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onli05/04/20253 repliesview on HN

Okay. I have a laptop here with windows, haiku and Linux. And actually the grub (2) configuration to get haiku to start was strange. What exactly do I install best to replace grub?

Or alternatively, I have a PC with only Void Linux. Compatibility mode for booting, since uefi mode did not work (I dont know why - some secure boot shenanigans? MBR vs GPT mode? There is no EFI partition as well). What could replace grub there?


Replies

jimbosis05/04/2025

I don't know if it will work for booting Windows, but have you tried installing Haiku's BootManager to the MBR?

https://www.haiku-os.org/docs/userguide/en/applications/boot...

On the booting Windows front, this thread has a few people describing how they successfully used BootManager to dual and triple boot Haiku, Windows 7, and/or Linux:

https://discuss.haiku-os.org/t/dual-booting-haiku-and-window...

I have a laptop (Lenovo ThinkPad T410s) with Haiku, Linux Mint, and Devuan GNU/Linux. I use BootManager in the MBR, and it gives me a menu of all three to choose from. For the two Linux options, I have GRUB installed on each of their own partitions, so BootManager just sends me to the GRUB installed on whichever Linux partition. (Of course, this isn't exactly "replacing" GRUB altogether.)

I do it this way because I find dealing with BootManager to send me to individual GRUBs to boot a particular Linux partition much, much easier than fiddling with GRUB to boot Haiku.

(One last thought, parenthetical as I'm not sure it can even work from a USB drive: Worst case, you might make a USB "boot stick" that uses BootManager to choose between Haiku and Linux and let Windows do its jolly thing on the MBR?)

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the_gipsy05/04/2025

In same boat here. I just do not understand the *EFI stuff anymore, and I've tried.

I somehow got refind to work, after disabling some vaguely named "secure boot" option in the BIOS. It shows my several linux options, and the only one that works is "rescue", that boots what is apparently a systemd bootloader with Nix generations. When I select Windows, I get some windows boot menu/loader instead of directly booting Windows.

I have no clue how it all works - there is some partition with some files, but I also must run some command to "apply" changes - I think. It's horrible.

johnisgood05/04/2025

I am on Void Linux too, and grub works fine. sighs. Why would I replace what has worked for decades?

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