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Thread: best free boot manager?

  1. #1
    mentally overclocked Cale_Hagan's Avatar
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    Default best free boot manager?

    i am looking for a boot manager to dual boot windows and linux, off of two different drives, preferably supporting up to 5 or 6 OS's eventually....
    also prefer a GUI if possible, if not, that's cool too. just prefer the best... for free. thanks in advance.
    want to know what you guys think, from personal experience....
    "The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.” -George Carlin

    “Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.” -George Carlin

    Quote Originally Posted by DynamoNED
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  2. #2
    Administrator OvRiDe's Avatar
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    Why not use something like Virtual Box or VMWare and run those OS virtually? Then you can use them simultaneously rather then having to reboot to switch between them.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    grub works pretty good

  4. #4
    The floppy drive is no longer obsolete. AmEv's Avatar
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    "BURG".



    It's based on GRUB, but it has a graphical interface.

    Don't remember the download link, but Googling "BURG bootloader" will bring up install instructions.

    I use it, and I have two minor complaints:
    No 1080p support... yet
    On of the better-looking themes are extremely sluggish.

    Other than that, I highly recommended it.
    Two years. They were great. Let's make the next ones even better!

    Tri.fecta

  5. #5
    mentally overclocked Cale_Hagan's Avatar
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    Quote Originally Posted by OvRiDe View Post
    Why not use something like Virtual Box or VMWare and run those OS virtually? Then you can use them simultaneously rather then having to reboot to switch between them.
    i want to learn linux a bit better, and what better way than to force myself to use it?
    i was going to just install backtrack 5, but i figured i should learn linux a bit more in depth (i already know how to do a lot of hacking with bt5....)
    so yeah. just for learning purposes.
    "The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.” -George Carlin

    “Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.” -George Carlin

    Quote Originally Posted by DynamoNED
    Any contest that lacks integrity is no contest at all

  6. #6
    Anodized. Again. Konrad's Avatar
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    I'm still using an ancient version of LILO, from Slackware/Debian haha

    GRUB comes highly recommended if you're using WinXP/Vista/Win7 etc ... although I don't actually have any personal experience with it.
    My mind says Technic, but my body says Duplo.

  7. #7
    Administrator OvRiDe's Avatar
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cale_Hagan View Post
    i want to learn linux a bit better, and what better way than to force myself to use it?
    i was going to just install backtrack 5, but i figured i should learn linux a bit more in depth (i already know how to do a lot of hacking with bt5....)
    so yeah. just for learning purposes.
    Ahh.. no worries. The VM route will still let you learn all you want about using linux, it just doesn't require having to redo your computer everytime you want to load a different OS. Another easy option is WUBI. It will let you install Ubuntu without creating a new partition on your hard drive. It uses a folder inside of your existing windows partition to boot from. Its still boots fully into Linux, unlike a VM, but also give you the ability to just delete the installation from windows and start over if you mess something up. More information on it can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wubi_%2...u_installer%29

    And a video of it in action:



    The nice thing is its still a full dual boot system without the hassle. Once you get your feet wet, you can always go back and redo it a multi partition/multi boot system.
    Hope this helps.

  8. #8
    Anodized. Again. Konrad's Avatar
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    OVR - does that linux-in-windows-folder approach force dependency on Windows file system?
    My mind says Technic, but my body says Duplo.

  9. #9
    Administrator OvRiDe's Avatar
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    I am guessing it does. Since the installation is stored inside a folder in the Windows partition, I am assuming it does.

  10. #10
    The floppy drive is no longer obsolete. AmEv's Avatar
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    Default Re: best free boot manager?

    I thought it created an EXT4 virtual HDD? Not sure, but do check out BURG.
    Two years. They were great. Let's make the next ones even better!

    Tri.fecta

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