win32-loader (Debian)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 win32-loader fetching the Debian Installer under Windows Vista |
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| Developer(s) | Robert Millan Didier Raboud |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 0.6.21+squeeze0 / September 28, 2011 |
| Operating system | Windows 95 / 98 / 2000 / XP / Vista / 7 |
| Type | Debian-Installer loader |
| License | GPL (version 3) |
| Website | goodbye-microsoft.com |
win32-loader is a component of the Debian-Installer that runs on Windows and has the ability to load the actual installer either from the network (as in the version used in http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/tools/win32-loader/stable/win32-loader.exe) or from CD-ROM media (as in the version included in Squeeze CD images).
win32-loader was born as an independent project, for which only the network version was available. Later the code went through a long review and polishing process to become part of the official Debian distribution.
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[edit] Influences
win32-loader strongly relies on projects such as NSIS, GRUB 2, loadlin and Debian-Installer to perform its task. Additionally, it has drawn inspiration and ideas from similar projects such as Wubi and Instlux.
[edit] Features
- Auto-detects 64-bit (x86-64) support in host CPUs, and automatically selects x86-64 flavor of Debian whenever supported, completely transparently to the user.
- Detects a number of settings from Windows environment (timezone, proxy settings, etc) and feeds them to Debian Installer via preseeding mechanism so that user doesn't have to select them.
- Translated to 51 languages. Selected language is displayed for user interaction since the first template, and is seamlessly passed on to Debian Installer via preseeding.
[edit] Similar projects
- Topologilinux: uses coLinux to run on Windows.
- Instlux, included on openSUSE since the 10.3 release.[1]
- Wubi.
- UNetbootin.
- LinuxConsole Windows Installer
