[Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload [was: New wiki index page.]]

[Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload [was: New wiki index page.]]

[Svante Signell]

Any comments from the Grub development crew?

-------- Forwarded Message --------
> From: Stefan Reinauer <stepan@coresystems.de>
> To: Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com>, LinuxBIOS mailinglist
> <linuxbios@linuxbios.org>
> Subject: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload [was: New wiki index page.]
> Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 10:36:07 +0200
> 
> * Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com> [061025 09:05]:
> > On Mon, 2006-10-09 at 23:35 +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> > > Great!
> > > 
> > > Now the only thing we should fix is
> > > http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads
> > > where the list of possible payloads does not list Linux.
> > 
> > Sorry for jumping into this thread: What about grub2 (not grub legacy),
> > does it qualify as payload for LinuxBIOS?
> 
> In theory, yes, but grub2 is not there yet.
> 
> Two things are required to do this though:
> - add an ide driver in grub2. biosdisk is not the way to go.
> - add support for compiling grub2 as an elf image.
> 
> Stefan
> 
-- 
Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com>

Re: [Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload

[Marco Gerards]

Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com> writes:

> Any comments from the Grub development crew?
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
>> From: Stefan Reinauer <stepan@coresystems.de>
>> To: Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com>, LinuxBIOS mailinglist
>> <linuxbios@linuxbios.org>
>> Subject: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload [was: New wiki index page.]
>> Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 10:36:07 +0200
>> 
>> * Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com> [061025 09:05]:
>> > On Mon, 2006-10-09 at 23:35 +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
>> > > Great!
>> > > 
>> > > Now the only thing we should fix is
>> > > http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads
>> > > where the list of possible payloads does not list Linux.
>> > 
>> > Sorry for jumping into this thread: What about grub2 (not grub legacy),
>> > does it qualify as payload for LinuxBIOS?
>> 
>> In theory, yes, but grub2 is not there yet.
>> 
>> Two things are required to do this though:
>> - add an ide driver in grub2. biosdisk is not the way to go.

Right, it should not be that hard to add an IDE driver.  You only have
to focus on IDE driver development, not too much on integrating it
into GRUB.

>> - add support for compiling grub2 as an elf image.

This is possible already.  If the ELF image has specific demands, it
will not be hard to make such changes.

--
Marco

Re: [Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload

[Tristan Gingold]

On Wed, Oct 25, 2006 at 07:41:41PM +0200, Marco Gerards wrote:
> Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com> writes:
> 
> > Any comments from the Grub development crew?
> >
> > -------- Forwarded Message --------
> >> From: Stefan Reinauer <stepan@coresystems.de>
> >> To: Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com>, LinuxBIOS mailinglist
> >> <linuxbios@linuxbios.org>
> >> Subject: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload [was: New wiki index page.]
> >> Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 10:36:07 +0200
> >> 
> >> * Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com> [061025 09:05]:
> >> > On Mon, 2006-10-09 at 23:35 +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> >> > > Great!
> >> > > 
> >> > > Now the only thing we should fix is
> >> > > http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads
> >> > > where the list of possible payloads does not list Linux.
> >> > 
> >> > Sorry for jumping into this thread: What about grub2 (not grub legacy),
> >> > does it qualify as payload for LinuxBIOS?
> >> 
> >> In theory, yes, but grub2 is not there yet.
> >> 
> >> Two things are required to do this though:
> >> - add an ide driver in grub2. biosdisk is not the way to go.
> 
> Right, it should not be that hard to add an IDE driver.  You only have
> to focus on IDE driver development, not too much on integrating it
> into GRUB.
If you are interested, I have written an IDE driver for grub.  Not complete
but working.

Tristan.

Re: [Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload

[Andrei E. Warkentin]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1769 bytes --]

http://www.ata-atapi.com/atadrvr.htm

^^- Public domain ATAPI driver.

Andrei Evgenievich Warkentin
andrey.warkentin@gmail.com
Cell: (+1) (847) 321-15-55


On 25.10.2006, at 14:31, Tristan Gingold wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 25, 2006 at 07:41:41PM +0200, Marco Gerards wrote:
>> Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com> writes:
>>
>>> Any comments from the Grub development crew?
>>>
>>> -------- Forwarded Message --------
>>>> From: Stefan Reinauer <stepan@coresystems.de>
>>>> To: Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com>, LinuxBIOS  
>>>> mailinglist
>>>> <linuxbios@linuxbios.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload [was: New wiki index  
>>>> page.]
>>>> Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 10:36:07 +0200
>>>>
>>>> * Svante Signell <svante.signell@telia.com> [061025 09:05]:
>>>>> On Mon, 2006-10-09 at 23:35 +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
>>>>>> Great!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Now the only thing we should fix is
>>>>>> http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Payloads
>>>>>> where the list of possible payloads does not list Linux.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sorry for jumping into this thread: What about grub2 (not grub  
>>>>> legacy),
>>>>> does it qualify as payload for LinuxBIOS?
>>>>
>>>> In theory, yes, but grub2 is not there yet.
>>>>
>>>> Two things are required to do this though:
>>>> - add an ide driver in grub2. biosdisk is not the way to go.
>>
>> Right, it should not be that hard to add an IDE driver.  You only  
>> have
>> to focus on IDE driver development, not too much on integrating it
>> into GRUB.
> If you are interested, I have written an IDE driver for grub.  Not  
> complete
> but working.
>
> Tristan.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Grub-devel mailing list
> Grub-devel@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel


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Re: [Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload

[Hollis Blanchard]

On Wed, 2006-10-25 at 21:31 +0200, Tristan Gingold wrote:
> If you are interested, I have written an IDE driver for grub.  Not complete
> but working.

