* a graphical (EGA or VGA) boot that does very simple stuff. I've started
work on it and hope to have something that is less than 40-50 KB in size,
and starts as the first rc.0 stuff. With a hack in the bootsect.s stuff to
save state and set VGA mode and set a hatch pattern (about 50-100 bytes in
code size), this is all possible. It doesn't have to display a picture (if
it does, I'd expect it to be after the file system is mounted, maybe use
png as the delivery mechanism). I want no text unless Something Very Bad
(tm) happens. Saving the VGA state is a well known procedure. Setting up
640x480x16 colours is easy, and works even on 256 kb VGA cards. There was
one person who said that you couldn't see what went wrong. Well this
problem has been solved on the Mac for more than 12 years (a red cross is
placed through the icon of the extension or control panel that failed).
Simple expect script could leverage this under free unixes. Even OS/2 boots
graphically.
* when Something Very Bad happens, I want something that is better than
now. Say fsck fails. You're screwed now. There is no easy to enter single
user mode from this angle. Say a driver module you've installed stalls the
boot process. Where's the single user mode? Many people who don't do kernel
hacking or driver development don't have boot disks around to do repairs.
We need something that will help get the system stable at boot time without
resorting to floppies.
I'm working on integrating support for the Matrox Mystique into XFree86 as
we speak, so just hang in there. The trick to driver support under free
unixes is to write it yourself.
Andrew
----------
> From: Firebeard <stend+linux@sten.org>
> To: Andrew Vanderstock <ajv@greebo.svhm.org.au>
> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
> Subject: Re: Now, why didn't we think of this before?
> Date: Wednesday, 26 March 1997 2:58
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>
> >>>>> Andrew Vanderstock writes:
>
> AV> I'd also like to see much better boot management. The idea of an
> AV> OS booting to a textual display in 1997 is ridiculous.
>
> Given that, with the textual boot method currently in place,
> Linux kernel development can't keep up with the pace new video
> adapters are released (the kernel can't recognize or take advantage of
> my Matrox Mystique, or the Paradise Pipeline 64 I had before it
> (released no later than June 96), for two specific examples), the idea
> that Linux should boot to anything but a textual display is itself
> ridiculous. I'm sure that you can configure the boot process to start
> xdm if you wish, but having the Linux kernel boot in a graphics mode
> would exclude bleeding edge adoptees, who have formed the core of the
> Linux development effort.
>
> - --
> #include <disclaimer.h> /* Sten Drescher */
> Unsolicited bulk email will be stored and handled for a US$500/KB fee.
> It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, it is by the beans of
> Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the
> shaking becomes a warning, it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in
> motion. -- Carlos Nunes-Ueno, 3/29/95
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: 2.6.2
> Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface
>
> iQBVAwUBMzgEJfCBWKvC9LiRAQEUSAH/ae6u14P3P7KYuxKHG+ofizMLQB4MQru+
> h22+u4VI8TZfP3+mrSP5C991D06JIjOiWkH7424CPSo1E8sL1bclVg==
> =nkRC
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----