4.2.3.
GRUB features
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This boot method is called direct loading because instructions are used to directly load the operating system, with no intermediary code between the boot-loaders and the operating system's main files (such as the kernel). The boot process used by other operating systems may differ slightly from the above, however. For example, Microsoft's DOS and Windows operating systems completely overwrite anything on the MBR when they are installed without incorporating any of the current MBR's configuration. This destroys any other information stored in the MBR by other operating systems, such as Linux. The Microsoft operating systems, as well as various other proprietary operating systems, are loaded using a chain loading boot method. With this method, the MBR points to the first sector of the partition holding the operating system, where it finds the special files necessary to actually boot that operating system.
GRUB supports both boot methods, allowing you to use it with almost any operating system, most popular file systems, and almost any hard disk your BIOS can recognize.
GRUB contains a number of other features; the most important include:
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GRUB provides a true command-based, pre-OS environment on x86 machines to allow maximum flexibility in loading operating systems with certain options or gathering information about the system.
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GRUB supports Logical Block Addressing (LBA) mode, needed to access many IDE and all SCSI hard disks. Before LBA, hard drives could encounter a 1024-cylinder limit, where the BIOS could not find a file after that point.
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GRUB's configuration file is read from the disk every time the system boots, preventing you from having to write over the MBR every time you change the boot options.
A full description of GRUB may be found by issuing the info grub command or at the GRUB site. The Linux Documentation Project has a Multiboot with GRUB Mini-HOWTO.
