[coreboot] Convert Assembly JMP to C

Peter Stuge peter at stuge.se
Fri Sep 12 01:31:47 CEST 2008


Joseph Smith wrote:
> > state of the art
> 
> mbrs/partition tables

See how those two don't fit together?


> I really think it is possible to take the data from the
> mbr/partition table and manipulate it to our advantage, thus
> bypassing ALL real mode interrupts. The problem would be if an OS
> (like windows) deciedes to make a INT call....

You are missing the point.

If you implement the BIOS method, you will only reach more code that
requires and assumes a BIOS method. This makes perfect sense;

The MBR assumes a BIOS is available. Code that the MBR points to
somehow will also assume a BIOS, because there is no way the computer
would execute that code unless a BIOS is running and arrived there by
enumerating MBRs, picking one and going on from there.


> But for Linux, I really feel it is possible.

The MBR path will lead to the Linux real mode entry point.


I hope you agree with me that one major design goal of a new boot
standard will be to eliminate real mode from x86 boot.

Stop wasting time on BIOS things. Do a comparison with all other disk
labels that the composite of Linux, BSD and Windows NT supports.


//Peter




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