;
; Free DOS Alternative Kernel; FDBOOT v. 1.00 (06-28-95)
;
; = Read Me =
;
; by Yury Semenov (yury@petre.odessa.ua, Fidonet#2:467/2)
;
Programs included to this archive allow you to
* boot regular MSDOS kernel (v. 3.30 - 6.20)
* boot any of Free-DOS kernels that satisfies for some requirements
* boot any kernel after adding to kernel file special loader leading sector
You may assign any of these kernels as default kernel. Loading leading sector
allow to boot any fragmented kernel file from root directory. If there is
XBOOT.SYS file in root directory then operator can press any ctrl/alt/shift
key and then select other kernel file to boot.
List of files included to XFDBOOT.ZIP
README 1ST 4581 07-20-95 4:57p This file
FDBOOT TXT 6000 07-20-95 4:56p More detailed information
MAKEFILE 847 06-27-95 8:17p Makefile for usual Make (Micro-C
make process this file incorrectly):
FDBOOT INC 2380 07-19-95 7:12p Miscellaneous definitions
FDFUNC INC 1522 06-24-95 4:25a -- // --
FDBOOT ASM 7797 07-19-95 6:33p Boot Sector source
MKBOOT ASM 3843 06-23-95 3:04a MakeBoot source
MKBOOT EXE 1840 07-19-95 7:12p MakeBoot utility
XBOOT ASM 3872 07-19-95 7:12p Extended Bootstrap source
XBOOT SYS 333 07-19-95 7:12p
KRNLHEAD ASM 6381 06-28-95 3:47a Example of Kernel leading sector
KRNLOAD INC 2133 06-28-95 4:21a Upper Loader for DOS-C 0.90
ATTENTION: It is better to save original boot sector before any operations
described below!
ENVIRONMENT: I hope that you have usual Make utility (for example Borland Make,
but not Micro-C make), Arrow Assembler (asm) and VAL linker (val).
MKBOOT Utility
Mkboot.exe writes FDBOOT boot sector to selected drive.
Command format:
mkboot <DriveLetter>: <DefaultKernelName>
For example:
mkboot c: io.sys
If any error occures then appears one of following messages
Message Errorlevel
Invalid Parameters 1
Invalid Drive 2
Illegal Kernel Name 3
Can't read boot sector 4
Can't write boot sector 5
Attempting write to write-protected disk 6
and MKBOOT.EXE performs EXIT with corresponding errorlevel.
To recompile MKBOOT.EXE use command
make mkboot.exe
Extended Boot Driver XBOOT.SYS
FDBOOT executes XBOOT.SYS during bootstrap only if this file have been copied
to root directory of boot drive. If there is no such file then FDBOOT will
boot default kernel without any output.
XBOOT.SYS types OEM ID field ("FDLOADER ") from boot record and wait
approximately 3 sec for pressing of any Ctrl/Alt/Shift key. If during this
time interval any of these keys was not pressed then default kernel will be
loaded. In other case XBOOT.SYS will type prompt
Boot: [_ . ]
('_' marks cursor position) Now you may enter other kernel name. Following
control keys are accepable:
ESC Restart FDBOOT
BACKSPACE Delete previous char
ENTER Accept kernel name
. Jump to filename extention
To recompile XBOOT.SYS use command
make xboot.sys
Kernel Leading Sector
To recompile KRNLHEAD.SYS use command
make head
or
make krnlhead.sys
and then type command
copy/b krnlhead.sys+<OriginalKernelName> <DriveLetter>:\<ModifiedKernel>
for example
copy/b krnlhead.sys+ipl.sys a:\xipl.sys
You may include unique code for concrete kernel to KRNLOAD.INC.
Current demo version of KRNLOAD.INC is destined for loading DOS-C v. 0.90
kernel IPL.SYS. Hm... This is very sorrow for me but this version of IPL.SYS
have some problems with correct boot drive detection :-(. So you may load
IPL.SYS from hard drive C:, but don't forget to insert diskette with
KERNEL.EXE and COMMAND.COM in root directory to drive A: ...
