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Package: debian-installer Short, practical, typical story: Mr X followed good advices. - He installed the so nice and easy to understand GAG multi-boot - He installed the so nice Debian system or derivative He followed the "normal", by default installation options and Debian wiped out GAG. He reinstalled GAG but he could not configure it to boot Debian. He found dozens and dozens of even worse horror stories: many people had lost access to their running Debian system after many hours of service. Conclusion #1 : a partition containing a Debian (or any) system MUST ALWAYS contain an OS bootloader (Grub) activated by loading the PBR even if (in addition to) another means to boot Debian is initially used, so that: - Debian booting can be restored by normal booting methods and tools - Debian can continue to boot if the partition is copied (to another drive) - etc. Conclusion #2: installing the Grub OS bootloader on the MBR is a bad idea: one cannot have each kind of systems on a disk install its own different OS bootloader on the same MBR and erase the others. If multi-boot or booting a logical partition is needed, an independent, graphical and easy to use program like GAG is ideal. The Debian liveCD should have an option to install one or repair it (in start menu or during installation). The only hindrance of GAG is that is must be configured by moving icons to its main window before working. It would be much easier if the main window were pre-populated with all icons for every partitions, with options to modify an icon, erase it, reorder it or move it aside (test boot, reset PC, configure and save what has just been tested, loop) |