From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 30 03:14:48 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1E5D916A4CE for ; Thu, 30 Oct 2003 03:14:48 -0800 (PST) Received: from firecrest.mail.pas.earthlink.net (firecrest.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.121.247]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 664E543F75 for ; Thu, 30 Oct 2003 03:14:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from tlambert2@mindspring.com) Received: from user-2ivfim6.dialup.mindspring.com ([165.247.202.198] helo=mindspring.com) by firecrest.mail.pas.earthlink.net with asmtp (SSLv3:RC4-MD5:128) (Exim 3.33 #1) id 1AFAlI-0005fT-00; Thu, 30 Oct 2003 03:14:45 -0800 Message-ID: <3FA0F275.696313CC@mindspring.com> Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 03:13:57 -0800 From: Terry Lambert X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.79 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Ulrich Spoerlein References: <20031026175852.GA770@galgenberg.net> <20031029154312.GA777@galgenberg.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-ELNK-Trace: b1a02af9316fbb217a47c185c03b154d40683398e744b8a43e7f203cc2e0b654e4dac852616443082601a10902912494350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c cc: David O'Brien cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Sysinstall's fdisk/disklabel should be improved X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 11:14:48 -0000 Ulrich Spoerlein wrote: > On Tue, 28.10.2003 at 23:29:03 -0800, David O'Brien wrote: > > It is NOT useless. Why do you think it is? Perhaps you don't relize > > that some BIOS's wont boot from a hard disk that isn't partitioned to > > agree with the specifications of the PeeCee. If you want to treat your > > PC as a Sun, don't -- buy a Sun, FreeBSD runs on that too. > > What exactly do you mean by "PC Specification"? I'm not trying to make a > "dangerously dedicated" disk. I just don't need a spare 63 sectors for > DOS-compatibility. And leaving the first 63 sectors untouched is a > DOS-ism, not a PC-ism. Ironically, the best reference for FDISK-style layout of partition tables, use of the fields in the FDISK partition table structure, and general reference on checksums, 0xAA55, and the rest that I have ever found is the PReP specification, chapter 6. That's Power PC Reference Platform Specification, in case you were wondering; it's a Motorolla document intended for use on Motorolla hardware. Some DEC (Compaq? Hewlett-Compaqard?) Alpha firmware has the same requirement that PReP has in this regard. So do most OSs that run on x86 hardware, even when they are run on non-x86 hardware (Solaris, et. al.). I agree that the code could be cleaned up, but the layout on the disk is pretty intentional. -- Terry