next up previous contents
Next: Choosing the ``right'' Up: Booting basics Previous: LILO alone

Names

The following names have been used to describe boot sectors or parts of operating systems:

``DOS-MBR''
is the original MS-DOS MBR. It scans the partition table for a partition that is marked ``active'' and loads the boot sector of that partition. Programs like MS-DOS' FDISK, Linux fdisk or activate (accompanies LILO ) can change the active marker in the partition table.
``MS-DOS''
denotes the MS-DOS boot sector that loads the other parts of the system ( IO.SYS, etc.).
``COMMAND.COM''
is the standard command interpreter of MS-DOS.
``BOOTLIN'' and ``LOADLIN''
are programs that load a Linux kernel image from an MS-DOS partition into memory and execute it. They are usually invoked from CONFIG.SYS and used in combination with a CONFIG.SYS configuration switcher, like BOOT.SYS.gif
``LILO''
can either load a Linux kernel or the boot sector of any other operating system. It has a first stage boot sector that loads the remaining parts of LILO from various locations.gif
``BOOTACTV''
permits interactive selection of the partition from which the boot sector should be read. If no key is pressed within a given interval, the partition marked active is booted. BOOTACTV is included in the pfdisk package. There are also several similar programs, like PBOOT and OS-BS.gif



Ross Biro
Sat May 20 13:51:22 PDT 1995