Features

has all features also GNU GRUB 0.97 legacy has
active maintained
active developed
Linux distros no longer need private patches for GNU GRUB, them can me merged into a mainline
improved compatibility and stability with bogus BIOS's
many GNU GRUB 0.97 bugfixes
filesystems supported: FAT, FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4
uuid
marker file support (find a file and set root)
splashimage
gfxboot
help menu text support
advanced color command
no stages needed, just bootcode and a single file GRLDR needed
can resist in Master Boot Record, in Volume Boot Record and even in a single file
can be started by lots of other bootloaders
can be a non-emulation bootloader on CD
available as DOS executable
can chainload all versions of Microsoft DOS and Windows directly (IO.SYS, NTLDR), no more problems with broken Windows bootsectors
can chainload FreeDOS directly (KERNEL.SYS)
can be chainloaded thought kexec
can be started from within Windows bootmenu (boot.ini)
can chainboot CD-ROM / DVD even if the BIOS has no or broken support for CD-ROM / DVD booting
can chainboot floppy images directly and emulate a floppy
can chainboot iso images directly and emulate a CD-ROM
can chainboot a harddisk image directly and emulate a harddisk
support for booting multiple initrds (are in fact: initramfs files because it only works with cpio archives)
direct and memory mapping of images
DOS based installer / Windows based installer / Linux based installer
Auto MBR creation
dd included
write command included