I think one of the reason 9load is quite complicated is because they wanted to boot a kernel from the network, so you need a network stack and the drivers for the ethernet card, so you really need lots of OS code in the end.
On Dec 2, 2014, at 2:28 PM, Enrico Weigelt, metux IT consult <enrico.weig...@gr13.net> wrote: > On 02.12.2014 23:02, Iruatã Souza wrote: > >>> apropos kernel/bootloader: I just recently had a look at the code >>> and somewhat got the impression that 9load seems to be a specially >>> tailored plan9 kernel, which then loads the real kernel. >>> >>> is that correct or am I mistaken here ? >> >> Correct. > > hmm, interesting. > > What's the exact reason behind that ? > > I'm really not an expert for bootloaders, but I always got the > impression, that bootloaders need to be extremly minimal (eg. on > PC you'll have only about 0.5k for the first stage) and serve an > entirely different purpose than an OS kernel. > > OTOH, having a complete OS/Kernel as preboot environment of course > also has it's charm - allows easily adding lots of setup things, > even rescue stuff, etc. > > Can 9front also boot other operating systems, eg. Linux ? > Could it become a replacement for other bootloaders like grub ? > > > cu > -- > Enrico Weigelt, > metux IT consulting > +49-151-27565287 >
