| 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748 |
- Information about the Linux/PPC kernel images
- =====================================================================
- Please mail me (Cort Dougan, cort@fsmlabs.com) if you have questions,
- comments or corrections.
- This document is meant to answer several questions I've had about how
- the PReP system boots and how Linux/PPC interacts with that mechanism.
- It would be nice if we could have information on how other architectures
- boot here as well. If you have anything to contribute, please
- let me know.
- 1. PReP boot file
- This is the file necessary to boot PReP systems from floppy or
- hard drive. The firmware reads the PReP partition table entry
- and will load the image accordingly.
- To boot the zImage, copy it onto a floppy with dd if=zImage of=/dev/fd0h1440
- or onto a PReP hard drive partition with dd if=zImage of=/dev/sda4
- assuming you've created a PReP partition (type 0x41) with fdisk on
- /dev/sda4.
- The layout of the image format is:
- 0x0 +------------+
- | | PReP partition table entry
- | |
- 0x400 +------------+
- | | Bootstrap program code + data
- | |
- | |
- +------------+
- | | compressed kernel, elf header removed
- +------------+
- | | initrd (if loaded)
- +------------+
- | | Elf section table for bootstrap program
- +------------+
- 2. MBX boot file
- The MBX boards can load an elf image, and relocate it to the
- proper location in memory - it copies the image to the location it was
- linked at.
|
