Introduction to the advantages and disadvantages of Grub and LILO in Linux

Source: Internet
Author: User

With the development of the times, the network is becoming more and more popular, especially the performance of PC is getting stronger and stronger. Now the hard disk of PC is getting bigger and bigger, so we can install more operating systems in our own computer, as a result, many people have installed Linux. The most commonly used multi-Start Software in Linux is LILO and Grub. Here we will explain the advantages and disadvantages of Grub and LILO.

LILO is the default boot program for many Linux systems. It is short for Linux Loader and has powerful functions. Grub is also a multi-start manager. Its full name is Grand uniied Bootloader. Like LILO, Grub also provides the function of selecting the system to be guided when multiple operating systems coexist.

It can guide many commonly used operating systems on PCs, including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Windows 9x, and Windows NT. It can load the operating system kernel and initialize the operating system; the boot permission can be directly handed over to the operating system for guidance; the Linux kernel can be read directly from the FAT, minix, FFS, ext2, or ext3 partitions. Grub has a special interactive Console mode. You can manually mount the kernel and select the boot partition.

Advantages and disadvantages of Grub and LILO

Grub appears later than LILO, so it can implement most of LILO functions, instead of LILO for Linux boot, especially for the coexistence of Linux and other operating systems.

◆ 8.4GB Problems

In the past, LILO of older Linux versions had the following problem: the boot/boot partition cannot be divided into more than 1023 cylinders, usually around GB, otherwise, LILO cannot be installed, or the system cannot be correctly booted after installation. Grub will not do this. As long as the hard disk is in LBA mode during installation, it can direct the root partition to an operating system other than 8 GB. At present, this problem has been well handled in the newer version of LILO.

◆ Beautiful Logo

The Grub boot mode displays a beautiful boot screen, which can be 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and other modes, and supports automatic selection of the best image mode. Linux enthusiasts can change this image to create a personalized boot screen.

LILO originated from the text interface, so it has limited support for the boot screen in the latest version.

◆ Execution Mode

Grub can not only boot through the configuration file, but also dynamically change the boot parameters before selecting boot, and dynamically load various devices. For example, if a new core is compiled in Linux, but you cannot determine whether it can work, You can dynamically change the Grub parameter during the boot. Even if the Grub menu configuration is incorrect, but the system can still be guided. Grub command lines have very powerful functions and support history functions such as bash. You can use up or down keys to find previous commands. LILO does not support this mode.

In LILO, You can manually enter the operating system name to guide different operating systems, or use a menu to select different systems for boot. Grub is also compatible with the above operations.

◆ Partition impact on Grub and LILO

LILO loads the operating system by reading the absolute sector on the hard disk. Therefore, you must reconfigure LILO for each partition change. If you adjust the partition size and partition allocation, LILO cannot boot the operating system of the partition before reconfiguration. Grub directly reads the core to the memory through the file system. Therefore, Grub can guide the system as long as the path of the core of the operating system remains unchanged.

Grub and LILO support multiple external devices, multiple file systems, dynamic loading of the operating system kernel, and even network-based loading of the operating system core. Grub also supports multiple executable file formats, automatic decompression, and multi-boot operating systems. The above is the introduction of LILO and Grub, the most common multi-Start Software in Linux.

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