Simple bootloader for x86 machines and the FAT 32 filesystem. Loads kernels from
the boot disk, from reserved FAT 32 sectors to the 0x1000 address, switches to
32 bit protected mode and transfers control to the kernel.
A dumb kernel is included for testing.
You'll need the Netwide Assembler (NASM) and the GNU C toolchain (GCC, LD and
Make) to build. Also, your system needs a cat implementation in the $PATH.
Use make to create everything: the bootloader and the dumb kernel, with both
linked in the os_image32.img or os_image64.img file. The bios_x86 or
bios_x86_64 file is just the MBR boot sector (i.e., the bootloader itself) and
FAT boilerplate and the kernel32 or kernel64 is just the compiled kernel.
The script boot.sh launches the image in a QEMU-KVM virtual machine.
The FAT filesystem itself has as header a jmp instruction so bootloaders keep
working (I don't know if they would be very useful otherwise...). So the first
sector of the disk image has the FAT stuff and the bootloader. In the FAT
metadata, 11 sectors are reserved, being the first three:
- First: FAT metadata and the bootloader;
- Second: FSInfo struct of FAT 32;
- Third: Reserved for the root directory.
The remaining 8 (it's 8 + 3 because 8 was the maximum I managed to get working
on QEMU) are reserved for the kernel, which could also be a second stage
bootloader. The entry of the kernel should of course be at the start of the
fourth sector, as the bootloader loads those 8 sectors to the address 0x1000
and simply jumps there.
- Change from NASM to GNU AS.