Re: Loadlin and Squeeze kernel 2.6.32
El 2012-07-07 a las 10:01 -0700, Mike McClain escribió:
(resending to the list)
> Hello,
>
> I've noted from your posts that you're pretty savvy so I'm sorry
> you have no experience in this area but I'm happy to answer your
> questions.
Thanks for your kind words; experience is a rank and helps a lot.
> On Sat, Jul 07, 2012 at 01:33:27PM +0000, Camale?n wrote:
> > On Fri, 06 Jul 2012 16:19:20 -0700, Mike McClain wrote:
> >
> > > I've used loadlin.exe for years but with my recent install of
> > > Squeeze loadlin reboots the computer rather than launching Debian.
> >
> > I never used loadlin before so I can't be of much help here. But, just
> > out of curiosity, may I ask you about the reasons for still using it
> > today? :-?
>
> Because it works for me. I've kept installs of previous versions of
> Debian on separate partitions for reference as well as the fact that
> by doing so I'll have a working install while getting a newer version
> setup. Also when I first started using Linux I had Redhat, Slackware
> and Debian all installed at the same time and would switch from one
> to another while still keeping my DOS install working for the important
> stuff. It wasn't 'til I installed Solaris and a couple of BSD variants
> that I used a boot loader in the mbr and when that drive died I never
> felt the need to go back to Lilo or grub. If loadlin were able to
> launch the kernel installed with Squeeze I still wouldn't be using grub.
Thanks for the explanation. I asked because if what you wanted is keeping
things separate (e.g., windows and linuxes boxes) there is another
approach to consider (at least this was possible with openSUSE that
allowed to install "generic code" into the MBR -I miss this option from
Debian installer though-): install each GRUB in its own partition
(instead the MBR) and mark with the "bootable" flag the desired
partition with GRUB on it. This way you have as many GRUBs as linuxes
installed to boot (thus if one fails you can go with the rest) and
Windows is happy with this because you don't have to reinstall all over
again the bootloader when (re)installing the system.
Another usual option would be using a small separate partition for the
bootloader (as you do with loadlin) but having GRUB (or another
multi-system and supported bootloader) in there.
The key here IMO is the status of the bootloader that has to deal with
different OSes and thus has to be up-to-date and in continous
development.
> > > The flip side of the issue is that grub2 resets the computer
> > > trying to launch kernels that loadlin launches with no problem.
> >
> > (thinking out loud...)
> >
> > I'm not about the behaviour you are getting... is that a) you boot from
> > loadlin and as soon as it passes the control to GRUB2 is rebooted, b) you
> > reach the GRUB2's menu, select the Debian entry and then it reboots, c)
> > none of the above, because loadlin is capable to directly boot a linux
> > system and thus omitting the bootloader (GRUB2, LILO, etc...) installed
> > or d) other? :-)
>
> loadlin bypasses grub.
Is c) then, okay, thanks for the aclaration, I was somehow confused by
your comment "the issue is that grub2 resets the computer...".
> loadlin.exe is a DOS program so the way I've been using it is to boot into
> DOS then run loadlin on a kernel kept in c:\boot with a command like:
> c:\boot\loadlin c:\boot\nvmlinuz.d40 root=/dev/hdb8 ro
> this boots an Etch install from DOS.
It sounds that simple that looks very nice :-)
> grub won't boot that same kernel when it's on /dev/[hs]db8 but reboots the
> computer.
> In order to get into Etch I must boot DOS from grub then boot Etch with loadlin.
> The same is true of a Sarge install.
>
> update-grub doesn't even find the DOS partition I'm used to booting here sda2.
Ugh! Okay, I see the mess now :-(
> > > Can anyone point me at info other than the sources (over my head)
> > > to explain the problem and/or a solution?
> >
> > I would try (just for testing purposes) if you can boot the system with
> > SuperGrub2Disk, for instance.
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
> Hope I've answered your questions adequately.
Yes, and thanks a bunch for the detailed reply, very much appreciated. I
hope you can finally bypass this issue and keep loadlin as your
bootloader partner for some more time :-)
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
Reply to: