Re: Grub 2 functionality

[Marco Gerards]

Scott A Tovey <address@hidden> writes:

Hi,

> I have two questions.
>
> 1. Will grub2 be taking over the hard drive
> recognition from the BIOS?

It can be done, but it is not preferred.  We are working on this.

> I believe that the Max OS X boots without using
> the BIOS hard drive IO. This allows the OS to
> boot on any hardware regardless of whether the
> BIOS can recognize the entire drive or not.

It uses EFI.  It's still using firmware, just a different kind of
firmware.  GRUB 2 is capable of running on EFI.

> If GRUB had this functionality and provided the
> hard drive parameters to the OS instead of the
> BIOS, it would enable many older systems that do
> not have a flashable BIOS to be upgraded with
> newer hard drives and utilized as low grade
> servers or backup storage devices.

We should all switch to LinuxBIOS someday. ;-)

If you are using GNU/Linux, GRUB2+ATA can be used on a PC BIOS.

> Besides the benefit to older hardware, it would
> be good for Linux and other OS' that chose to use
> GRUB as the boot loader.

Not if that older OS uses the BIOS.  Because GRUB can access the
harddisk and load the OS, but if the OS can't access the hardware it
will not work.

> 2. Is there an installer that would allow me to
> install GRUB on my system without having to
> install Linux?

You could use a floppy/CDROM.  From which OS do you want to install?

--
Marco