Open Source Boot Software

rEFInd is a fork of the rEFIt boot manager. Like rEFIt, rEFInd can auto-detect your installed EFI boot loaders and it presents a pretty GUI menu of boot options. rEFInd goes beyond rEFIt in that rEFInd better handles systems with many boot loaders, gives better control over the boot loader search process, and provides the ability for users to define their own boot loader entries.

GRUB for DOS is the dos extension of GRUB. It enables dos users to run the configuration console directly in real mode. The project also contains an utility called WINGRUB, an GUI intends to help configuring and installing GRUB in the WINDOWS environment

rEFIt is a boot menu and maintenance toolkit for EFI-based machines like the Intel Macs.

The Xbox Linux Project aims to privide a version of GNU/Linux for the Xbox, so that it can be used as an ordinary computer. Linux should make use of all Xbox hardware and allow to install and run software from standard i386 Linux distributions.

Awdbedit is a BIOS editor for Award BIOSes. It supports unpacking, replacing, and repacking of components within a BIOS image, and allows settings to be changed and tweaks to be applied to the actual BIOS itself.

A port of the Linux operating system kernel and assorted GNU userspace to the GameCube and Wii gaming consoles from Nintendo. Please, see http://www.gc-linux.org for additional information.

Set geometry and location parameters in NTFS filesystem, so it can boot.

ISO2USB utility creates bootable USB drive from CentOS/RedHat 5.x/6.x installation disk or corresponding ISO image. Created USB drive may be used to perform installation on machines that lacks optical drive.

MODOS is a small Debian-based operating system featuring the Cinnamon desktop environment, designed to run directly from a USB drive. Using the Live CD, you can explore the system without installing it, though by default, changes are lost after shutdown or reboot. To enable persistent storage, use tools like Rufus. Key Features: Latest download version: v0.9 (based on Debian 13) Latest runnning version: v0 of MODOS Debian (Beta/final test for MODOS Stable - read newest blog entry) Cinnamon desktop environment for a modern and user-friendly interface Includes integrated #DODOS Tools Minimal storage requirement: 3 GB on your USB drive User Accounts: Root user: root (password: root) Sudo user: user (password: user) Note: MODOS is built on Linux-Live, so without persistence, all changes are temporary. For a fully persistent setup, creating the USB via Rufus is recommended.

XOSL is a graphical boot manager that supports multi-booting of various operating systems. Development is currently done under the XOSL2 title. Historical version download below:

qingy is a replacement of getty. Written in C, it uses DirectFB to provide a fast, nice GUI without the overhead of the X Window System. It allows the user to log in and start the session of his choice (text console, gnome, kde, wmaker, ...).

Nueva versión con soporte para pseudo tmpfs. Ahora la cantidad de archivos copiados puede exceder la cantidad de RAM del sistema!!

SDBoot is a complete bootloader solution (MCU side and PC side), free, with source code for AVR MCU chip. It features a checksumed protocol for safe programming.

Committed to the development of fundamental ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) components for Linux. This includes a generic ACPI table parser, AML interpreter, bus and device drivers, policy, user interface, and support tools.

PeToUSB is a Win32 GUI application for formatting and making bootable, USB Flash Memory Drives and USB HardDisks and optionally copying the output from a successful BartPE/WinPE build to the device. There are options to backup/restore the MBR on a device

Mainly this project aims at easing startup and use of XCSoar (see xcsoar.org) on Kobo Mini. But the scope of use should not be limited solely to XCSoar. The Launcher should be small in code size, reuse most of the original libraries, provide flexible configuration to any application that might be ported to the Kobo Mini. It supports customizable fonts, toolbox-pages, buttons (also graphical), labels, autostart and sleep timers.

Etherboot is Open Source code for creating boot ROMs for network booting x86, AMD64, Itanium, Hammer, Hyperstone and ARM (noMMU) platforms.

radiOS is a ham radio-centric, customized version of Arch Linux. Arch is generally recommended to experienced Linux users but radiOS should help you to get to know one of the most versatile and fun Linux distributions around. Not to mention use your radio without having to compile a bunch of programs yourself. radiOS comes with tools for use with amateur radio, especially SOTA, POTA, and GNU Radio Companion with HackRF Software Defined Radio. If it doesn't work as expected, or you would like to request additional functionality, please let me know. -This ISO is a live image but all the tools to install Arch Linux are included. -Right click anywhere for a menu. Connect to wifi via Network Manager in the System Utilities sub-menu. -As of 01JUNE2024 all packages have been updated, some have been removed due to difficulty in maintaining non-standard package dependencies, some useful links were added to Firefox, as well as a sample GRC for an SDR FM receiver.

This is a small program that reads and writes the WakeUp time in the BIOS. This is done via /dev/nvram on recent kernels (>2.4.6, including 2.6.x) or, alternatively, via direct ISA access. On this WakeUp time the computer is powered on automatically.

Tool for creating live usb-drives and downloading distros. This is an upgraded version of Unetbootin focusing on Bittix linux 9 and above and Linux Mint and Linux Mint debian. Has Distrowatch.com link etc.

This project develops user space tools used for hibernation (suspend-to-disk) and suspend (suspend-to-RAM or standby) on Linux systems.

MT YUMI is a modified edition of YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer). It is made to extract files onto a MT YUMI Stick.

Customized Windows Live System for daily use based on WinPE (Windows Preinstallation Environment) Imagine you can boot up a system and surf the Internet or listen to music carefree. And after a reboot everything is gone. That's it!! With this idea I started it as a project. Various live systems have now emerged. Everything customized. e.g.: remote desktop client etc... On request also adapted to your needs !!! Available in different languages. (see Files) Very good customizable, Apps, Drivers, Wallpaper, WiFi,... (see Wiki) New Live systems will follow. Stay tuned... To create a bootable USB Stick run Rufus: https://sourceforge.net/projects/rufus.mirror/

This tool allows to boot linux-m68k from a floppy on a macintosh motorola 68K based. With it, you can create rescue disk, or remove the MacOS partition (needed by the legacy penguin booter) from your HD.