LILO

[Janina Sajka]

Tom Diehl writes:
> From: Tom Diehl <tdiehl at rogueind.com>
> 
> On Sun, 19 Oct 2003, Janina Sajka wrote:
> 
> > And a sad thing it is, too, for those of us requiring eyes-free booting
> > options.
> > 
> > Grub may be a step forward in many ways, but it's a step backwards for
> > the eyes-free user at this time.
> 
> Why?? What will lilo do that grub will not?? Maybe there is a solution that
> you are not aware of. OTOH maybe there is not but it does not hurt to ask.

I'd love to be wrong. So here goes. I sincerely hope at least some items
on this list are just my own ignorznce of Grub.

Not necessarily prioritized:

1.)	The ability to play a sound to indicate the boot loader is ready
for user actions. In System Commander these are cutsy little tunes. In
lilo we simply drop two or three Ctrl-G's into /boot/message.

	It's important to know when the window of opportunity is open.

2.)	Interface to a serial device. This should run the gamut
	from simply sending a ASCII string out the first serial port, to
	function as a fully capable interactive interface over serial.

	I know that at least some in the industry want serial ports to
	go away forever. But, usb is not a substitute at low levels
	during the boot process.

		Let's remember that computers (before Intel) routinely
		made bios level access available on the first serial
		port if a monitor was not present. We need to go back to
		that.

3.)	The ability to call a particular kernel by name
		and by alias.

			It is not sufficient to "arrow up and down."
			That's great for some, but lousy for others.
				Under System Commander one can type 'a'
				or 'b' and know what kernel will be
				loaded. There's no need to consider
				which one might be highlighted, and how
				many up arrows, or down arrow key
				strokes are needed to "highlight" the
				desired selection. Under lilo we did
				this with "alias=" and "label="

4.)	The command line should still expire after a user defined
interval. It's great that Grub can bring up a command line by default,
but not great that it stays there forever. So, we need equivalents for
lilo's "prompt" and "timeout" commands.



> 
> -- 
> ......Tom		Registered Linux User #14522	http://counter.li.org
> tdiehl at rogueind.com	My current SpamTrap ------->	mtd123 at rogueind.com
> 
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-- 
	
Janina Sajka
Email: janina at rednote.net		
Phone: (202) 408-8175

Director, Technology Research and Development
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
http://www.afb.org

Chair, Accessibility Work Group
Free Standards Group
http://accessibility.freestandards.org