Re: Assembler to produce PXE NBP

arargh405NOSPAM_at_NOW.AT.arargh.com
Date: 06/01/04 

Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 19:27:25 -0500

On 31 May 2004 12:12:50 -0700, mcintosh@spam04.vima.austin.tx.us
(Aubrey McIntosh) wrote:

>I desire to load a system in a PXE environment. I have sources for a
>working boot file using turbo assembler syntax, most or all of the
>other relevant sources, old experience writing device drivers in the
>DOS environment. I have deep experience with the desired system. I
>have the PXE 2.1 specification. I have a working net boot
>environment. I am confident I could produce a working file assembling
>one line at a time with "debug."
>
>Alas, my copy of MS MASM is missing. I downloaded Steve Hutchesson's
>MASM32 yesterday and spent several hours reading the docs. I'm
>pleased to see he hangs out here.
MASM32 should include a copy of ML 6.15, or at least it used to.

>(One thing that I noticed is that the INC2L program invoked in the
>install seems to hang while dealing with the creating adme.lib and
>adme.exp. My task monitor thinks it has spent 3 hours 43 minutes of
>machine time so far, surely this is wrong. My system is a Dell
>OptiPlex GX1 about 233 MHz using Win 2000. I have a drive x: and no
>drive C: for obscure, idiosyncratic, entrenched, and brilliant or
>paranoid reasons.)
IIRC, the MASM32 readme file specificly says that the package will not
install on a network drive, which is what a remote boot system is.
And I would think that WIN2000 on a 233 would be quite slow. :-)
>
>Proceeding by milestones of correct working code then refinement, I
>planned a first piece of code that would just announce itself on the
>console, then let the system continue to boot. The current source
>code should do that, except for issuing the correct return codes at
>entry "Tidy:" Later refinements would provide verify/debug
>information matching the PXE specifications to the actual target
>machine.
>
>You may remember that the NBP loads at 0:7c00 in real mode, and looks
>significantly like the boot sector of a disk drive. So my task is to
>make a .COM (or .SYS) file that will execute correctly at 0:7c00
>
>The following source doesn't assemble. The error messages
> nbp_01.asm(29) : error A2008: syntax error : moV
Using what assembler? Or rather what version of MASM/ML?

>don't really help me that much. N.B. that the letters are capitalized
>uniquely in each mov statement, and that the connection between the
>line number and the mnemonic cited is hard to visualize.
>
>Thoughts? Other freely available assemblers?
>-- Aubrey
>
<snip>
The snipped prog assembles without errors using MASM 6.0.

I made no attempt to see what the code does. 

-- 
Arargh405 at [drop the 'http://www.' from ->] http://www.arargh.com
BCET Basic Compiler Page: http://www.arargh.com/basic/index.html
To reply by email, remove the garbage from the reply address.

Relevant Pages

  • Assembler to produce PXE NBP
    ... I desire to load a system in a PXE environment. ... working boot file using turbo assembler syntax, ... I have a working net boot ... ;In various versions, mark has been a PROC, it has had a PROTO ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • Re: cdrom bootloader
    ... > The following code written in Nasm "the Neutral Assembler", ... > 9660/Joliet cdrom 32 bit protected mode boot loader image. ... > to the end and burn it to a cdrom or try it in an emulator. ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • Re: An OS written in asm
    ... assembler) works. ... The result was a "OS" which was able to boot up from a 3,5" floppy, ... "jmp 0FFFFh:0" (if memory serves) Maybe allow the user ...
    (comp.lang.asm.x86)
  • Re: stand-alone binary
    ... >> Before boot, there is no file system so there are no shared libraries ... Your best bet is either an assembler or a 16-bit MS-DOS C-compiler which can ...
    (comp.unix.programmer)