[syslinux] syslinux vs grub

[A.J. Venter]

On Friday, 07 January 2005 15:06, Jacob S wrote:
> On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 01:50:26 -0800
>
> "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:
> > Okay, I'm going to ask the gajillion-dollar question...
> >
> > I've been doing syslinux for 11 years now.  From a very limited scope
> > it has since grown and is now a very advanced boot loader.
> >
> > Unfortunately, it's not clear to me anymore to what extent the work
> > I'm doing is useful.
> >
> > I personally dislike grub because of its monolithic design, and
> > because the grub people have traditionally been very difficult to deal
> > with. Yet it has achieved a remarkable adoption rate, and it's not
> > clear whether or not it's worth trying to capture that market
> > (especially since these are markets in which you don't get paid...!)
> >
> > In many ways Grub is like Windows; bloated, bad design, has the
> > checkbox features, most of them badly implemented, and enough pretty
> > pictures people think it's user friendly.  I don't want to turn
> > syslinux into that.  So I guess the megaquestion is...
> >
> > Is it worth bothering with going forward, or am I wasting my time?  If
> >
> > so, what should I be focusing on?
>
Personally I still use lilo to boot my distributions. Where syslinux however 
always wins out is as the bootloader for small scale work. Neither lilo nor 
grub is efficient for things like floppy or memory stick work.
Not to mention derivatives like isolinux, is there any distribution/live cd 
left in the world that DOESN'T use isolinux ?

Even freedos boots with isolinux.

I think syslinux is fullfilling a very great need in the market, and your work 
is a cornerstone to the entire free software world today. Something every 
other developer out there know they can rely on.

A.J.

-- 
""If we do not write as we speak, people will start to speak as we write" - 
George Bernard Shaw
A.J Venter
Lead Developer, DireqLearn 
082 726 5103
http://www.direqlearn.org
http://www.direqlearn.org/olce
http://silentcoder.co.za