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Re: [MiNT] boot manager
> Well I think most linux boot loaders have a very small chunk of code in the
> mbr to find the real bootloader somewhere in the partiton or filesystem.
> This seems to be precisely how hd-driver works. Just having the
> hd-driver.sys file in C: is not enough but when you install hd-driver to the
> drive it probably writes the mbr. Doing the work you're doing, I think
Yes, I meant it exactly like that, probably I didn't express myself
very clearly (what a surprise :). One step is to replace HDDriver's
MBR with mine, second step is to launch second-stage boot loader like
Grub. And this would load hddriver.sys, netbsd, whatever.
> mikroloader(tm)
> -> boot linux directly
> -> boot netbsd directly
> -> load freemint kernel directly
> -> chain load hd-driver.
>
> But doing this would require you write drive access stuff as well as a FAT
> driver as there's basically no way to fit a userful bootloader into the mbr.
Sure. Btw, loading linux and magic directly is already done in CT60
TOS, Didier put magxboot.prg and ataboot.prg into flash. Not related
to my boot loader, just interesting fact. FreeMiNT needs bootstrapper
like that for years (memory, MMU and another lowlevel setup separated
into small app).
> I see three main benefits to doing this:
>
[..]
Agreed.
> 4. Integration of your boot loader directly into tos/emutos, both of which
> is probably possible on ct60/aranym/firebee.
>
> I think Vincent Rivere already wrote IDE routines for the firebee so that
> could be a good start ;)
Yes, that was part of another task I wanted to do, integrate and
extend his work into CT60 TOS. However, in that case this effectively
cancels my idea of MBR-based mikroloader, what should be in MBR then
anyway? Probably hddriver.sys bootstrapper for backward compatibility
with 030 mode. Hmm, this isn't very smart of me, making my own idea
useless in public ;-)
--
MiKRO / Mystic Bytes
http://mikro.atari.org