From owner-freebsd-current Sat Sep 6 17:28:32 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id RAA12466 for current-outgoing; Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:28:32 -0700 (PDT) Received: from hydrogen.nike.efn.org (resnet.uoregon.edu [128.223.170.28]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id RAA12448 for ; Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:28:27 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from jmg@localhost) by hydrogen.nike.efn.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id RAA17823; Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:25:59 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <19970906172559.33659@hydrogen.nike.efn.org> Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:25:59 -0700 From: John-Mark Gurney To: Matthew Thyer Cc: Tom Bartol , current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: modifying boot mgrs FROM FREEBSD References: <340F3E90.41C67EA6@box.net.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.69 In-Reply-To: <340F3E90.41C67EA6@box.net.au>; from Matthew Thyer on Fri, Sep 05, 1997 at 08:34:48AM +0930 Reply-To: John-Mark Gurney Organization: Cu Networking X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 2.2.1-RELEASE i386 X-PGP-Fingerprint: B7 EC EF F8 AE ED A7 31 96 7A 22 B3 D8 56 36 F4 X-Files: The truth is out there X-URL: http://resnet.uoregon.edu/~gurney_j/ Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Matthew Thyer scribbled this message on Sep 5: > I do this... why not just use fbsdboot.{com,exe} from the cdrom or another location? it will either boot a kernel off the dos partition or I think it will even load a kernel off a ufs partition... seems that would be easier than playing around with your boot blocks... > Because I have a plug and pray sound card in a non plug and pray > motherboard, I have to 'activate' the sound card from DOS with the > "Intel Configuration Manager" before booting FreeBSD or the sound > card will not be detected in the device probes. To do this I have > set things up to default to booting my previous version of md-dos > which has DWCFGMG.SYS in its config.sys (thus activating the card) > then the autoexec.bat will re-write the boot block and reboot the > machine thus booting into FreeBSD. > > I use the bootblock restore program from a utility called BOOTSAVE > in DOS to manipulate the boot blocks and in FreeBSD on shutdown I > use a script called "shutit" which is: > > dd if=/dos/boot.dos of=/dev/wd0 ibs=1 skip=4 count=512 > sleep 1 > shutdown -r now > > For those who dont know further details are: > > In my C:\MSDOS.W40 (msdos.sys in W95) in the [Options] section: > > BootMenu=1 ; show the W95 boot menu > BootMenuDefault=8 ; default to previous version of ms-dos > BootMenuDelay=5 ; give me 5 seconds to load W95 if I want > > then my C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT (autoexec.dos whilst in Win95 I think) I have: > > CHOICE /N /Ty,5 Rebooting to UNIX in 5 seconds (or press 'N' to stay > with the DOG) > IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO SkipReboot > ECHO Writing the FreeBSD bootblock and rebooting > C:\UTILITY\BOOTSAVE\BOOTREST C:\BOOT.BSD > REBOOT /F > GOTO TheEnd > :SkipReboot > ECHO EGAD! You really want to use the DOG! > :TheEnd > > You have to find a reboot utility also... its not standard with the DOG > ! > > It seems to work most times for me... Sometimes bootrest wont write the > bootblock. But FreeBSD has never failed to put my /dos/boot.dos > bootblock > back (on shutit) and I've never had a disk corruption problem. > > Use at your own risk naturally. > > Tom Bartol wrote: > > > > Would it be too weird to do the following quick and dirty thing completely > > without the need for any documentation on which boot manager you're using: > > > > 1) setup your boot manager from dos or wherever necessary to do the > > initial install. > > > > 2) boot into freebsd or linux and use dd to read the boot blocks off the > > disk and into a file. > > > > 3) boot back into whatever environment can be used to "tune" your boot > > manager and do whatever "tuning" strikes your fancy. > > > > 4) boot back into freebsd or linux and use dd to read the modified boot > > blocks into a second file. > > > > 5) use diff or cmp to find out what effect your "tuning" had on the boot > > blocks and try to deduce the logic (i.e. reverse engineer) the mods. > > Hopefully this will not be very complicated. > > > > 6) you might then be able to use patch on your snap-shot copy of the boot > > blocks to "tune" it from within freebsd of linux. If you're really > > confident of your work you can then use dd to write your "tuned" boot > > blocks back to where they belong. > > > > Just a thought... > > > > Tom > > > > On Thu, 7 Aug 1997, George Michaelson wrote: > > > > > Four things: > > > > > > 1) at next boot, which of the menu of boot choices is to be the > > > default ie under reboot, do you boot back into THIS unix or into > > > W95, DOS, NetBSD, Linux etc > > > > > > 2) change the flag marking if the MBR is to be updated to reflect > > > the current boot choice as the live preference. This is different > > > to the above which states WHICH secondary boot is to be used, this > > > marks if any alternate boot is actually taken because of keyboard > > > selection, that the selection becomes the active default boot > > > > > > 3) change the textual stringprompts against each option > > > > > > 4) change which bootable partitions appear in the menu of choices > > > > > > -George > > > > > -- > /=====================================================================\ > | Work: Matthew.Thyer@dsto.defence.gov.au | Home: thyerm@box.net.au | > \=====================================================================/ > "If it is true that our Universe has a zero net value for all conserved > quantities, then it may simply be a fluctuation of the vacuum of some > larger space in which our Universe is imbedded. In answer to the > question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our > Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time." > E. P. Tryon from "Nature" Vol.246 Dec.14, 1973 -- John-Mark Gurney Modem/FAX: +1 541 683 6954 Cu Networking Live in Peace, destroy Micro$oft, support free software, run FreeBSD