I would be glad to hear comments on this new release, available at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gujin
http://freshmeat.net/projects/gujin
Gujin is a GPL bootloader rewritten from scratch, it can now be
installed on a hard disk (in a small FAT 12/16 partition) or on
a floppy.
It is still not perfect, but can still:
- boot any kernel of any uncompressed size in an E2FS, E3FS
or FAT12/16/32 partition using BIOS, EBIOS _or_ IDE CHS/LBA/LBA48.
Libraries for E*FS reading and gzip decompression are rewritten
from scratch for size optimisation - no known bug after extensive
testing.
- boot Linux in whatever graphic mode supported by VESA (I use
usually 1280x1024 24 bpp) staying in real mode. Use of mouse or
joystick to select the kernel to boot.
- boot from BIOS startup _or_ starting from DOS.
- recognise most of QWERTY AZERTY and QWERTZ keyboards to change
the command line and provide more input -:).
- boot strange setups like this-other-operating-system in
extended partitions and automagic management of partition hiding.
There is a lot of stuff to code and test still, for instance the
default function to get Linux i386 real-mode parameter can be
overloaded by code present at end of the compressed kernel
(linux_param_realfct_size in vmlinuz.* shall use a function
like the one in linuxparam.c which would be concatenated at the
end of linux.kgz) and processor restrictions in the comment field
of the GZIPed kernel has also to be tested (get the Gujin loader
to complain if the kernel cannot be run on the current processor,
using all the CPUID flags).
Also, the late relocation address of the kernel can be modified
(because the kernel can now be of any size, it takes DMA-able memory
below 16 Mb, precious for the sound buffers, so the default loading
address shall be moved to 16 Mbytes and over for up to date systems)
If interrested, you should begin by downloading the install.tgz
package because the compiler used is GCC-2.95.3/4 or GCC-3.0.4
due to compiler bugs. Read the doc first !
I am currently writing the ANSI font download (to not use the
PC fonts) and will next support more keyboards.
My days just have 24 hours and have a limited time to play
with Gujin, so I would appreciate some help.
Etienne.
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