LILO: easier way to choose what OS to boot?

["Fred H. Olson" <fholson@cohousing.org>]

I've asked this question here before but got what I thought were
unsatisfactory responses... so I decided to ask it again because it
continues to be an annoyance.

LILO ("LInux LOader") is a little piece of software that loads one of
several operating systems at boot up.  Part way thru boot up it prompts
for whether to load an alternate operating system. If there is no response
to the prompt the default operating system is loaded after a timeout
(15-30 seconds?).  If one actually uses more than one operating system, it
is necessary to watch the boot up process ready to respond to the prompt
before the timeout.  For me at least, this means sometimes I look away and
miss the prompt and I get the default operating system when I want the
alternate operating system.  Not a big deal but annoying when it happens.

I think a much better design would would have the user indicate at the
time the boot is initiated (power up etc) which operating system is
desired.  This could be done by setting some sort of memory device - like
a switch :) that LILO can read when it needs to know which operating to
boot.  No universally available switch is available that I know of. One
possibility is to have LILO use a "hook" (vector, indirect jump or
similar) to a tiny bit of software that the user can optionally replace to
supply the indicator to the desired operating system.  The default would
be the current prompt, keyboard response, timeout system.  Alternate
procedures might read a switch on a port (game port, handshake line on a
spare serial port etc) or read a special file on a special floppy **)  
There are probably other possibilities I have not thought of.

** The trouble with the floopy idea is that if no floppy is ready you have
to wait for it's timeout to choose the default.  Will floppies in the
Intel world ever get an empty drive indicator?  An alternative is to have
one floppy for each operating system and always use on or another.

This would be quite trivial if one knew there way around the software
which supposedly some Linux Users do (I dont at least not yet).  My
previous post got little response,  if that's the case this time, 
where might be a better place to ask?

Fred

--
Fred H. Olson  fholson@cohousing.org    Minneapolis,MN   55411  
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