Install the Linux boot loader in the MBR of the first disk, and install the Linux boot partition in the first 1024 cylinders of the second disk. Use LOADLIN, SYSLINUX, System Commander, or a similar product to boot Linux from DOS instead of booting the system directly to Linux. Make a complete backup of Microsoft Windows, and repartition the disk so that both Windows and Linux are in the first 1024 cylinders. This, of course, requires a complete reinstallation of Windows. Create a Linux boot directory within the Windows directory structure that contains the Linux kernel and all of the files from the /boot directory. Upgrade the BIOS. This is not as difficult as it may sound. Most systems allow the BIOS to be upgraded, and many motherboard manufacturers and BIOS manufacturers have BIOS upgrades on their websites. However, don’t undertake this lightly! A problem during the upgrade can leave the system unusable, and send you scurrying to the computer store to buy a replacement BIOS chip. Make a boot floppy or CD-ROM, and use that to start Linux. This is frequently the easiest option. Don’t be overly concerned about this potential problem. It is not a concern for servers, and even on clients it is rare. I have installed many Linux systems and have only had this problem once. In that case, it was a very old system that could directly address only 504MB per disk drive. My solution was to give the user a 250MB drive from my junk drawer as a second disk. (I never throw anything away.) I installed LILO in the MBR of his first disk and Linux on the second disk. The user was happy, Linux was installed, and I had less junk in my drawer. Even though there are several options for loading Linux, only a few are widely used. Most systems use the Linux loader LILO. The Red Hat Linux 7.2 system defaults to using GRUB. This chapter covers both of these commonly used loaders. We start with a close look at the default GRUB configuration generated by the Red Hat installation program. Loading Linux with GRUB During the installation of Red Hat Linux 7.2, you’re asked to select which boot loader should be used. By default, Red Hat uses the Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB), and creates a GRUB configuration based on the values you select during the installation. Listing 1.1 shows the GRUB configuration generated by the Red Hat installation program for a desktop client. A dual-boot client configuration is used as an example because it is slightly more complex than a server configuration (servers do not usually dual-boot). Listing 1.1: The Default GRUB Configuration [root]# cat /etc/grub.conf # grub.conf generated by anaconda # # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file # NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg. # root (hd0,2) # kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda3 # initrd /boot/initrd-version.img #boot=/dev/hda default=0 timeout=10 splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz 14
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