gwr@linus.mitre.org (Gordon W. Ross) (09/05/90)
I wrote a replacement primary boot sector program called boot-hdp and a replacement fdisk called pfdisk which simplifies installation of boot-hdp without destroying the partition table (which is also in the primary boot sector). I've mailed this to several people, but have not yet posted it. If anyone wants this, send mail. If demand warrants, I'll post it (one shar file, about 65K). Below is the README file from the boot-hdp distribution: ------------------------------------------------------------ This package contains a replacement boot program, "boot-hdp" that allows boot-time selection of the hard disk partition to be used for loading an operating system. Also included is a replacement for "fdisk", called "pfdisk", that simplifies installation and use of boot-hdp. The file boot-hdp.doc explains how to install and use the new boot program. The file syscodes.doc contains a list of all the (standard) system ID codes I've heard about. The file pfdisk.1 is manual entry in nroff format, and pfdisk.doc is a formatted manual for those without nroff. To build pfdisk, edit the Makefile to uncomment the appropriate line (i.e. SYS=unix) and then run make. The actual boot program binary (boot-hdp.bin) will normally be created from boot-hdp.hex by make (using hex2bin). If you wish to re-build it from the source you will need an MSDOS system with MASM. The batch file boot-hdp.bat will build boot-hdp.bin from boot-hdp.asm for you. I am also making available two sets of patches, one set for ESIX and one set for MSDOS 3.3 as described below. The "esix-boot" package contains patches to make ESIX (Everex Systems SysV/386) boot from an inactive partition. Normally, ESIX will refuse to boot unless its partition is marked as active. These patches allow one to configure the partition table such that boot-hdp will always present its boot menu (no partition marked active). The "msdos-fix" package contains patches for MSDOS 3.3 to allow it to use the first 1024 cylinders of a hard disk when the disk controller BIOS has installed disk parameters showing more than 1024 cylinders. Note that this patch is designed for use on PC/AT compatible disk controllers that have a BIOS parameter override feature, such as the RLL and ESDI controllers by Adaptec and Western Digital. If you want any of these ("boot-hdp", "esix-boot", or "msdos-fix") send a request (using these names) to the address below. -- Gordon W. Ross *net: gwr@linus.mitre.org The MITRE Corporation uucp: {decvax,philabs}!linus!gwr Bedford, MA 01730 (U.S.A.) phone (day): 617-271-3205