Help booting OS (xv6)

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mostwanted10
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Joined: Thu May 22, 2014 11:57 am

Help booting OS (xv6)

Post by mostwanted10 »

I want to boot xv6(a simple OS by MIT) on real x86 hardware. Im currently running it using qemu.
For starters,
There is a file inside xv6 source code with the following text

Code: Select all

# Using GRUB 2, you can boot xv6 from a file stored in a
# Linux file system by copying kernel or kernelmemfs to /boot
# and then adding this menu entry:
#
# menuentry "xv6" {
# 	insmod ext2
# 	set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
# 	set kernel='/boot/kernel'
# 	echo "Loading ${kernel}..."
# 	multiboot ${kernel} ${kernel}
# 	boot
# }
I dont have GRUB as Im using a windows machine. Secondly, I get two files upon compilation, XV6.img and FS.img
As I have no experience with booting self written OSes on real hardware, I need your help.

Cheers
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iansjack
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Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:07 am
Location: Chichester, UK

Re: Help booting OS (xv6)

Post by iansjack »

1. I'm not convinced that this is a question about OS development. (Edit - OK, it's now been moved to a more appropriate place.)

2. I think you are going to have to install Grub to boot this OS which, realistically, means that you first have to install Linux.

3. I would strongly recommend that you do not do this on a machine that contains important information. If you must, at least use a dedicated hard disk.

4. If 2 is a problem then I don't think you should be attempting to install this OS on real hardware. I'm not sure that you have anything to gain by doing so rather than running it in a VM.

5. If none of the above helps then I think you would have more success posting on a forum dedicated to this OS.
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