Re: bootloader

Annie wrote:

....
Are you using a Linux-based FTP agent, or are you booting to
WinDoze?

Linux, of course. I just clicked on the link...

> Good to hear that simtelnet *is* still working properly, but it
> still ain't what it used to be. For example, I don't think that
> the "asmsnip" series - 4 zip files, IIRC - is available except
> from some simtel mirror in France...

The "asmsnip" series is still there. I believe it's in the
"/pub/simtelnet/msdos/asm" sub-directory.

No such directory. The directory I remembered as "asmutils" is actually "asmutl". Lotsa good stuff, but not the snippits I had in mind. Valuable antique Nasm 0.97...

Indeed, *everything's* still there on all the Simtel mirrors,
except for the old CP/M and Z80 stuff.

Well that's *enough* of a loss!

> I'm not sure that that boot manager is especially virtuous - a
> good simple one to start with, perhaps. The code's okay, but
> the commenting style is *horrible*!
>
> mov ax, 0201h ; ah = 2, al = 1


The author states in the DOCs that he's an ASM newbie...but his
code is solid, nevertheless.

Besides, when it comes to boot managers, simple *is* virtuous.

Agreed.

The program conforms to the standard hard disk partitioning
protocols; no funky proprietary machinations are happening.
And if you ever want to get rid of the boot manager, a simple
FDISK /MBR does it...leaving the hard disk completely intact.

Yeah, some of the commercial "magic" programs are hard to get rid of, because they use "reserved" sectors or make a "hidden partition". But some managers (lilo) will boot partitions on another physical drive, which this won't...

It's perfect. I use it on everything from an XT to a fast
Pentium. Of course, you can't do funky things with it that
the proprietary boot managers do...like boot from a virtual
or extended partition, etc. But anyone who's stupid enough
to engage in those kinds of shennanigans deserves the pain
that's eventually coming to them. Hehe!

Perhaps. I don't see the problem with an extended partition - the "bootsector" is just a fake MBR... Reminds me of Marty's comment in mwrload, that if you don't know why the code has to fit in 446 bytes, you'd better not mess with your MBR... :)

> Oh, well... I should talk...

I was just gonna say. Hehehe!

But I do...

Best,
Frank
.

Quantcast