db> On Jun 27, 1996 at 19:15, Keith Richardson of 3:711/934.6 wrote:

 db>> Bummer.  This is what gives me the shits with translated drive
 db>> geometries.  :-(
 KR>
 KR> if we could lose int 13 all would be well...

 db> This is why I like what I've seen of the proposed standard PowerPC
 db> architecture machines - no more PC-style BIOS (emulated, if
 db> necessary), but a proper boot PROM monitor, like in SPARC systems. 
 db> It's built on the IEEE-proposed standard bootstrap system for
 db> computers, and along with the IEEE-standarised bus types (including
 db> ISA, SBus and I think PCI too), means you could almost have a
 db> completely modularised machine.

i rather liked the sun monitor, in the days when i worked with that stuff.
i wasn't aware that the ieee had a proposed standard for a bootstrap, thats
one of the disadvantages of being one of the uneducated masses from the
university of life (:

 db> The PC architecture sucks.  :-(

what architecture? it's bit and pieces grafted together with recent
bandaids added to keep it going. the pc was designed with no foresight at
all. 

 KR> i hadn't read your message when i wrote mine, thanks for the info

 db> Let me know if it works.

still got to finish getting w95 back together, and a new toy arrives
tomorrow, so it may be some time.

 db>> "Next sector"?!  Perhaps the next sector in the partition table
 db>> structure...
 KR>
 KR> no, the next part of the loader.

 db> The MBR is only one sector - WTF is "the rest of the
loader"?  Are you
 db> telling me LILO sneaks in a few sectors somewhere else?  Strange, as
 db> mine sits alone in the boot sector of my Linux partition (single
 db> sector).


no, the mbr only pulls in the loader, i have no idea where that lives, but
you can see it work when linux boots, especially when you use scsi disks.
the loader checks out the hardware, and finally sets up the scsi
controller. it apears to me that that is the point where linux actually
starts running, int 13 is no longer used, and the disks are addressed by
block just as god intended.

                                   keith
@EOT:

--- WinPoint 0.2.07 Alpha