Easy2Boot vs Petitboot

Easy2Boot creates a multiboot USB drive for starting operating system installers, live systems and utilities. It runs on Linux and Windows, and the download includes three menu systems based on grub4dos, grubfm and Ventoy. Users add payloads by copying ISO, IMG and VHD files to the USB drive; listed payloads include Windows and Linux images, DOS programs and floppy images. For supported UEFI payloads, .imgPTN partition images can be used for Secure Boot. Easy2Boot can automate Windows installations with drivers, software, configuration, scripts and updates. Linux setup calls for an MBR partition layout and requires partition 4 to remain unused. The download guidance recommends a USB drive between 8GB and 2TB; larger drives may use 4K sectors or lack legacy boot support. Direct Secure UEFI32 booting to the agFM menu is not supported. The menu system uses open-source components and plain-text scripts, but the download also includes closed-source Windows utilities. Easy2Boot is free to use, but not for resale. Support options include a forum, live developer help, eBooks and online chat.

Petitboot is a free, GPL-2.0-licensed bootloader implemented by userspace programs in a small Linux image. It discovers devices and bootable images, reads configurations such as GRUB, SYSLINUX, and Yaboot, then starts systems through Linux kexec. Its primary interface is an ncurses menu for viewing boot choices and system information, changing settings, running plugins, and opening a shell. Operating-system images can be loaded over HTTP, HTTPS, NFS, SFTP, or TFTP. Basic functionality is available on platforms that support kexec, while documented platform implementations include POWER systems using OPAL firmware and ARM64 systems with efivarfs support. On supported systems, inband IPMI can report BMC information and alter boot behavior through boot-device overrides. Plugins package and run binaries and may be discovered locally or in PXE network files. The pb-discover server finds and configures devices, while user interfaces communicate through pb-protocol. The included pb-sos utility gathers diagnostic and crash information.