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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.development Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!constellation!convex!convex!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!sun4nl!star.cs.vu.nl!leendert From: leendert@cs.vu.nl (Leendert van Doorn) Subject: Re: Boot ROM standardization urged Message-ID: <C4CIG9.K7u@cs.vu.nl> Sender: news@cs.vu.nl Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam References: <f0Vqgtl@quack.kfu.com> Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 14:19:20 GMT Lines: 30 mrapple@quack.kfu.com (Nick Sayer) writes: # From reading this group I get the idea that at least one person is # developing boot ROMs for 386BSD. Before we come up with a system # specific one, wouldn't it be a good idea to come up with a standard one? # One that would RARP, then use TFTP to load a file at a standard address, # then provide standardized service routines for that TFTP file to # use as it sees fit? What I'm suggesting is a setup where the ROMs are # card specific (as they must be), and the TFTP file is OS specific (as it # must be), but the two can be fit together in a standard way. If we # adopt such a standard, I suggest that it won't be long before the OS # vendors join us. Won't it be nice being able to switch OSs without # switching boot ROMs? I wrote a RARP/TFTP bootprom for Amoeba, and it simply loads the kernel at 0x2000 and jumps to it in real mode. Even the Minix grupies are thinking about booting Minix that way, so it looks like a reasonable standard to me. In case anyone cares. A copy of my bootprom code can be found in ftp.cs.vu.nl:leendert/prom.tar. It contains support for WD80x3 and NE2100 boards. Cheers, Leendert -- Leendert van Doorn <leendert@cs.vu.nl> Vrije Universiteit / Dept. of Math. & Comp. Sci. +31 20 5484477 Amoeba project / De Boelelaan 1081A 1081 HV Amsterdam / The Netherlands