Advocate GRUB for DOS (Grub4Dos)
So far, seems to me that the GRUB for DOS is still a hidden treasure that
most people haven't realized its beauty and power. Please don't be confused
by its name, GRUB for DOS, Grub4Dos is actually the best GRUB boot loader so
far until GRUB2 is able to catch up with Grub4Dos's features and get mature
enough.
In a nutshell, it is advanced GRUB that
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is 100% compatible with gnu grub 0.97
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so it is a given to have multiple levels of submenus. This is ideal to put multiple distros into the same disk, while keeping and maintain each distros' boot menu individually, instead of having a humongous root menu to gulp everything.
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actively developed and maintained instead of feature-frozen
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can use nice boot up graphics without patching
can be used as the boot loader for both CDROM and HD, which means
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no more disjointed modules (Isolinux/Syslinux) any more
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no need to endure the limitation of Syslinux from Isolinux any more
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no need to develop separate methods to boot from CDROM and HD installation any more
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can chainload Isolinux (when used as bootable cd-loader), Syslinux, BCDW, EZBOOT (EasyBoot), etc.
can be put in and boot from both Linux and Windows major partitions
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the ideal boot loader for Slax and its derived distros that can reside in both Linux and Windows partitions
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no need to develop separate methods to boot from Linux based or Windows based HD installation any more
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can be used from within both Linux and Windows environments
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its hybrid executable can be launched from both Linux and DOS/Windows
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uses two step booting instead of three so that it is easier to install and
will not break even if you make changes later (e.g., rearrange your
partitions).
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thus is more tolerable than normal grub when booting USB keys (= better success rate).
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is the only boot loader that can boot up CDROM
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can boot up not only floppy disk images but also Hard Disk/HDD-ZIP/HDD-USB images
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can even boot *straight from* some no-emulation-mode CD .iso files
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can use file as well as partition as the source of the ramdisk
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can use memdisk devices loaded by inited
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can even map a specified range of memory as a ramdisk
