Lilo

That way, if I messed up any of the configuration in my lilo. conf file, I could take out the boot disk and boot into Linux as before.

The traditional LILO boot prompt was a very terse text prompt similar to what you see if you press the Tab key.

If you do not specify this option in the configuration file, LILO will boot into the default OS with no user interaction and no waiting.

This sector contains a program called loader (for Linux it is usually LILO or GRUB); this actually boots the operating system.

LILO has no interactive command interface, whereas GRUB does.

Press the Tab key to see a list of images to boot and the original terse LILO text prompt boot: .

LILO halting at this point indicates the second stage boot loader could not be executed.

install= is one of the files used internally by LILO during the boot process.

The stage 2 loaders used in LILO and GRUB allow you to choose from several operating systems or versions to load.

Still using the example lilo. conf file as before, at this point you have two choices, which may not be immediately obvious to LILO newbies.

As you can see, GRUB references the media in a different way than LILO.

LiLo was once a promising Hollywood starlet, but a series of drunk-driving arrests, drug charges and court troubles have wrecked her career.

Although LILO continues to be developed, the basic principles of how LILO works still remain the same.

Akin to LILO or GRUB in a normal desktop system, this is the initial program that runs when the iPAQ starts and allows you to load Linux.

However, read about Configuring LILO to make sure you are able to boot up as expected.

If you're determined to do things by hand, you need to run lilo, make ssh host keys, and set a root password.

In the example this password is held in the lilo. conf file as readable text, so is easily accessible for all to read.

The data logger (bootchartd) runs in the place of the init process (usually, specified in the grub or lilo. conf files).

prompt= tells LILO to use the user interface (giving you in this example two selections -- Linux and WindowsXP).

See many additional resources on GRUB, LILO, and related topics in the Resources section later in this article.

Incorrectly entering the password will take you back to the LILO prompt.

The LILO boot loader expanded the boot capabilities, but lacked any file system awareness.

It will boot FreeBSD, though some customization work is required in the LILO configuration file.

There are a fair number of parameters you can specify when running LILO like we did.

If prompt is not specified in the lilo. conf, this parameter is ignored.

Lilo is a lonely Hawaiian girl who adopts a small ugly 'dog', whom she names Stitch.

You need to add this video option to the appropriate boot config file (menu. lst for GRUB or lilo. conf for LILO).

The common problems at this stage are media problems or incorrect disk parameters specified in your lilo. conf file.

This is a bitmap image that will be displayed instead of the more traditional LILO text prompt, as shown in Figure 2.

If you're starting fresh, you can jump straight to the Configuring LILO section.

Installing LILO as a boot loader is a required step.

For a hard drive, the MBR loads a stage 1 boot loader, which is typically either the LILO or GRUB stage1 boot loader on a Linux system.

read-only tells LILO to perform the initial boot to the file system read only.

map= points to the map file used by LILO internally during bootup.

When GRUB initially loads, like LILO it loads its first stage from the MBR.

You will also need a fairly recent version of either GRUB or LILO if you plan to boot from an LVM or RAID disk.

Instead of placing LILO in the new Linux logical partition superblock, it is placed in the master boot record.

For further information on these and other lilo. conf parameters, refer to the manual pages (man lilo. conf).

Unlike LILO's configuration file, grub. conf is read at boot time, and the MBR does not need to be refreshed when this is changed.

If LILO stops here, there were problems loading the second stage boot loader.

If you change your LILO config file, you have to rewrite the LILO stage one boot loader to the MBR.

LILO stores information regarding the location of the operating systems it can to load physically on the MBR.

The boot= line tells LILO where to install the boot loader.

LILO then loads the Linux kernel into memory and it starts to work its magic.

It can boot Linux using LILO when it is part of the boot sector, not the MBR.

In our example lilo. conf, we would get "Linux" and "WindowsXP" as our options.

Add the append=gdb line to lilo, which is the boot load used to select which kernel is used to boot the kernel.

Unlike with LILO, you can include spaces in this name.

See the manual pages for further information (man lilo).

You will use a boot loader like LILO to operate the boot process.

Likewise, if you're adding a new distribution to an existing system, you may need to make sure you have the latest LILO or GRUB in your MBR.

Now let's look at two of the more popular boot loaders: LILO and GRUB.

Listing 5 shows an example from the same system that you saw above for LILO.

Again, as with LILO, before doing anything else, have a Linux boot disk handy.

Remember to rerun lilo if you are using LILO.

To add a LILO entry for chain loading another partition, such as this GRUB partition, you can add an entry such as the one in Listing 4.

The default= option tells LILO which image to boot from by default, such as after the timeout period.

See? Told you you should have gone with the Lilo.

Instead of using raw sectors on the disk, as LILO does, GRUB can load a Linux kernel from an ext2 or ext3 file system.

If you're using a LILO earlier than version 21. 6, you'll have this problem.

The image contains not only the Linux kernel and root file system but also the typical boot sector used by GRUB and LILO.

It can also use a password encrypted with the MD5 algorithm as opposed to the plain text password of LILO.

You have just spent a weekend staying at the Lilo Hotel in Adelaide.

The boot problem is hopefully now resolved and your normal LILO or GRUB options will get the system up and running

exe or LILO has loaded the kernel into memory and passed control to it

Instead of the lilo prompt, you will only see

Code from a boot loader such as LILO, which locates the kernel, loads it, and executes it to start the boot proper