Richard Smith rsmith@bitworks.com writes:
I've got etherboot loading now.
I took a bzImage and turned it into a elfimage with
mkelfimage bzImage elfimage
using mkelfimage 2.5
Yeah. At least someone does not have broken binutils :)
then stuck that on my CF in the first partition ie 'cat elfimage > /dev/hde1' where hde is the pcmcia mount of my CF
Stick it in my target and boot.
I get:
< linux bios stuff snipped>
Etherboot 5.1.8 (GPL) Tagged ELF for [IDE] Relocating _text from: [00023d20,00032e30) to [07ff0ef0,08000000) Probing pci disk... [IDE]disk-1 7872k cap: 0200 Searching for image... ................................<abort> Probing pci disk... [IDE]Probing isa disk...
<sleep> Probing pci disk... [IDE]disk0 7872k cap: 0200 Searching for image... ................................<abort> Probing pci disk... [IDE]Probing isa disk... <sleep> Probing pci disk... [IDE]disk1 7872k cap: 0200 Searching for image... ................................<abort> Probing pci disk... [IDE]Probing isa disk... <sleep>
And it just goes on and on checking different disks
Did I miss something? Is Tagged ELF different from the elf image that I created with mkelfimage?
Nope. the file format is right.
Etherboot just works the way the LinuxBIOS code originally did.
In particular it scans the first 8K of disk for an ELF header. This means you don't have to be at the absolute start of the disk for your ELF image you do need to be close.
Think of what is happening as a super master boot record instead of a stupid bootloader. As there is a very strong reluctance to upgrade firmware I try to make the as simple as possible while still being powerful enough to be useful. Hopefully at some point there a bootloader I can read off of the disk.
With the appropriate tools it is possible to force your first partition early in the disk. By default the first partition is often aligned on a cylinder boundary, which is probably what you are running into.
The fact the IDE driver is reading your disk and not having problems is good.
Eric