Table 1 summarizes where boot loaders can be installed.
The Linux kernel boot sector can only be installed on a raw
diskette with no file system, it cannot be installed on a hard disk
and not on a diskette with a file system.
GRUB is the only boot loader that can live both on a DOS file
system and on a different type of file system (ext2, minix). LILO
cannot live on a DOS file system, SYSLINUX lives on a DOS file
system only.
The Linux kernel boot sector and GRUB do not work on diskettes
with a nonstandard number of sectors per track. LILO and SYSLINUX do
boot from diskettes with 21 sectors per track. The 24-sector formats
work with no boot loader.
The overhead is estimated for a boot diskette. It consists of
the file system overhead (indicated by FS) and the second stage boot
program. For LILO we have to add the map file, for GRUB and SYSLINUX
we have to add the configuration file. For LOADLIN we have to add
DOS as well.
