What is MOSS?

The Multiple Operating System Superintendent, acronym MOSS, is an open-source desktop application that provides a fast and efficient interface for managing the boot configuration on Linux systems. With MOSS, you can change boot order quickly and simply, saving time that would normally be spent on unnecessary boot screens and navigating the UEFI interface.

Our hope is that our effort in bettering the multi-boot experience will work to make multibooting more manageable for the general population. Advances in computer hardware have allowed the technologically proficient to implement multi-boot systems for years. We believe it is time that everyone is able to receive the benefits entailed in multibooting, not just the computer proficient.

Why MOSS?

Computers with multiple operating systems installed, otherwise known as multiboot systems, have become more common over the last few years. Despite being advantageous in many ways, multiboot systems have some significant flaws.

One issue relates to navigating between the local operating systems. There is no elegant way to change the order in which your operatings systems boot or even which operating system to boot into once you restart the system. The only current solutions involve navigating the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) or executing commands on the terminal. Both of these methods are slow, and both are too complex to be easily utilized by the general public.

We created MOSS as an easy-to-use solution to this problem. The bestpart? It’s free. Follow the link above to access our github and download MOSS today.

User’s Manual

Requirements

System Requirements

MOSS was designed for Ubuntu 19.10 or newer installations, but should work on similar Linux distros.

Program Dependencies

The MOSS system needs the Java Runtime Environment 11+ in order to run. If you do not have JRE 11+ or newer installed, you can install it with by opening a terminal window and entering the following text:

sudo apt install default-jre

And follow the resulting prompts.

Installation

Download the MOSS application and save the folder to a location where you can easily access it. Once saved, you can install MOSS with the following steps:

1. Open the folder and right-click in any open space.

2. Select “Open in terminal”

3. Type ./install.sh

That’s it, MOSS is now installed! You can now run MOSS by clicking on it in the app launcher.

Note: You can uninstall MOSS anytime by repeating the steps, but replacing ./install.sh with ./uninstall.sh in the third step.

Set Up

The first time you run MOSS, you may have to change a few things to make the application work effectively. If this is the first time starting the app, you should:

• Make sure Ubuntu is your Primary OS. To do that, follow the steps on Change Boot Order.

• Make sure your boot images are correct. See Change Image.

QuickMenu

The QuickMenu has five buttons. They are:

• BootPrimary: The first (left-to-right) of the three main buttons. It boots into the first OS on the boot order. It will not change the boot order next time you restart the PC.

• BootSecondary: The second (left-to-right) of the three main buttons. It boots into the second OS on the boot order. It will not change the boot order next time you restart the PC.

• PowerOff: The last (left-to-right) of the three main buttons. It powers off the system.

• Exit: Located at the top right, it closes the QuickMenu window.

• Config: Located at the top left of the QuickMenu pane, this button takes you to the BootMenu pane.

BootMenu

The BootMenu has three buttons. They are:

• Load: Loads all local boot options to the pane. You will only see boot options that were installed prior to your current boot, so you will need to restart your PC if you want to see any recent additions (i.e. bootable flash drive, etc.).

• Boot: Boots into whatever boot option is currently selected.

• Set: Saves the image path (primary and secondary only) and boot position of the selected boot.

Change Image

For this example, we are going to change the image associated with our secondary boot: “Windows Boot Manager”. You can only change the images of the Primary and Secondary boots, as they are the only two that appear on the QuickMenu.

1. After opening the MOSS app, click the gear icon at the top left corner of the QuickMenu.

2. You should now see the BootMenu.

3. Click “Load” to load all local boot options to the pane.

4. In our scenario, we have “Ubuntu”, “Windows Boot Manager”, “EFI USB Device”, “EFI DVD/CDROM”, and “EFI Network” as our boot options. “Windows Boot Manager” is in our secondary (#2) position, and we want to change the image associated with it.

5. Click on the “Windows Boot Manager” entry on the BootOrder pane.

6. While “Windows Boot Manager” is selected, navigate to the left side of the pane and paste the path to the new image in the text box. Then click “Set”.

7. Close all MOSS tabs and reopen the app. The new image should now be on the second button in the QuickMenu.

Change Boot Order

For this example, we are going to change “Ubuntu” to our primary boot, or boot #1, but you follow the same steps to change any “OS” to position #X.

1. After opening the MOSS app, click the gear icon at the top left corner of the QuickMenu (as seen below).

2. You should now see the BootMenu (as seen below).

3. Click “Load” to load all local boot options to the pane.

4. In our scenario, we have “Windows Boot Manager”, “Ubuntu”, “EFI USB Device”, “EFI DVD/CDROM”, and “EFI Network” as our boot options.

5. Click on the “Ubuntu” entry on the BootOrder pane.

6. While “Ubuntu” is selected, navigate to the left side of the pane and select the dropdown box. Select #1 and press the “Set” button.

7. Hit “Load” again, “Ubuntu” should be at the top of the list as seen in the first photo. It is now in the Primary, or #1 position.

Click here to watch a tutorial over the installation and set-up.