From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 28 18:58:07 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B0311106564A for ; Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:58:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from superbisquit@gmail.com) Received: from mail-vx0-f182.google.com (mail-vx0-f182.google.com [209.85.220.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 65BBD8FC14 for ; Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:58:07 +0000 (UTC) Received: by vxc34 with SMTP id 34so3119367vxc.13 for ; Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:58:06 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date :message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=uDM0+wjYjBS2KllhNAS8XTSFQ9q85DCbahegy2DBqEE=; b=xbdeahIPEe1g8vvucxGLJ6+FeKAdpReKqhsJuPabwPvR9IbNpKPNKjNNfMisrIDWfH 5F5lbP498COMk/Lpx6Tu3G2gp9x7zt5Oo5UrwbT8IqJBJIO0KCqY2BsFTFD/tGS7xetJ sgKP4YlaqO6wONJZP9UnfOE9q3KDMIwf0/qMQ= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; b=pKtBXO6oaJzPk7JYHWPnoTczn20MEC87WkvrbHZQuFcotphynm8sWcvLVYdnybmWOv iw+iXbP8n+e6XGfiQdIj/EPieyE3kbMDFlvCmRclwUypDYF8l06BzbPFi/FIrBM+OJCP dMDArSn/vWVt4fTn9+OiTFrHtyP1E5TokjAus= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.52.91.204 with SMTP id cg12mr5824272vdb.278.1301337062188; Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:31:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.220.194.77 with HTTP; Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:31:01 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <8CDBB89AFEB53D6-11D4-32C9@web-mmc-d02.sysops.aol.com> References: <8CDBB89AFEB53D6-11D4-32C9@web-mmc-d02.sysops.aol.com> Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:31:01 -0400 Message-ID: From: Super Bisquit To: dieterbsd@engineer.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: multi-boot bootstrap? X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:58:07 -0000 Now, how are you going to multiboot OpenBSD and NetBSD on a PowerPC machine from the same hard disk. From what I know, one or the other can only be as the first entry and it then has to be set from the forth prompt. So, you will need two disks to boot , saya: OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Linux, and MacOSX or a combination of these. On PPC boxes with OpenFirmware 3.x, you actually need to set the active partition if you want to boot Linux and/or freebsd from the forth prompt if both are on the same disk. You would need to reprogram the OpenBoot prompt on the UltraSPARC boxes. No one on the FreeBSD hacker list does any forth programming. If such was true, I would have had a few questions answered long ago. On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 2:04 PM, wrote: > The discussion of a new bootloader reminded me of the > following problem: > > What we need more than a new bootloader is a new bootstrap. > With MBR, NetBSD's boot selector MBR works reasonably well. > (About as well as can be expected given the limited space available.) > You get a menu of partitions ("slices" in FreeBSD-speak) > and can enter a number to select which one you want to boot. > If you don't enter anything it times out and boots the default. > You can boot a different disk by pressing F1, F2, F3 ... > > example: > Fn: diskn > 1: NBSD4.0 > 2: NB5.0.1 > 3: FBSD7.1 > 4: FBSD8.2 > > The menu labels are limited to 7 chars due to the limited space > available in the MBR. > > But, disks larger than 2 GiB need to be GPT rather than MBR. > I haven't found a bootstrap with similar functionality for GPT. > > GPT allows a larger bootstrap than MBR. So the bootstrap can > be nicer. Firmware disk numbering is completely insane on some > machines. So spare the poor user from having to guess which > disk is which number today. Go through all the disks and look > for bootable partitions. Extract the GPT partition labels for > these partitions. Present a menu of choices. > > example: > Enter the menu number for the partition you wish to boot. > The default will automatically boot in 5 seconds. > > 1: FreeBSD 7.1 > 2: FreeBSD 8.2 (default) > 3: NetBSD 4.0 > 4: NetBSD 5.0.1 > 5: OpenBSD > 6: Plan 9 > 7: reboot back to firmware > > Boot: > > As with the boot loader, this needs to work on all machines, > and all terminals (without having termcap/terminfo), so just plain > ASCII text, no graphics. > > > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >