Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s9 stable is here.
Super GRUB2 Disk is a live cd that helps you to boot into most any Operating System (OS) even if you cannot boot into it by normal means.
A new stable release
The former Super Grub2 Disk stable release was 2.02s8 version and released on March 2017 (2 months ago) . New features or changes since previous stable version are:
- Updated grub 2.02 build to tag: 2.02 . This is the final stable 2.02 upstream Grub release.
- Added Chinese translation (Thanks to shankerwangmiao)
- Added Finnish translation (Thanks to tavallinenvirtanen7)
- supergrub-release-news helps release team to generate a template for its news.
- Added supergrub-release-changes to help with the release team.
- Rename ‘(GRUB2 installation (even if mbr is overwritten))’ to: ‘(GRUB2 installation)’
We are going to see which are the complete Super Grub2 Disk features with a demo video, where you can download it, the thank you – hall of fame and some thoughts about the Super Grub2 Disk development.
Please do not forget to read our howtos so that you can have step by step guides (how to make a cdrom or an usb, how to boot from it, etc) on how to use Super Grub2 Disk and, if needed, Rescatux.
Tour
Here there is a little video tour in order to discover most of Super Grub2 Disk options. The rest of the options you will have to discover them by yourself.
Features
Most of the features here will let you boot into your Operating Systems. The rest of the options will improve the Super Grub2 Disk operating systems autodetecting (enable RAID, LVM, etc.) or will deal with minor aspects of the user interface (Colours, language, etc.).
- Change the language UI
- Translated into several languages
- Spanish / Español
- German / Deutsch
- French / Français
- Italian / Italiano
- Malay / Bahasa Melayu
- Russian
- Finnish / Suomi
- Chinese
- Detect and show boot methods option to detect most Operating Systems
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 beta 3 – Everything menu making use of grub.cfg extract entries option functionality
- Enable all native disk drivers *experimental* to detect most Operating Systems also in special devices or filesystems
- Boot manually
- Operating Systems
- grub.cfg – Extract entries
- grub.cfg – (GRUB2 configuration files)
- menu.lst – (GRUB legacy configuration files)
- core.img – (GRUB2 installation (even if mbr is overwritten))
- Disks and Partitions (Chainload)
- Bootable ISOs (in /boot-isos or /boot/boot-isos
- Extra GRUB2 functionality
- Enable GRUB2’s LVM support
- Enable GRUB2’s RAID support
- Enable GRUB2’s PATA support (to work around BIOS bugs/limitation)
- Mount encrypted volumes (LUKS and geli)
- Enable serial terminal
- Extra Search functionality
- Search in floppy ON/OFF
- Search in CDROM ON/OFF
- List Devices / Partitions
- Color ON /OFF
- Exit
- Halt the computer
- Reboot the computer
Supported Operating Systems
Excluding too custom kernels from university students Super Grub2 Disk can autodetect and boot most every Operating System. Some examples are written here so that Google bots can see it and also to make more confident the final user who searchs his own special (according to him) Operating System.
- Windows
- Windows 10
- Windows Vista/7/8/8.1
- Windows NT/2000/XP
- Windows 98/ME
- MS-DOS
- FreeDOS
- GNU/Linux
- Direct Kernel with autodetected initrd
- vmlinuz-*
- linux-*
- kernel-genkernel-*
- Debian / Ubuntu / Mint
- Mageia
- Fedora / CentOS / Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
- openSUSE / SuSE Linux Enterpsise Server (SLES)
- Arch
- Any many, many, more.
-
- FreeBSD
- FreeBSD (single)
- FreeBSD (verbose)
- FreeBSD (no ACPI)
- FreeBSD (safe mode)
- FreeBSD (Default boot loader)
- EFI files
- Mac OS X/Darwin 32bit or 64bit
- FreeBSD
- Direct Kernel with autodetected initrd
Support for different hardware platforms
Before this release we only had the hybrid version aimed at regular pcs. Now with the upcoming new EFI based machines you have the EFI standalone versions among others. What we don’t support is booting when secure boot is enabled.
- Most any PC thanks to hybrid version (i386, x86_64, i386-efi, x86_64-efi) (ISO)
- EFI x86_64 standalone version (EFI)
- EFI i386 standalone version (EFI)
- Additional Floppy, CD and USB in one download (ISO)
- i386-pc
- i386-efi
- x86_64-efi
Known bugs
- Non English translations are not completed
- Enable all native disk drivers *experimental* crashes Virtualbox randomly
Supported Media
- Compact Disk – Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) / DVD
- Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices
- Floppy (1.98s1 version only)
Downloads
Recommended download (Floppy, CD & USB in one) (Valid for i386, x86_64, i386-efi and x86_64-efi):
EFI x86_64 standalone version:
EFI i386 standalone version:
CD & USB in one downloads:
- Super Grub2 Disk (Floppy, CD & USB in one) 2.02s9 [i386-pc] (ISO)[Mirror #1]
- Super Grub2 Disk (Floppy, CD & USB in one) 2.02s9 [x86_64-efi] (ISO)[Mirror #1]
- Super Grub2 Disk (Floppy, CD & USB in one) 2.02s9 [i386-efi] (ISO)[Mirror #1]
About other downloads. As this is the first time I develop Super Grub2 Disk out of source code (well, probably not the first time, but the first time in ages) I have not been able to build these other downloads: coreboot, i386-efi, i386-pc, ieee1275, x86_64-efi, standalone coreboot, standalone i386-efi, standalone ieee1275. bfree has helped on this matter and with his help we might have those builds in next releases. If you want such builds drop a mail in the mailing list so that we aware of that need.
Source code:
Everything (All binary releases and source code):
Hashes
In order to check the former downloads you can either check the download directory page for this release
or you can check checksums right here:
MD5SUMS
a4bfea81accf0ccee69191c79012b129 super_grub2_disk_2.02s9_source_code.tar.gz d9e8be4ee74e3b78e780395872f0831b super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s9.iso b26f9c41b6e8e9cb154c43ffcee62637 super_grub2_disk_i386_efi_2.02s9.iso f4c11d203332ca9ab16694f1b4dbf424 super_grub2_disk_i386_pc_2.02s9.iso 91c292217748205ace3ec653e2d87f93 super_grub2_disk_standalone_i386_efi_2.02s9.EFI 349de6f324d53660cf72b859c6d8a6d8 super_grub2_disk_standalone_x86_64_efi_2.02s9.EFI e0775f3fc6aad24a02396e08337659a4 super_grub2_disk_x86_64_efi_2.02s9.iso f88def639336336488639dcfe370fe81 super_grub2_disk_2.02s9.zip
SHA1SUMS
61b9eff778346159944f120c6e993af8dc7ae6e2 super_grub2_disk_2.02s9_source_code.tar.gz 33b42792e71a87f62a88147adc6a2abd66e5b61d super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s9.iso 9a0d4f4b0d1b018c24b2464e9993482274624bdd super_grub2_disk_i386_efi_2.02s9.iso 95d3844859c01068cfc57994476d3aa4140ceb37 super_grub2_disk_i386_pc_2.02s9.iso 97065195abacd5139ab31cb78a49abba0f5917e5 super_grub2_disk_standalone_i386_efi_2.02s9.EFI b11fd45974f7ddc96367efefe6e05613b2608ff2 super_grub2_disk_standalone_x86_64_efi_2.02s9.EFI b82bb0a4477abd768a219e76412566124df5ea22 super_grub2_disk_x86_64_efi_2.02s9.iso 88c9d368fc1c5eb618738a918a21d3f3a3122f9a super_grub2_disk_2.02s9.zip
SHA256SUMS
