osfree.org

prokushev

Site Admin

Joined: 25 Nov 2003
Posts: 100
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 10:17 am

Hello All

This message mostly to those who want contribute. Current tasks:

1. Port EXT2FS MicroFSD to Open Watcom (taken by me)
2. Add bootsector instead of LILO (taken by me)
3. Port EXT2FS MiniFSD to OpenWatcom and _32-bit_!!! (free) (No OS/2 required)
4. Port UEXT2.DLL to OpenWatcom (free) (No OS/2 Required)
5. Add writing of MicroFSD to boot sector (add code to UEXT2.DLL) (free) (OS/2 required)

wbr,
Yuri

Blairdude

Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 1
Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2005 6:42 pm

Number 3 on the todo list should be complete; UEXT2.DLL has been ported to OpenWatcom and
32-bit and has mke2fs and e2fsck merged into the DLL.

BigWarpGuy

Guest

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:31 pm

Is there any progress on the one left?

BigWarpGuy

Joined: 09 May 2006
Posts: 62
Location: East Windsor NJ
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:21 pm

Is it completed or is it still be worked on?
_________________
BigWarpGuy
http://www.os2ecs.org
http://www.os2world.com
http://www.ecomstation.com

saschm

Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 19
Location: Germany
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:43 pm

Hi BigWarpGuy,

There was a big break, but I'm going to work on it again and am of course looking for
help - see misc for more

wbr,
saschm

BigWarpGuy

Joined: 09 May 2006
Posts: 62
Location: East Windsor NJ
Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:41 pm

better slow than no activity. I also posted in miscalaneous. I am not a programmer. I have alot
to learn before I could help anyone. I hope you find someone who can. I think this is a great project.
_________________
BigWarpGuy
http://www.os2ecs.org
http://www.os2world.com
http://www.ecomstation.com

Viking

Joined: 29 Sep 2006
Posts: 42
Location: Sweden
Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:12 am

Hi

How much code has been written on the microFSD (ext2)? Is it written in assembler, because of size?
As I see, it can use the first two sectors of an ext2 partition or on a floppy. Because the superblock starts
at offset 1024 from the start of the partition/floppy.

But if it's booting from an ext2 partition, how does the boot loader know where the partion start? Ext2
does not seem to have a Bios Parameter Block on the first sector (start of partition etc). So how does it work?

valerius

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 50
Location: Elizovo, Kamchatka, Russia
Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:10 am

2Viking: ext2 blackbox (aka microfsd) is taken from OS/2 ext2 IFS (you can find it in
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/ searching by ext2 keyword). As written in .INF ebook, to use
ext2 microfsd, you must install lilo in 1st sector of ext2 partition and to start microfsd
from it as a kernel. Lilo starts microfsd, microfsd loads os2ldr and so on. With Lilo there
is no BPB, of course. But parameters which are common for BPB can be given to microfsd
by lilo as kernel paramet ers. To get rid from lilo, you can use a simple bootsector, which
can replace lilo.

I have written such a bootsector, my bootsector has BPB in it and can load any file as a
sequence of sectors; The starting sector and length in sectors and load address and entry
point address are written in bootsector fields, so you can write in bootsector the arbitrary
values. My bootsector is filesystem independent, so, in principle, you can use it instead of
lilo, but I did not tested it for now with ext2 filesystem, but I am experimenting now with
FAT filesystem, and trying to write a FAT microfsd, as FAT is more convenient for me than
ext2, as for FAT there is mtools, they are very convenient for manipulating disk images,
and there is no such utilities for ext2. I want to contribute to osFree boot sequence project,
and when my tools will be ready, i'll show the sources.

My bootsector is, of course, written in assembler, but microfsd it loads can be written in C
as well as in assembler. the only limitation is no more than 64 Kb in size. My bootsector can
load microfsd from any file in any directory, as well as from bootblock or from empty area
before bootsector (there is 62 empty sectors before any logical disk bootsector, we can place
microfsd here).

WBR,
valery
_________________
WBR,
Valery V. Sedletski

Last edited by valerius on Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:33 am; edited 1 time in total

valerius

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 50
Location: Elizovo, Kamchatka, Russia
Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:19 am

PS:
I also have ported FreeLdr to OpenWatcom and am playing with it. I'll try to write a loader for L4
microkernel, but for now, i am busy with FAT microfsd code.
_________________
WBR,
Valery V. Sedletski

osfadmin

Site Admin

Joined: 24 Nov 2003
Posts: 60
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:41 pm

valerius wrote: PS:
I also have ported FreeLdr to OpenWatcom and am playing with it. I'll try to write a loader for L4
microkernel, but for now, i am busy with FAT microfsd code.

Please, contact me via email to discuss some things according bootloader.