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Date:      Sat, 27 Jul 2002 18:09:05 -0400 (EDT)
From:      John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org>
To:        Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>
Cc:        current@FreeBSD.ORG, ru@FreeBSD.ORG, matusita@jp.FreeBSD.org, doconnor@gsoft.com.au, "M. Warner Losh" <imp@bsdimp.com>, Peter Wemm <peter@wemm.org>
Subject:   Re: cvs commit: src/release/i386 drivers.conf
Message-ID:  <XFMail.20020727180905.jhb@FreeBSD.org>
In-Reply-To: <3D431776.C869FD9@mindspring.com>

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On 27-Jul-2002 Terry Lambert wrote:
> Peter Wemm wrote:
>> > So, given that the install from a CDROM boots from a floppy
>> > image that's faked up by the CDROM drive BIOS, and the image
>> > doesn't include the full boot loader, how exactly is it that
>> > the partial boot loader code acts like the full bootloader
>> > code for accessing the CDROM to load the modules necessary
>> > to access the CDROM?
>> 
>> Not true anymore.  release/i386/mkisoimages.sh:
>>         bootable="-b boot/cdboot -no-emul-boot"
>> -r-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  1136 Jul  5 02:20 /boot/cdboot*
>> I believe we still use the old way on RELENG_4, but the support all got
>> MFC'ed.  Several release candidates used cdboot for better testing exposure.
> 
> Doesn't this require newer hardware/BIOS/firmware than most
> equipment has these days?

Can your box install NT4?  Supporting no emulation mode was required
as part of the NT4 "logo" program so all but very ancient hardware
supports this.  When we tested this for 4.5 release candidates, we
had on the order of about 3 or 4 boxes that didn't work and many,
many boxes that it did work fine on.  IOW, this is how all the
bootable Windows CD's work (NT4, ME, 2000, XP, etc.).

> I'm pretty sure that my ASUS box with a Toshiba 3401B won't
> boot from one of these, except on my really old AHA1742,
> which can't tell it's not just another hard drive...

It's not the drive it's the BIOS.
 
> Is this going to be the default for distribution, or is the
> "fake floppy" boot CDROM still going to be "disc #1"?

Hopefully for 4.7 if not 4.6.1. :)  Still, it's up to the vendors
the current CD layout is setup to handle either way, it's simply
changing the flags to mkisofs that determine which method is used.

-- 

John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org>  <><  http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/
"Power Users Use the Power to Serve!"  -  http://www.FreeBSD.org/

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