bloaders.txt

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* Porteus Bootloaders *
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The bootloader that you install should be determined by your existing
operating system and the file system of the partition on which you
are installing Porteus.

NOTE:  For more information on non-standard installs, visit the 
"Installation Methods" section of our forum, at 
https://porteus.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=62


WINDOWS
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If you are a Windows user, the SYSLINUX bootloader will be installed
on FAT formatted devices. Lilo can be used for NTFS formatted devices.

You can see your file system by right clicking on the drive you want
to install Porteus on and selecting 'Properties'.

LINUX
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If you are a Linux user, then EXTLINUX should be installed on
ext(2,3 or 4) formatted devices, and SYSLINUX should be used
for FAT formatted devices.

You can see your file system by opening a console and issuing:
df -T /dev/xxxN (where xxxN is your partition - e.g. sda, sdb2, etc.)
If you are unsure about the partition number or filesystem, go to a
directory that you know is on the partition to which you are
installing Porteus and run the "df -T ." command. It will tell you
the exact device name, mount point and the filesystem on it.

NOTE:  Lilo can be used to boot every filesystem type, including NTFS.
Versions 1.0 and higher of Porteus include a text menu for Lilo with
the same options as the graphical SYSLINUX and EXTLINUX loaders.

ALSO NOTE: a .dat container file will be necessary
if you want to save your changes on a device formatted
with a Windows (FAT or NTFS) filesystem.  You can create
a .dat container with the 'Porteus .dat manager' tool, 
located in the KDE and LXDE menu, under 'System".  You
can access your changes files by using the mloop command, e.g.,
'mloop /mnt/sdb1/porteus/save.dat'.  This will mount
your changes files to /mnt/loop folder.