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| author |   Patrick J Volkerding <volkerdi@slackware.com> | 2009-08-26 10:00:38 -0500 |
|---|---|---|
| committer |   Eric Hameleers <alien@slackware.com> | 2018-05-31 22:41:17 +0200 |
| commit | 5a12e7c134274dba706667107d10d231517d3e05 (patch) | |
| tree | 55718d5acb710fde798d9f38d0bbaf594ed4b296 /slackbook/html/booting.html | |
| download | current-5a12e7c134274dba706667107d10d231517d3e05.tar.gz current-5a12e7c134274dba706667107d10d231517d3e05.tar.xz | |
Slackware 13.0slackware-13.0
Wed Aug 26 10:00:38 CDT 2009
Slackware 13.0 x86_64 is released as stable! Thanks to everyone who
helped make this release possible -- see the RELEASE_NOTES for the
credits. The ISOs are off to the replicator. This time it will be a
6 CD-ROM 32-bit set and a dual-sided 32-bit/64-bit x86/x86_64 DVD.
We're taking pre-orders now at store.slackware.com. Please consider
picking up a copy to help support the project. Once again, thanks to
the entire Slackware community for all the help testing and fixing
things and offering suggestions during this development cycle.
As always, have fun and enjoy! -P.
Diffstat (limited to 'slackbook/html/booting.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | slackbook/html/booting.html | 202 |
1 files changed, 202 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/slackbook/html/booting.html b/slackbook/html/booting.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..ca3b7871f --- /dev/null +++ b/slackbook/html/booting.html @@ -0,0 +1,202 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" /> +<title>Booting</title> +<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7" /> +<link rel="HOME" title="Slackware Linux Essentials" href="index.html" /> +<link rel="PREVIOUS" title="xdm" href="x-window-system-xdm.html" /> +<link rel="NEXT" title="LOADLIN" href="booting-loadlin.html" /> +<link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="docbook.css" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> +</head> +<body class="CHAPTER" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" +alink="#0000FF"> +<div class="NAVHEADER"> +<table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<th colspan="3" align="center">Slackware Linux Essentials</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="x-window-system-xdm.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom"></td> +<td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="booting-loadlin.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +</div> + +<div class="CHAPTER"> +<h1><a id="BOOTING" name="BOOTING"></a>Chapter 7 Booting</h1> + +<div class="TOC"> +<dl> +<dt><b>Table of Contents</b></dt> + +<dt>7.1 <a href="booting.html#BOOTING-LILO">LILO</a></dt> + +<dt>7.2 <a href="booting-loadlin.html">LOADLIN</a></dt> + +<dt>7.3 <a href="booting-dual.html">Dual Booting</a></dt> +</dl> +</div> + +<p>The process of booting your Linux system can sometimes be easy and sometimes be +difficult. Many users install Slackware on their computer and that's it. They just turn +it on and it's ready to use. Othertimes, simply booting the machine can be a chore. For +most users, LILO works best. Slackware includes LILO and Loadlin for booting Slackware +Linux. LILO will work from a hard drive partition, a hard drive's master boot record, or +a floppy disk, making it a very versatile tool. Loadlin works from a DOS command line, +killing DOS and invoking Linux.</p> + +<p>Another popular utility for booting Linux is GRUB. GRUB is not included or officially +supported by Slackware. Slackware holds to the “tried and true” standard for +what gets included inside the distribution. While GRUB works well and includes some +features that LILO does not, LILO handles all the essential tasks of a boot loader +reliably with a proven track record. Being younger, GRUB hasn't quite lived up to that +legacy yet. As it is not included with Slackware, we do not discuss it here. If you wish +to use GRUB (perhaps it came with another Linux OS and you want to use it to dual-boot) +consult GRUB's documentation.</p> + +<p>This section covers using LILO and Loadlin, the two booters included with Slackware. +It also explains some typical dual booting scenarios and how you could go about setting +it up.</p> + +<div class="SECT1"> +<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="BOOTING-LILO" name="BOOTING-LILO">7.1 LILO</a></h1> + +<p>The Linux Loader, or LILO, is the most popular booter in use on Linux systems. It is +quite configurable and can easily be used to boot other operating systems.</p> + +<p>Slackware Linux comes with a menu-driven configuration utility called <tt +class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt>. This program is first run during the setup process, but +you can invoke it later by typing <tt class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt> at the prompt.</p> + +<p>LILO reads its settings from the <tt class="COMMAND">/etc/lilo.conf</tt>(5) file. It +is not read each time you boot up, but instead is read each time you install LILO. LILO +must be reinstalled to the boot sector each time you make a configuration change. Many +LILO errors come from making changes to the <tt class="FILENAME">lilo.conf</tt> file, but +failing to re-run lilo to install these changes. <tt class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt> will +help you build the configuration file so that you can install LILO for your system. If +you prefer to edit <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/lilo.conf</tt> by hand, then reinstalling +LILO just involves typing <tt class="COMMAND">/sbin/lilo</tt> (as <tt +class="USERNAME">root</tt>) at the prompt.</p> + +<p>When you first invoke <tt class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt>, it will look like this:</p> + +<div class="FIGURE"><a id="BOOTING-SETUP-LILO" name="BOOTING-SETUP-LILO"></a> +<p><b>Figure 7-1. <tt class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt></b></p> + +<p><img src="booting/setup-lilo-w.png" /></p> +</div> + +<p>If this is your first time setting up LILO, you should pick simple. Otherwise, you +might find expert to be faster if you are familiar with LILO and Linux. Selecting simple +will begin the LILO configuration.</p> + +<p>If kernel frame buffer support is compiled into your kernel, <tt +class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt> will ask which video resolution you would like to use. +This is the resolution that is also used by the XFree86 frame buffer server. If you do +not want the console to run in a special video mode, selecting normal will keep the +standard 80x25 text mode in use.</p> + +<p>The next part of the LILO configuration is selecting where you want it installed. This +is probably the most important step. The list below explains the installation places:</p> + +<div class="VARIABLELIST"> +<dl> +<dt><var class="OPTION">Root</var></dt> + +<dd> +<p>This option installs LILO to the beginning of your Linux root partition. This is the +safest option if you have other operating systems on your computer. It ensures that any +other booters are not overwritten. The disadvantage is that LILO will only load from here +if your Linux drive is the first drive on your system. This is why many people chose to +create a very small <tt class="FILENAME">/boot</tt> partition as the first drive on their +system. This allows the kernel and LILO to be installed at the beginning of the drive +where LILO can find them. Previous versions of LILO contained an infamous flaw known as +the “1024 cylinder limit”. LILO was unable to boot kernels on partitions past +the 1024th cylinder. Recent editions of LILO have eliminated this problem.</p> +</dd> + +<dt><var class="OPTION">Floppy</var></dt> + +<dd> +<p>This method is even safer than the previous one. It creates a boot floppy that you can +use to boot your Linux system. This keeps the booter off the hard disk entirely, so you +only boot this floppy when you want to use Slackware. The flaws with this method are +obvious. Floppies are notoriously fickle, prone to failures. Secondly, the boot loader is +no longer self-contained within the computer. If you loose your floppy disk, you'll have +to make another to boot your system.</p> +</dd> + +<dt><var class="OPTION">MBR</var></dt> + +<dd> +<p>You will want to use this method if Slackware is the only operating system on your +computer, or if you will be using LILO to choose between multiple operating systems on +your computer. This is the most preferred method for installing LILO and will work with +almost any computer system.</p> + +<div class="WARNING"> +<table class="WARNING" width="90%" border="0"> +<tr> +<td width="25" align="CENTER" valign="TOP"><img src="./imagelib/admon/warning.png" +hspace="5" alt="Warning" /></td> +<td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"> +<p>This option will overwrite any other booter you have in the MBR.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</dd> +</dl> +</div> + +<p>After selecting the installation location, <tt class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt> will +write the configuration file and install LILO. That's it. If you select the expert mode +you will receive a special menu. This menu allows you to tweak the <tt +class="FILENAME">/etc/lilo.conf</tt> file, add other operating systems to your boot menu, +and set LILO to pass special kernel parameters at boot time. The expert menu looks like +this:</p> + +<div class="FIGURE"><a id="BOOTING-LILO-EXPERT" name="BOOTING-LILO-EXPERT"></a> +<p><b>Figure 7-2. <tt class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt> Expert Menu</b></p> + +<p><img src="booting/setup-lilo-expert-w.png" /></p> +</div> + +<p>Whatever your system configuration is, setting up a working boot loader is easy. <tt +class="COMMAND">liloconfig</tt> makes setting it up a cinch.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="NAVFOOTER"> +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +<table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="x-window-system-xdm.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html" +accesskey="H">Home</a></td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="booting-loadlin.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><tt class="COMMAND">xdm</tt></td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"> </td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">LOADLIN</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</body> +</html> + |