*BSD News Article 13347


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From: mazumdar@mary.cs.fredonia.edu (Jin Mazumdar)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: What makes a floppy bootable?
Message-ID: <1993Mar25.173426.13819@penny.cs.fredonia.edu>
Date: 25 Mar 93 17:34:26 GMT
Sender: news@penny.cs.fredonia.edu (News Administrator)
Organization: Math / CS, State Univ. of N. Y. College at Fredonia
Lines: 26
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3


	Would some kind soul explain the boot process for 386BSD to
me.  I have it running with real partitioning and can boot DOS or
386BSD using bootinst.  

	Does the PC look for a particular sector on the disk/ette to
find the boot/strap code or an offset to it?

	As I have no backup device I would like to make my own dist.fs
and fixit.fs floppies with my own kernel, disktab, etc.  I could edit
an existing one but it would be more of an education to build one.

	A related question.  My 3-1/2" drive is configured as my b
drive.  Is it possible to make a machine bootable from b?  I could
then have a larger fixit.fs.

	TIA

--
			Jin Mazumdar        

(internet:) mazumdar@mary.cs.fredonia.edu

  >>> Dept. Of Math and C. S.                          <<<
  >>> State University of New York College at Fredonia <<<    
  >>> Fredonia, N.Y. 14063         (716) 673 3459      <<<