OS Boot Tools

[egos]

Here is Modified GRUB 2 (beta) in SYS format with integrated in the kernel the support for GPT/MBR partitioning schemes, ISO9660, FAT, NTFS, Ext2FS. The package was split into two parts:
1) loader kernel and readme.txt;
2) required directory for normal loader work "boot" with some modules and with example of configuration file, and directory "system" with sample of "user" kernel.

Download links:
1) sys-grubldr-2.0-compact.zip
2) sys-grubldr-2.0-compact-add.zip

[Yoda]

Version 3.1 released.

In this version:

• Added boot code for linear loading of sectors from disk without file system;
• Added utility for conversion of some foreign loaders to the format adopted by this toolset;
• Removed necessity to store the EBR code to all logical drives of extended partition, simplified MBR/EBR interface;
• Increased reliability of detection of native MBR/GPT;
• Added sanity check of boot drive number in MBR/GPT;
• Added support of geometrical number of boot partition;
  kernel.asm:
  • Extended the output of information;
  • Added canonical stack setup in demo-kernel.

This version at last allows to get rid of the process of loader installation in OS Linux when using file systems Ext2 or Ext3! It is sufficient to convert the loader by applied utility, place the resulting file to the root directory of boot disk and prepare disk for booting by the boot.exe utility (the preparing needs to be performed only once). For the first time in Linux history the installation of the loader became most friendly and the boot disk may be just copied file-by-file without loosing the capability of booting from it!
You may read more details in description.

Download and try.
http://goncharov.pp.ru/en/osboot.htm

[egos]

Code: Select all

mksys -i core.img -o kernel.sys
Unable to detect loader type.

[egos]

If you use sys-grubldr-2.0 with both MBR and VBR boot loaders from last Yoda's package (3.1) you can use loader kernel without patching it (see readme.txt). You can use this rescue CD image without rewriting MBR as well. Just install one of last VBR boot loaders and boot from CD (image).

[Yoda]

Version 3.2 released.

In this version:

• Added boot from alternative partition in MBR, EBR or GPT;
• Boot code for linear loading modified for installing to the partition;
• Added FAT32 boot code with automatic LBA/CHS detection;
• Fixed bug of loading from far sectors in Ext2/Ext3 or NTFS partitions with size more than 2TB;
• Fixed bug of loading on some weird BIOSes;
• Added passing the start of boot partition to the loaded kernel;
• Added support of GRUB Legacy loader by mksys utility;
• Added support of GRUB4DOS loader by mksys utility;
• Added support of SYSLINUX loader by mksys utility;
• Added support of FreeDOS kernel by mksys utility;
• Added recognition of Ubuntu-version of GRUB2 loader by mksys utility;
• Fixed erroneous flags on file creation by Linux version of mksys utility.

In this version the most popular free second stage loaders and the FreeDOS kernel are successfully supported. The specs for the first stage loading seem to be convenient enough and are supposed to freeze.

Download and try.
http://goncharov.pp.ru/en/osboot.htm

[Yoda]

Version 3.3 released.

In this version:

• Added support of Microsoft Windows NT4.0, XP/64, WS2003/64, Vista, 7 loaders by mksys utility;
• Added boot from ISO-image on USB drive (USB-ISO);
• Added boot from exFAT file system;
• Added boot from Ext4 file system;
• Added boot from Minix/Minix2/Minix3 file systems;
• Added workaround for BIOS bug with incorrect patch of boot disk number in FAT32;
• Fixed bug in FreeDOS kernel conversion.

In this version successfully supported all popular file systems and second stage loaders. So now this package is excellently suits not only for developing your own OS but also for loading of most modern operating systems.

Download and try.
http://goncharov.pp.ru/en/osboot.htm

[Yoda]

I found and fixed a serious bug in exFAT support. If somebody plans to use this tool for exFAT, I strongly reccommend to re-download archive. I decided not to change version number for one bugfix.

[egos]

New versions of sys-grubldr2 were published.

sys-grubldr2 based on grub-2.00-7ubuntu11:
1) sys-grubldr-2.12-compact.zip
2) sys-grubldr-2.12-compact-add.zip

sys-grubldr2 based on grub-2.00-19ubuntu1:
1) sys-grubldr-2.13-compact.zip
2) sys-grubldr-2.13-compact-add.zip

Rescue CD image now can be found here.