From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jan 14 18:53:55 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 16A3E16A4CE for ; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 18:53:55 -0800 (PST) Received: from out1.smtp.messagingengine.com (out1.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.25]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CF6BF43D53 for ; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 18:53:43 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from judmarc@fastmail.fm) X-Sasl-enc: njikUuSAeDs7SVaJQqrJig 1074135219 Received: from dialup-67.74.79.195.Dial1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net (dialup-67.74.79.195.Dial1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net [67.74.79.195]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A62D84AA0BB; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 21:53:36 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 21:53:36 -0500 To: "Peter Risdon" , Lee_Shackelford@dot.ca.gov References: <400577B0.90708@circlesquared.com> From: Jud Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes; charset=utf-8 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <400577B0.90708@circlesquared.com> User-Agent: Opera M2/7.50 (Win32, build 3521) cc: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: choice of boot manager X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 02:53:55 -0000 On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 17:09:04 +0000, Peter Risdon wrote: > Lee_Shackelford@dot.ca.gov wrote: > >> not know. Any information about positive or negative experiences with >> any >> of these programs in a multiple operating system configuration would be >> appreciated. > This isn't on your list, but I tried using the romantically named "gag" > graphical bootloader > > http://gag.sourceforge.net/ > > after a few probs with an OpenBSD/W98 installation, and found it > extremely good. It's what I use for customers' dual boot machines now > because it's quick to install, easy to configure, reliable and pretty. GAG is more automagic than the others you've named, and I think it is a good choice. Ranish shouldn't be used unless you know a *lot* about partitioning. Otherwise it's darned easy to mess things up. GRUB is worthwhile - a good learning experience precisely because it is not automagic. FreeBSD's BootEasy and the NT bootloader both work, though you have to learn how to configure the NT loader, and BootEasy is bare-bones. I currently use GAG with no problems at all to boot -STABLE, -CURRENT, Slackware Linux, Windows 2000 and Windows 98 on a system with a RAID-0 array and a third hard drive. It finds all the OSs itself; all you have to do is assign a number to each. (To boot Linux, you must install Lilo or Grub to the kernel partition.) Hit a number on the keyboard when GAG's screen comes up, and the corresponding OS boots. Easy as that. Jud