Hello Mick,

In <000301be7dd3$f84e3900$2e1004c3@mickfitz>, on 04/03/99
   at 03:14 PM, Mick Fitzpatrick <[log in to unmask]> said:

>I intend to add a few more operating systems to my PC but before I do
>I'd like a to get a good and user friendly 'boot manager'. Can anyone
>recommend one?

If you are going to install more operating systems, I hope you will
install IBM OS/2 Warp :-), which comes with an excellent boot manager
that will allow you to install a number of other operating systems, set
priorities and graphically select operating system upon bootup. You can,
in fact, even install the Boot Manager without installing Warp (boooo!).
Installation is extremely simple, but requires repartitioning. Once
installed it is perfectly stable and robust. You add or remove bootable
partitions from OS/2's FDISK.

I agree with Joan Rapier that System Commander is quite confusing at
times. It is more flexible than the IBM Boot Manager, but is far less
predictable and requires a DOS or Windows partition which Boot manager
does not. It can, however be installed in a DOS partition without
repartitioning, which could be important to you.

As an aside, Partition Magic (from v. 4 on) includes a licensed version
of IBM's Boot Manager, but I have never tried to install it.

For the sake of completeness, if you are a Linux afficianado you may
like LILO or one of the other loaders that let you chose boot
partitions. Many non-Linux buffs find these too cryptic and unintuitive.

Hope this helps,

Bruce

Bruce Boschek - Frankfurt, Germany

         The PCSOFT web site always needs good submissions.  If
          you would like to contribute to the website, send any
               software tech tips or software reviews to:
                           [log in to unmask]