On Fri, 12 May 2006, Havard Eidnes wrote:
>> To solve that, I'd like to use the kernels from #3d) above, and use
>> them to make bootable ISOs in addidion to the floppy images we have
>> now. Those ISOs would be made using makefs(8)'s "-t cd9660
>> -no-emul-boot" options, removing the 2.88MB limit. The ISO would use
>> bootxx_cd9660 as bootloader to load the kernel with its embedded
>> ramdisk.
>
> So, this would use the "HD emulation" boot method?  There has
> been reports of i386 systems which are unable to boot using that
> method.  I am however unsure of how widespread that problem is;
> it may be sufficiently small that telling people to revert to
> using the 2+ floppy sets as an alternative boot method would be
> reasonable.  I would think/hope that machines without floppies (a
> relative new thing?) have sufficient BIOS support for the "HD
> emulation" boot method?

I have no idea, and I don't know how to find out.
I'd say we offer the files with 'hd emulation' now (in addition to the 
*.fs images), and then see if people can use them or not. If not, we know, 
and can react.


>> 2.3) After moving things, code for building ISOs can be added as
>> described in "2) Add CD-ROM creation code" of [1]:
>>
>>  	src/distrib/{i386,amd64}/cdroms/bootcd
>>  	src/distrib/{i386,amd64}/cdroms/bootcd-com
>>  	src/distrib/{i386,amd64}/cdroms/bootcd-laptop
>>  	src/distrib/{i386,amd64}/cdroms/bootcd-ps2
>>  	src/distrib/{i386,amd64}/cdroms/bootcd-tiny
>
> Hm, I'm wondering whether we need the bootcd-ps2 (can PS/2
> systems boot from CD-ROM?) and bootcd-tiny (I would have thought
> that machines which are memory-constrained are typically from the
> age when CD-ROM booting was not supported by the BIOS).  I'm sure
> some can find some exception -- therefore I'm saying "typically"
> here.

No idea either - I can certainly remove them if we're sure they are not 
needed...


  - Hubert