Does it support CD-ROMs? That seems to be the most important issue,
because it's a serious usability problem on legacy BIOS.

Have you worked out your copyright assignment?

-Hollis

Re: [Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload

[tgingold]

Quoting Hollis Blanchard <hollis@penguinppc.org>:

> On Wed, 2006-10-25 at 21:31 +0200, Tristan Gingold wrote:
> > If you are interested, I have written an IDE driver for grub.  Not complete
> > but working.
>
> Does it support CD-ROMs? That seems to be the most important issue,
> because it's a serious usability problem on legacy BIOS.
Not yet...

> Have you worked out your copyright assignment?
Work in progress.
I am waiting a snailmail from FSF.

Tristan.

Re: [Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Tristan Gingold <tgingold@free.fr> [061025 21:31]:
> > Right, it should not be that hard to add an IDE driver.  You only have
> > to focus on IDE driver development, not too much on integrating it
> > into GRUB.

> If you are interested, I have written an IDE driver for grub.  Not complete
> but working.

Is this available for download somewhere?

There's a pretty complete IDE driver written by Jens Axboe in OpenBIOS, but 
it would need porting to grub2.

-- 
coresystems GmbH • Brahmsstr. 16 • D-79104 Freiburg i. Br.
      Tel.: +49 761 7668825 • Fax: +49 761 7664613
Email: info@coresystems.de  • http://www.coresystems.de/

Re: [Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Marco Gerards <mgerards@xs4all.nl> [061025 19:41]:
> 
> >> - add support for compiling grub2 as an elf image.
> 
> This is possible already.  If the ELF image has specific demands, it
> will not be hard to make such changes.

How do I do this. Running configure and make on a checked out 
grub2 tree leaves me with many many modules. Can you hit my head 
to some documentation on how to do this?

* Is grub-mkimage the way to go? It produces a multiboot image, no ELF.
  I understand the final image has to be composed from the modules.

* which module contains the int13 disk code ? So I dont accidentially
  use it.

* what modules are required to display a grub menu over a serial
  console and boot a kernel (bzimage) and initrd from ext2? (assuming
  there is no reiserfs driver yet)

  What others do I need? Which ones dont I need?
  - boot.mod
  - ext2.mod
  - elf.mod
  - gzio.mod?
  - (_)linux.mod
  - normal.mod(?)
  - pc.mod
  - terminal.mod
  - terminfo.mod


*  What's the difference between _chain and chain?
   multiboot and _multiboot?


Sorry for the stupid questions, but the documentation is rather short,
still:
"GRUB 2 Documentation is under development."




-- 
coresystems GmbH • Brahmsstr. 16 • D-79104 Freiburg i. Br.
      Tel.: +49 761 7668825 • Fax: +49 761 7664613
Email: info@coresystems.de  • http://www.coresystems.de/

Re: [Fwd: Re: [LinuxBIOS] grub2 as payload

[Hollis Blanchard]

On Thu, 2006-11-16 at 22:57 +0100, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> * Marco Gerards <mgerards@xs4all.nl> [061025 19:41]:
> > 
> > >> - add support for compiling grub2 as an elf image.
> > 
> > This is possible already.  If the ELF image has specific demands, it
> > will not be hard to make such changes.
> 
> How do I do this. Running configure and make on a checked out 
> grub2 tree leaves me with many many modules. Can you hit my head 
> to some documentation on how to do this?
> 
> * Is grub-mkimage the way to go? It produces a multiboot image, no ELF.
>   I understand the final image has to be composed from the modules.

I don't believe this is currently possible on x86. On PowerPC, the build
process creates kernel.elf and *.mod.
util/powerpc/ieee1275/grub-mkimage.c then adds the modules to the kernel
by creating a new PT_LOAD segment at a well-known address (I'd like that
address to be dynamic but don't want to try to rewrite a global in
the .data section, and linking twice sucks).

On x86, grub-mkimage creates an x86-bootable image, which of course is
not an ELF file.

> * which module contains the int13 disk code ? So I dont accidentially
>   use it.

disk/i386/pc/biosdisk.c . However, that's always built in to the core
kernel (kernel.img).

> * what modules are required to display a grub menu over a serial
>   console and boot a kernel (bzimage) and initrd from ext2? (assuming
>   there is no reiserfs driver yet)
>
>   What others do I need? Which ones dont I need?
>   - boot.mod
>   - ext2.mod
>   - elf.mod
>   - gzio.mod?
>   - (_)linux.mod
>   - normal.mod(?)
>   - pc.mod
>   - terminal.mod
>   - terminfo.mod

serial.mod

Helper modules like gzio.mod and fshelp.mod will be pulled in
automatically if needed (see moddep.lst, which is used by grub-mkimage).

You don't *need* normal.mod.

Of course you will need to provide your own disk module to replace
biosdisk.mod.

> *  What's the difference between _chain and chain?
>    multiboot and _multiboot?

This is really lame and I don't like it at all. _foo is where the real
work is done, and it's supposed to be built in to "rescue mode", i.e.
grub.img. foo is just a wrapper so you can access the same functionality
from "normal mode".

"Rescue mode" is the small image that can be loaded without needing any
modules. It includes the modules needed to load *.mod from a filesystem
on a disk, which gets you into "normal mode" with all the fancy menu and
tab-completion.

-Hollis