fec7788e5d2a1bdff9677497333d711c15ac2218e3cfd9cb2d3471f6481922de super_grub2_disk_2.02s9_source_code.tar.gz 13857f9b09e26179804b998db5ecbe02634f3e85cf13bb49dec54dd67edbb899 super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s9.iso cf06321848168adaf643501185fb4b7132351c10397205c5a68fd060f3ae3cfa super_grub2_disk_i386_efi_2.02s9.iso 095e1d665e5d492d2626c95a296f2f2c8d4ea2777d0cbfce2f06df48089c0e91 super_grub2_disk_i386_pc_2.02s9.iso b63f8afaa7843bc5ca92e7313a310d4ee93e269858a4ed5c14227afe0eb52d9d super_grub2_disk_standalone_i386_efi_2.02s9.EFI 886307c86b580f1df173692e1f3d9487724d49bd16e97f3c2e8458244592418c super_grub2_disk_standalone_x86_64_efi_2.02s9.EFI 5169b36ffffddb43e7a5f9e273b7be6cacd8f469ecb5288c48d6a8d27c750c95 super_grub2_disk_x86_64_efi_2.02s9.iso 46d953b494c0963db4670ffbaa02e3d2a67a1ff46b5d9298a4bdbbf3e17c522e super_grub2_disk_2.02s9.zip
Changelog (since former 2.00s2 stable release)
Changes since 2.02s8 version:
- (Devel) supergrub-release-news helps release team to generate a template for its news. Initial implementation.
- (Devel) Added supergrub-release-changes to help with the release team.
- (Devel) INSTALL: Improved explanation about what release scripts and file outputs.
- Rename ‘(GRUB2 installation (even if mbr is overwritten))’ to: ‘(GRUB2 installation)’
- Use grub-2.02 upstream grub2 tag (Stable version)
- Added Chinese (zh-cn) translation
- Added Finnish translation (Thanks to tavallinenvirtanen7)
Changes since 2.02s7 version:
- Use grub-2.02-rc2 upstream grub2 tag
- Default theme starfield is no longer included. This will make images smaller.
- (Devel) Make sure normal isos and standalone images have hash files without its full path.
- (Devel) File hashes generation has been rewritten to work from the single supergrub-mkcommon generate_filename_hashes function
- (Devel) Now MD5SUMS, SHA1SUMS and SHA256SUMS files are generated as part of the official build.
Changes since 2.02s6 version:
- Updated grub 2.02 build to tag: 2.02~rc1
Changes since 2.02s5 version:
- Added Russian language
- Improved Arch Linux initramfs detection
- Added i386-efi build support
- Added i386-efi to the hybrid iso
- Grub itself is translated when a language is selected
- Added loopback.cfg file (non officially supported)
- (Devel) sgrub.pot updated to latest strings
- (Devel) Added grub-build-004-make-check so that we ensure the build works
- (Devel) Make sure linguas.sh is built when running ‘grub-build-002-clean-and-update’
- (Devel) Updated upstream Super Grub2 Disk repo on documentation
- (Devel) Move core supergrub menu under menus/sgd
- (Devel) Use sg2d_directory as the base super grub2 disk directory variable
- (Devel) New supergrub-sourcecode script that creates current git branch source code tar.gz
- (Devel) New supergrub-all-zip-file script: Makes sure a zip file of everything is built.
- (Devel) supergrub-meta-mkrescue: Build everything into releases directory in order to make source code more clean.
- (Devel) New supergrub-official-release script: Build main files, source code and everything zip file from a single script in order to ease official Super Grub
2 Disk releases.
Changes since 2.02s4 version:
- Stop trying to chainload devices under UEFI and improve the help people get in the case of a platform mismatch
- (Devel) Properly support source based built grub-mkfont binary.
- New options were added to chainload directly either /ntldr or /bootmgr thanks to ntldr command. They only work in BIOS mode.
Changes since 2.02s3 version:
- Using upstream grub-2.02-beta3 tag as the new base for Super Grub2 Disk’s grub.
