How is control passed to IO.SYS at Boot time?

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2 total messages Started by steve@tauto.demo Sun, 23 Mar 1997 00:00

#3960

Author: steve@tauto.demo
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 1997 00:00

27 lines
1171 bytes

I'm trying to roll my own system for booting a diskless embedded PC
over an Ethernet.  For the next few months I need to boot DOS on these
systems.  Later it will be all 32 bit code and the problem lessens.  I
have just about figured out how to fire up a UDP stack at boot time
from a boot PROM on an adaptor board and collect files from a
co-operating program on a host machine, but I don't know where to
place the IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS files in memory, and then how to call
them from the boot code.  Most of this is figured out from the Linux
and FreeBSD code, which in turn I assume is derived from the MSDOS
boot PROM systems commercially available for workstations.

So - does anyone know of any source for DOS remote netboot PROMs I can
take a look at?  What were the original references for the Linux
versions?

I don't particularly want to adopt standard BootP and TFTP mechanisms
since I don't necessarily own the nets to which these systems are
connected, and don't want to advertise such widely known services to
other hosts.  Besides many commercial PROMs cost more than the
adaptors on which they mount.

Does anybody have any ideas/suggestions?
--
Steve

Re: How is control passed to IO.SYS at Boot time?

#3989

Author: "Robb Main"
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 00:00

16 lines
443 bytes

Stumbled accross this little gem quite innocently, and did a double-take,
then took.
try:
	"http://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/RPL-ROM/rplrom.zip"

(yessss, you see correctly, that is microsoft GIVING away perfectly good
software... guess anything bellow a couple of meg just doesn't fit into
their "corporate portfolio" anymore...) Microsoft has put this into the
public domain as an aid for advanced programmers.

Have fun
Robb Main.

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