From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 7.3 \(1878.6\)) From: yoann padioleau In-Reply-To: <547E3CF1.1090706@gr13.net> Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2014 16:20:36 -0800 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <38B4730F-0F3D-4BF8-AF67-05ED8FFBCA48@gmail.com> References: <547E35BC.8070503@gr13.net> <547E3CF1.1090706@gr13.net> To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Subject: Re: [9fans] Porting plan9 Topicbox-Message-UUID: 32a7aee0-ead9-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 I think one of the reason 9load is quite complicated is because they wanted to boot a kernel from the network, so you need a network = stack and the drivers for the ethernet card, so you really need lots of = OS code in the end. On Dec 2, 2014, at 2:28 PM, Enrico Weigelt, metux IT consult = wrote: > On 02.12.2014 23:02, Iruat=E3 Souza wrote: >=20 >>> apropos kernel/bootloader: I just recently had a look at the code >>> and somewhat got the impression that 9load seems to be a specially >>> tailored plan9 kernel, which then loads the real kernel. >>>=20 >>> is that correct or am I mistaken here ? >>=20 >> Correct. >=20 > hmm, interesting. >=20 > What's the exact reason behind that ? >=20 > I'm really not an expert for bootloaders, but I always got the > impression, that bootloaders need to be extremly minimal (eg. on > PC you'll have only about 0.5k for the first stage) and serve an > entirely different purpose than an OS kernel. >=20 > OTOH, having a complete OS/Kernel as preboot environment of course > also has it's charm - allows easily adding lots of setup things, > even rescue stuff, etc. >=20 > Can 9front also boot other operating systems, eg. Linux ? > Could it become a replacement for other bootloaders like grub ? >=20 >=20 > cu > -- > Enrico Weigelt, > metux IT consulting > +49-151-27565287 >=20