multibooters whose other options include a non-Linux OS do _not_
>> place Grub in the MBR. Better to make that the universal default, never
>> addressing via MBR, instead leaving the MBR code generic, and using
>> that generic code with a primary partition containing a Grub that _no_
>> installed Linux automatially configures. My Grub primaries don't get
>> mounted as / boot by any Linux installation. I have upwards of 20
>> multiboot systems, and all use generic MBR code.

> Well, as there is no "generic" MBR, what MBR do you use? The Windows' one?
> Mac OS X's, *BSD's?

I don't know what '"generic" MBR' is either. I was referring to generic MBR
_code_, an optional feature of an openSUSE installation, and I'm sure other
Linux installers. It refers to MBR code that works identically or similarly
to the MBR code included with IBM DOS, MS DOS, OS/2 and Windows versions from
two decades ago, which when installed finds an active primary partition on
the first BIOS HD, if one exists, and transfers control to its PBR if it
does, and prints an error message if a grand total of exactly one active
primary does not exist.

>> I don't find having multiple /boot partitions to be a problem, but 
>> normally find one real "/boot" to be sufficient, allowing each of the /
>> partitions to provide a home for one set of kernels and one menu.lst
>> that install scripts can cope with. To get there, I both partition and
>> install Grub on a primary using a live CD boot, _before_ starting _any_
>> OS installation program.

> Can't confirm that. Using the Ubuntu Live-Install-CD, an already existing
> /boot in one of the partitions isn't recognized. Manual voodoo is exactly
> what I'm trying to avoid.

I've never yet used a "live" CD, other than Knoppix, to actually install any
distro. I've always found them to have installation options far too limiting
for compatibility with multiboot systems. Another way to describe the
behavior is that they behave much too much like a Windows installer, making
assumptions that typically interfere with or otherwise damage the ability to
boot or use working installed systems.
-- 
"Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to
the sky like an eagle."	       Proverbs 23:5 NIV

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/