- Major improvement in Windows OS detection (based on BCD) Windows Vista, 7, …
- Major improvement in Windows OS detection (based on ntldr) Windows XP, 2000, …
Changes since 2.02s2 beta 1 version:
- (Devel) grub-mkstandalone was deleted because we no longer use it
- Updated (and added) Copyright notices for 2015
- New option: ‘Disks and Partitions (Chainload)’ adapted from Smx work
- Many files were rewritten so that they only loop between devices that actually need to be searched into.
This enhacement will make Super Grub2 Disk faster. - Remove Super Grub2 Disk own devices from search by default. Added an option to be able to enable/disable the Super Grub2 Disk own devices search.
2.02s2 beta 1 changelog:
- Updated grub 2.02 build to commit: 8e5bc2f4d3767485e729ed96ea943570d1cb1e45
- Updated documentation for building Super Grub2 Disk
- Improvement on upstream grub (d29259b134257458a98c1ddc05d2a36c677ded37 – test: do not stop after first file test or closing bracket) will probably make Super Grub2 Disk run faster.
- Added new grub build scripts so that Super Grub2 Disk uses its own built versions of grub and not the default system / distro / chroot one.
- Ensure that Mac OS X entries are detected ok thanks to Users dir. This is because Grub2 needs to emulate Mac OS X kernel so that it’s detected as a proper boot device on Apple computers.
- Thanks to upstream grub improvement now Super Grub2 Disk supports booting in EFI mode when booted from a USB device / hard disk. Actually SG2D was announced previously to boot from EFI from a USB device while it only booted from a cdrom.
2.02s1 beta 1 changelog:
- Added new option: “Enable all native disk drivers” so that you can try to load: SATA, PATA and USB hard disks (and their partitions) as native disk drives. This is experimental.
- Removed no longer needed options: “Enable USB” and “Enable PATA”.
- “Search floppy” and “Search cdrom” options were moved into “Extra GRUB2 functionality menu”. At the same time “Extra Search functionality” menu was removed.
- Added new straight-forward option: “Enable GRUB2’s RAID and LVM support”.
- “List devices/partitions” was renamed to “Print devices/partitions”.
- “Everything” option was renamed to “Detect and show boot methods”.
- “Everything +” option was removed to avoid confusions.
- Other minor improvements in the source code.
- Updated translation files. Now most translations are pending.
- Updated INSTALL instructions.
Finally you can check all the detailed changes at our GIT commits.
If you want to translate into your language please check TRANSLATION file at source code to learn how to translate into your language.
Thank you – Hall of fame
I want to thank in alphabetical order:
- The upstream Grub crew. I’m subscribed to both help-grub and grub-devel and I admire the work you do there.
- Necrosporus for his insistence on making Super Grub2 Disk smaller.
The person who writes this article is adrian15 .
And I cannot forget about thanking bTactic, the enterprise where I work at and that hosts our site.
Some thoughts about Super Grub2 Disk development
Super Grub2 Disk development ideas
I think we won’t improve Super Grub2 Disk too much. We will try to stick to official Grub2 stable releases. Unless a new feature that it’s not included in official Grub2 stable release is needed in order to give additional useful functionalities to Super Grub2 Disk.
I have added some scripts to Super Grub2 Disk build so that writing these pieces of news is more automatic and less prone to errors. Check them out in git repo as you will not find them in 2.02s8 source code.
Old idea: I don’t know when but I plan to readapt some scripts from os-prober. That will let us detect more operating systems. Not sure when though. I mean, it’s not something that worries me because it does not affect too many final users. But, well, it’s something new that I hadn’t thought about.
Again, please send us feedback on what you think it’s missing on Super Grub2 Disk.
Rescatux development
I want to focus on Rescatux development on the next months so that we have an stable release before the end of 2017. Now I need to finish adding UEFI features (most finished), fix the scripts that generate Rescatux source code (difficult) and write much documentation.
(adrian15 speaking)
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