Boot-Repair vs SYSLINUX

Boot-Repair is free Linux software for restoring access to operating systems after boot failures. It addresses common GRUB problems and situations where Ubuntu or Windows no longer starts after another operating system is installed. Its Recommended Repair can reinstall GRUB and recover access to previously installed systems. Advanced options provide partition-table and boot-sector backups, GRUB setting changes, restoration of a Windows-compatible MBR, and filesystem repair. Boot-Repair can produce a Boot-Info diagnosis for sharing with helpers by email or on a forum. You choose whether to upload that report to Pastebin or keep it local; uploaded reports are described as expiring after some days. Boot-Repair-Disk starts the tool automatically and also includes OS-Uninstaller and Boot-Info. It can also run from Ubuntu, Debian, and derivative live environments. The project describes automatic backups and says the software is distributed without warranty.

SYSLINUX is free software comprising bootloaders for starting Linux and other systems from several media types. SYSLINUX boots from MS-DOS or Windows FAT filesystems, PXELINUX handles PXE network booting, ISOLINUX starts ISO9660 CD-ROMs, and EXTLINUX supports Linux ext2 and ext3 filesystems. MEMDISK loads legacy operating systems from supported media. Boot settings are placed in a text file named syslinux.cfg, while documented modules provide menu and graphical menu interfaces. Listed capabilities include BIOS and UEFI support, multiboot support, boot-entry editing, and boot-menu customization. Building from source requires Linux and NASM 2.03 or later; NASM 2.07 or newer is recommended. The project is licensed under GNU GPL version 2 or, at the user's option, any later version. Compatibility limits matter: FAT filesystems with sector sizes other than 512 bytes are unsupported, and UEFI SYSLINUX cannot chainload other EFI applications such as UEFI Shell or Windows Boot Manager. Support information is provided through a SYSLINUX mailing list.