Re: GRUB for Debian in general?

[Mark Kettenis <kettenis@wins.uva.nl>]

   Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 14:00:33 +0000 (BST)
   From: "M.C. Vernon" <mcv21@cus.cam.ac.uk>

   Is it possible to use GRUB like LILO? here is my lilo.conf:

   boot=/dev/hda4
   root=/dev/hda4
   compact
   install=/boot/boot.b
   map=/boot/map
   vga=normal
   delay=20
   image=/vmlinuz
   label=Linux
   read-only

   Do I just add all of this to the GRUB config file, and then install grub
   onto hard disk (I'm currently booting hurd via GRUB on a floppy)? and can
   I use append="mem=128M" as well?

I'm not sure what all those LILO options mean.  I guess that some are
global LILO configuration parameters (boot, compact, install, delay),
some are parameters for the specefic boot entry (image, label), and
some are options to the kernel itself (root, vga, map).  A
corresponding GRUB entry would be something like

   root=(hd0,3)
   kernel=/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda4

if you want to include mem=128M you would add an entry

   root=(hd0,3)
   kernel=/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda4 mem=128M

For the exact format of the GRUB configuration file (usually
/boot/grub/menu.lst), please refer to the GRUB documentation.

The only problem is the vga= option.  Because video mode selection is a
bit of a kludge in Linux (it's done before switching the processor to
protected mode) the video mode is encoded in the kernel binary itself
and cannot be changed by means of a command line option.  Apparently
LILO knows the location of this information and stuffs in something
else if you use a vga= option.  AFAIK GRUB cannot do this.  But of
course the vga=normal can be ommitted since it is the default.

Mark