From owner-freebsd-hackers Mon Dec 16 10:36:44 1996 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id KAA23356 for hackers-outgoing; Mon, 16 Dec 1996 10:36:44 -0800 (PST) Received: from gaia.coppe.ufrj.br (root@cisigw.coppe.ufrj.br [146.164.2.31]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP id KAA23351 for ; Mon, 16 Dec 1996 10:36:41 -0800 (PST) Received: (from jonny@localhost) by gaia.coppe.ufrj.br (8.8.3/8.7.3) id QAA25314; Mon, 16 Dec 1996 16:33:56 -0200 (EDT) From: Joao Carlos Mendes Luis Message-Id: <199612161833.QAA25314@gaia.coppe.ufrj.br> Subject: Re: Boot loader hacks was: Re: MAXMEM To: tony@dell.com (Tony Overfield) Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 16:33:55 -0200 (EDT) Cc: terry@lambert.org, eivind@dimaga.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19961216085001.0067ee14@bugs.us.dell.com> from Tony Overfield at "Dec 16, 96 08:50:04 am" X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL22 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Just a stupid question: Why does the boot loader should know if there's more than 64M or not on the system ? Why couldn't it simply detect 64M at most, and let the kernel find the rest by itself ? Anyway, is what's done with the MAXMEM option, isn't it ? Moreover: Is there any STRONG reason to ask the BIOS for the memory amount ? Couldn't it search for the memory ? At 01:41 PM 12/15/96 -0700, Terry Lambert wrote: >> There are standardized BIOS calls to obtain the correct amount of >> memory, even when it exceeds 65 MB. I think the boot loader should >> make these BIOS calls and pass the correct information to the kernel. > >Go ahead and add it. Make sure the boot code doesn't grow over >the 8k limit imposed on it by the fact that there isn't any more >space between the start of the BSD area on the disk and the disklabel >on everyone's hardrives for several years now... > > Regards, > Terry Lambert > terry@lambert.org Jonny -- Joao Carlos Mendes Luis jonny@gta.ufrj.br +55 21 290-4698 ( Job ) jonny@cisi.coppe.ufrj.br Network Manager UFRJ/COPPE/CISI Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro