Syslinux or GRUB2 - Arch Linux
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 4:28 pm
I intend to try Arch Linux in a MBR system (already running Windows and Linux Mint). It's wiki states:
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.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR ... nless_disk
I've come across this before in installing other Linuxes (Ubuntu,Mint) and ignored it. Sometimes (but not recently) GRUB gets updated and screws up BIBM in the MBR, and then I follow the Terabyte guide to recovery. However Arch Linux also supports Syslinux as a bootloader and I haven't seen this warning in relation to Syslinux. So I wondered if it would be more stable to use Syslinux (although at present I have no experience of using it). I'm also looking at whether a separate small boot partition would be useful.
Looking at the Syslinux installation guide it also assumes it will be installed into the MBR, so I expect I'll have to reinstall BIBM afterwards and find a way to get it to switch Syslinux to a partition.
So my questions are:
* Is Syslinux a viable option? (or should I stick with GRUB2 and take the risk of corruption of BIBM)
* Should I install the boot files (whether Syslinux or GRUB2) in a separate boot partition rather than the root partition?
* Pointers to how to recover from Syslinux overwriting BIBM in the MBR?
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.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR ... nless_disk
I've come across this before in installing other Linuxes (Ubuntu,Mint) and ignored it. Sometimes (but not recently) GRUB gets updated and screws up BIBM in the MBR, and then I follow the Terabyte guide to recovery. However Arch Linux also supports Syslinux as a bootloader and I haven't seen this warning in relation to Syslinux. So I wondered if it would be more stable to use Syslinux (although at present I have no experience of using it). I'm also looking at whether a separate small boot partition would be useful.
Looking at the Syslinux installation guide it also assumes it will be installed into the MBR, so I expect I'll have to reinstall BIBM afterwards and find a way to get it to switch Syslinux to a partition.
So my questions are:
* Is Syslinux a viable option? (or should I stick with GRUB2 and take the risk of corruption of BIBM)
* Should I install the boot files (whether Syslinux or GRUB2) in a separate boot partition rather than the root partition?
* Pointers to how to recover from Syslinux overwriting BIBM in the MBR?