Install with LILO instead of GRUB?

Chris Hickman

Hey,

I'm kind of a noob here, I've been looking around and haven't found much, but I've just been wondering if it's possible to install with LILO and not install GRUB at all? I've used Mandrake and Red Hat and I like LILO a lot better than GRUB. Right now I'm in the middle of an install at home (I'm at work now) where I started installing GRUB, changed my mind and started trying to install LILO with an "emerge lilo", it downloaded but I wasn't having much luck configuring it. Here's my setup:

hda1 NTFS Win XP 20gb
hda2 linux swap 512mb
hda5 EXT3 linux boot 100mb
hda6 EXT3 linux root 20gb
hda7 (I think it's 7) FAT32 71gb

What would I have to do to set up LILO in this configuration? I don't need to be able to boot to the FAT32 partition, it's just my "mass storage" partition to be used for mp3's and such in both Windows and Linux. (I have a WD 120gb HD). I would like to remove whatever part of GRUB I've installed, remove LILO ("emerge unmerge lilo", right?), and start configuring from scratch.

Thanks for any assistance you all can provide.

Chris

klieber · Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2002 11:45 pm Post subject:

Search the archives. I don't think you can avoid installing grub since it's part of 'emerge system', but you can certainly use lilo instead of grub. (might be able to mask grub during emerge system, not sure)

--kurt
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Chris Hickman · Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2002 11:52 pm Post subject:

Right, I saw that, but it doesn't go into quite the depth I need. As you can see from my post, I've gotten as far as "emerge lilo" but I'm not sure where to go from there, and that post doesn't address that.

Chris

klieber · Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2002 12:12 am Post subject:

You should just be able to install lilo per normal and have it work. Assuming you're installing it in the mbr, it will overwrite anything grub has already put there.

As for specific lilo config suggestions, I'll let someone else who uses lilo offer suggestions. However, reading over your original post, why do you want to unmerge lilo in the first place? Isn't that what you want to use?

--kurt
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id10t · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 18 May 2002 Posts: 100

Since you are running something that uses ntldr (nt/2k/xp), you need to write lilo to the / partition. Once that is done, you need to strip off that boot record, put it in a file, and put a reference to it in your boot.ini file.

Here's a page of gory details... http://www.afn.org/~afn57538/v3linux/nt-linux.htm
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scoy · Guest

I have installed lilo instead of grub and it works fine. my partitions are like so...

/dev/hda1 /boot
/dev/hds2 swap
/dev/hda3 /
/dev/sda1 /usr
/dev/sda2 /var

Chris Hickman · Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2002 6:54 pm Post subject:

Well, I decided that it doesn't really matter too much what bootloader I use, so I'm using GRUB anyway. I couldn't get it to work before, that was part of the problem, but then I figure out that the first step...when it says "root (hdxX,X)" it's actually referring to the boot partition, not the root

Confusing, but hey I'm a noob.

Chris

klieber · Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2002 11:01 pm Post subject:

Why grub couldn't have been written to follow the standard hda1, hda2 naming convention is beyond me. I'm sure there's a reason, but boy howdy, it better be a good one for all the trouble it causes people...

--kurt
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delta407 · Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2002 11:10 pm Post subject:

From the FAQ:

fghellar · Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2002 11:43 pm Post subject:

LILO = LInux LOader
GRUB = The GRand Unified Bootloader

LILO is for Linux, GRUB is for many OS's.

From http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+FreeBSD-2.html#ss2.2:

klieber · Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2002 11:53 pm Post subject:

guest · Guest

FGHELLAR

That is justifying on the level of grade-school mentality.
It is because it is ? The way grub labels drives somewhat the same as FreeBSD does
not make it a good reason. What about A5 & A6 ? Would it also qualify as good only
if it emulated Apple or Sun or Winxx ? The main reason it seems to cause confusion
is that it counts from zero . Since it is not hexa-decimal origin, that is contrary
to standard mathematics. We could count with base of many origins, but only if
there is a justified reason to do so. It is called setting and following useable and
logical standards. If Gentoo is developed for optimization and best useablity, it
should adopt standards and codes that conform to the most common good, not
justify bad practices because it is used somewhat the same in any other system.
Why not examine if the way BSD labels is very useful. Read your own link, it states
where BSD labeling integrates very poorly. With your reasoning, we would be lumbered
with many other unjustified inconsistancies. More than there is, that is !!
Wise up, you are a Guru in your own eyes only.

MPea3 · Guest

to use lilo is simple. i prefer lilo because i'm used to it, and since it works, iu didn't see a reason to change.

first, emerge lilo during the install. then read the man page for lilo, it's very thorough and easy to understand. from that create a /etc/lilo.conf file (or start with the /etc/lilo.conf.example file which installs when you emerge lilo), and having done that, run /sbin/lilo. it's simple, and trust me, if *I* can do it anyone can.

my own lilo.conf file follows. i have 4 scsi disks and 1 ide disk. the idew disk is win98, sda is gentoo, sdb is unused at the moment, sdc is freeBSD, and sdd is netBSD.

# lilo.conf
#
boot=/dev/hda
prompt
timeout=150
linear
vga=normal
read-only
menu-title="luthier.net"

other=/dev/hda1
label=windows

image=/boot/bzImage
label=linux
root=/dev/sda2

image=/boot/bzImage.old
label=oldlinux
root=/dev/sda2

other=/dev/sdc1
label=freeBSD

other=/dev/sdd
label=netBSD

klieber · Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2002 3:08 pm Post subject: Re: lilo vs grub

Naan Yaar · Bodhisattva Joined: 27 Jun 2002 Posts: 1549

For someone who used LILO for about 7 years and then moved on to grub, there is really no comparison - grub is far better. Advantages:

I am not bad mouthing LILO, but grub is a better tool. Drive naming, etc., are fairly trivial things that you can adjust to easily, considering all the other advantages.