Re: lilo removal in squeeze (or, "please test grub2")

[Stephen Powell <zlinuxman@wowway.com>]

On Mon, 24 May 2010 13:38:55 -0400 (EDT), Ferenc Wagner wrote:
> Stephen Powell <zlinuxman@wowway.com> writes:
>> On Mon, 24 May 2010 05:29:56 -0400 (EDT), Ferenc Wagner wrote:
>>> Stephen Powell <zlinuxman@wowway.com> writes:
>>>> Both grub-legacy and grub-pc use sectors on the hard disk outside of
>>>> the master boot record [...]
>>>
>>> You may want to try extlinux, it works much like LILO in this respect.
>>
>> Thanks for the tip.  That may be an option.  I looked at the documentation
>> online, and there does not appear to be an option equivalent to lilo's
>> vga option, though, which I use a lot, especially since svgatextmode
>> has already been pulled from squeeze.
> 
> I'm not sure what you're after, I haven't used LILO for ages.  But
> typing vmlinuz-2.6.32 vga=0xf07 at the pxelinux boot prompt gives me a
> 80x60 console.  The other variants use the same code.

Interesting.  At one point, the kernel itself had de-supported the
vga boot option, relying on the boot loader to set the video mode
before transferring control to the kernel.  And now you're saying
it's back.  Hmm.  According to Documentation/svga.txt in the kernel
source tree:

   This small document describes the "Video Mode Selection" feature which
   allows the use of various special video modes supported by the video BIOS.
   Due to usage of the BIOS, the selection is limited to boot time (before
   the kernel decompression starts) and works only on 80X86 machines.

Note the wording "before the kernel decompression starts".  That to me
implies "done by the bootloader", because the bootloader decompresses
the kernel (if it is compressed) before transferring control to it,
does it not?

The vga option is a separate option in lilo.  You can't include it in
the append variable without lilo generating an error.  You've got my
curiosity up now.  I'll have to try this.  I do have a spare computer
with which to test.  I'm going to have to try installing Squeeze using
extlinux as the boot loader.  (No doubt I'll have to change bootloaders
after installation, as the Debian Installer won't offer that option.)
Then I'll see if I can pass it the vga option and have it work.  And
if that works, then I'll try the backup, nuke, and restore scenario.
And if that works, then I may have a viable alternative to lilo.
I'll let you know how it goes.

-- 
  .''`.     Stephen Powell    
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