Re: 64 bit Menuet 0.59 released

On Feb 28, 11:55 pm, "Jim Carlock" <anonym...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
: So when the new OS boots from USB it must already contain
: working USB loader/drivers/routines as the BIOS is of little help
: here.

USB network cards should be bootable as well, right? Back in
1998 or 1999 Intel promoted bootable PCI network interfaces.
One Microsoft / Intel event I attended demonstrated a NIC that
booted off a remote server, and the OS sent commands back
and forth between the driveless client and ran some of the new
terminals on the client, off the server (Terminal Server).

Then the other way I see it working, bootable USB memory retains
a BIOS, like the bootable network cards, and respond as disk
drives, just as a hard disk would. If it acts like a disk drive, it is a
disk drive and PCI is only the funnel that moves information about.


Most PC NICs (ISA/PCI/PCI-E) with boot ROMs just implement an Int 13
extension, so that the BIOS and boot loader thinks it's booting off an
Int 13 supported disk. Usually the boot image is a floppy image
stored on the appropriate server. This is similar to what happens in
most cases when booting off a CD-ROM (usually the boot starts from a
floppy image on the CD accessed via the Int 13 extension). The OS
stays in real mode until it can load the real "disk" driver.

Hardware iSCSI cards actually look like a SCSI device and not a
network card, and boot much like any SCSI supported hard disk would
(and those all implement Int 13 interfaces as well).

Somewhat newer is EFI support, which replaces the BIOS functions, but
provides the same functions.

As to USB devices, there's no particular technical issue booting from
such a device (other than needing USB stack and an appropriate Int 13
or EFI extension). Most BIOSs already have a USB stack just to
support the USB keyboard and mouse.

.

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  • Re: 64 bit Menuet 0.59 released
    ... mouse and old modems on USB. ... working USB loader/drivers/routines as the BIOS is of little help ... USB network cards should be bootable as well, ... off the server. ...
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