Pixel wrote:
>
> Chmouel Boudjnah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > Neil Koozer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >
> > > nuni is a boot loader for Linux, using ext2 file system and IDE drives.
> >
> > sound nice, pixel ?
> >
>
> grub does the same, and it *does* handle scsi :ppp
I was unaware that grub would boot above 1023 on pre-existing machines
(the ones that people try to install linux on). I thought it depended
on the extended bios to do this. The latest version of lilo also
detects and uses extended bios calls.
nuni doesn't do scsi :(
I was prepared to do that; it just would take a different little code
snippet for each type of card. Then we could boot from things like
1502's that don't have an on-board bios patch. But I discovered that
those scsi cards are like winmodems; the programming model is not
available.
> i really don't think relying on the bios for just booting is a bad idea. You
> won't ever handle every possible hardware (dma66,scsi,ls120,...) doing this, are
> you?
It wouldn't be necessary for one loader do handle all cases.
if (IDE) then nuni
else (other)
The case of IDE+ext2 would cover a large fraction of those first-time
installers.
I would be happy if the bios were adequate, but you know we have tons of
first-time installers that hit the bios roadblock. This is the reason
for nuni; I don't need it myself.
dma66 is a non-issue; those will answer ATA calls (I don't have one to
check this though). I presume things like ls120 could be reasonably
added; the ATAPI specs are published and there wouldn't be 50 varieties
like scsi.
Well enough rambling for now,
Neil.
