25

I know GRUB, GRUB2 and BURG are boot loaders.

What is the differences between the three?

1 Answer 1

32

GRUB

Tthe GRand Unified Bootloader is the software that is loaded by your computer after it turns on (after your computer's BIOS loading screens). GRUB then either automatically boots Ubuntu or gives you a list of installed Operating Systems and lets you choose one to boot (people not dual booting will probably not see the GRUB interface below).

GRUB Screenshot

GRUB 2

A complete rewrite of the original GRUB (legacy GRUB). On the surface the majority of users won't notice any difference but the new version has fairly major structural changes and should be more reliable. The new version stores its configuration files differently, which means most online tutorials involving GRUB had to be rewritten. Other new features include the ability to boot LiveCD ISOs from the hard drive; support for other architectures such as PowerPC; theming and other graphical capabilities and scripting support.

Since 9.10 Ubuntu has used GRUB 2 as the default boot loader for clean installs (prior to this it was GRUB).

BURG

As for BURG - the capitalisation seems to depend who you ask - it is a fork of GRUB.The main reason most users consider BURG is for the theming possibilities, replacing the two colour boot screen above, with (for example) the interface below.

A BURG theme

We are unlikely to see BURG in default Ubuntu installs (at least not any time soon). The bootloader could be called the most important component of the Ubuntu stack - if it goes wrong you can't get into Ubuntu (or your other operating systems)! So such a major component needs to be fairly mature and well tested to ensure no breakage across the huge variety of devices Ubuntu is used on.

And here's a quote from the BURG website:

burg is a brand-new boot loader based on GRUB. It uses a new object format which allows it to be built in a wider range of OS, including Linux/Windows/OSX/FreeBSD, etc. It also has a highly configurable menu system which works in both text and graphic mode. Additional features like stream support and multiple input/output device are also planned.

7
  • Thankyou,also can you list out few advantages of having GRUB2 over GRUB ??
    – karthick87
    Jan 1, 2011 at 10:13
  • 13
    The big advantage is that grub2 is actually maintained. :) Jan 1, 2011 at 16:41
  • 1
    Great answer! I am hearing about Burg for first time and it was in my wish list. It will be great if Ubuntu team clean it up and uses in Ubuntu. The dull black and white menu makes many to think Linux is still about command line black and white!
    – Jamess
    Feb 4, 2011 at 12:25
  • 1
    Another advantage I see for grub2 over grub(1) is that it's harder to break it. update-grub will check for errors on change of configuration.
    – con-f-use
    May 17, 2011 at 12:49
  • 2
    @fluteflute: WOW, from black/white to purple/white? What a revolution! And cascading menus? Now my boot looks modern and slick! I can finally upgrade from a 80-ish look to a... 90-ish?
    – MestreLion
    Jun 22, 2011 at 16:02

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .