GRUB2 or Syslinux (or GRUB Legacy)?

rustleg · 2015-09-06 18:58:11

I want to try Arch (existing Linux Mint user, but not even Arch newbie). I'm trying to decide between GRUB2 and alternatives.

In my system booting is controlled by a proprietary program BIBM by Terabyte Unlimited, which allows me to multiboot many different systems and keeps them nicely isolated from each other even though they are all on the one disc. But BIBM has to reside in the MBR so it requires me to install the Arch bootloader to a partition not the MBR. I am aware of this Warning: GRUB strongly discourages installation to a partition boot sector or a partitionless disk as GRUB Legacy or Syslinux does. This setup is prone to breakage, especially during updates, and is not supported by the Arch developers.

The other Linux systems I use (flavours of Mint) do have GRUB2 installed to the partition (despite the dire warning which I was aware of) and so far have only rarely been broken, but they didn't offer any alternative such as Syslinux. I haven't used Syslinux before but perhaps it might suit my situation better. I don't need the bootloader to do anything really fancy - I know GRUB2 has all sorts of features - just boot the system will do.

So although I could probably get away with GRUB2 on a partition, I'm tempted to try Syslinux as a more suitable solution. In this situation as briefly described are there any big gotchas I need to look for if I try Syslinux? I'm not asking for detailed information, just trying to avoid a lot of wasted work, so comments from those who have experience of these bootloaders would be most welcome - thanks.

rustleg · 2015-09-10 20:01:47

After more deliberation I decided to stick with GRUB2 and installed it to a partition. I did the install to the end of the beginners guide and also connected to my NAS with fstab entries copied from my Linux Mint installation. So far everything works.

When GRUB breaks I might revisit this thread.

jackro · 2015-09-12 23:35:53

Whenever you revisit this thread, try out syslinux. Syslinux provides some cool customizeablility and is much simpler to configure. If you get a system that supports EFI, you may also want to look at gummiboot/systemd boot.

Soukyuu · 2015-09-12 23:40:15

About the only downside of syslinux is lack of btrfs compression support. I've had some bad experience with grub before, so I'm wary of it. Maybe it has improved since then, I don't know.

CarlD · 2015-09-20 08:48:30

Syslinux is definitely worth a try; I prefer it to Grub2 on BIOS systems.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-09-06 18:58:11

GRUB2 or Syslinux (or GRUB Legacy)?

#2 2015-09-10 20:01:47

Re: GRUB2 or Syslinux (or GRUB Legacy)?

#3 2015-09-12 23:35:53

Re: GRUB2 or Syslinux (or GRUB Legacy)?

#4 2015-09-12 23:40:15

Re: GRUB2 or Syslinux (or GRUB Legacy)?

#5 2015-09-20 08:48:30

Re: GRUB2 or Syslinux (or GRUB Legacy)?

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