Heiko Joerg Schick info@schihei.de writes:
Hello Eric,
I've found an an article from you about LinuxBIOS. It would be great if you can answer some short question about the project.
I can remember that (I think) 6 month ago, a system call LOBOS was used to boot the later used Linux Kernel. Now I saw in the document "Flexibility in ROM: A Stackable Open Source BIOS" that a quite more complex firmware stack is used, with the following components:
- LinuxBIOS
- ADLO
- Bochs BIOS
- Grub Bootloader
- Windows 2000, Linux, ...
I this always the case and how it is realized on other platforms, like PowerPC???
LinuxBIOS is the core piece that initialized the hardware. Then it loads and executable in the ELF file format from the rom. That executable can be the final kernel, or it can currently be one of the following bootloaders: ADLO etherboot. Linux Kernel with LOBOS/2 kernel monte/Kexec support FILO 9Load OpenBIOS ....
It is very simple and flexible. As for the PowerPC I think they are directly loading the kernel. All that is required of the bootloader is that it be able to run on the bare hardware making no firmware calls. Like an OS typically does.
Eric