===== Changes from BootLin 1.6 to 1.6b ======================================== Adapted to linux v1.1, trying to be compatible with older versions. That's because the setup has changed, thinking it had to take Bootlin into account ! In fact, the real change is that the setup size is variable, and its size in sectors is given in the bootsector. Old images with no such specification should be detected and handled correctly. Now SCSI disk partitions can be specified as root and swap device, under the specifier "sd[a-g][1-8]" ("sda3" for instance). Also the root device, when not defined, is asked literally (as for image filename). NOTE to the writer of setup.S: in the future, when setup.S changes, _Bootlin_ should be adapted to the setup, not the reverse. ===== Changes from BootLin 1.5b to 1.6 ======================================== Added a more evoluated command line parsing to be able to define parameters of Linux from the command line: root FS device, swap device, ram disk, startup video mode. Option -wait makes bootlin wait for a key before lauching Linux. Changed the look of messages, to display clearly more informations. Added checks for memory and more checks on Linux parameters. ===== Changes from BootLin 1.5 to 1.5b ======================================== Very few and minor changes this time. Added a check of the CPU. Linux launch is aborted if no 386+ is detected. ===== Changes from BootLin 1.4 to 1.5 ========================================= Changed the way it asks the root device in case it is undefined in the boot sector. It now counts on Linux's autodetect capability for the floppies, and supports partition numbering of /dev/hd[ab][1-9]. This means this feature will run correctly for floppies only with linux kernels having floppy-format autodect (at least the current version, but if you can fetch this BootLinux, you probably can fetch the last version of Linux too, so this shouldn't be a problem). ===== Changes from BootLin 1.3 to 1.4 ========================================= Now able to launch Linux directly from DOS, without having to boot. The only restriction is that you must do it from real mode. So no Windows, no EMM386, no DesqView, no etc... ===== Changes from BootLin 1.2 to 1.3 ========================================= Added a check of the boot sector to be a REAL BIOS BOOT SECTOR. This will avoid, I hope, to try to boot with everything, and more especially with the system executable, like one of my friends did... BootLinux now sets the memory to zero before loading the image. With this linux hangs less often. If the name given on the command line refers to no real file, then you are prompted for a new file name, until the name is correct. This should allow, for those using multiple kernels, the use of only one command line in the config.sys to boot whatever version of linux they want. Sorry, I could not avoid Bootlin.com to be more than 1K this time ! ===== Changes from BootLin 1.1 to 1.2 ========================================= I think I have now corrected the bug that hung some computers and made everyone have garbage in place of the "Press to see SVGA modes". If the ROOT device number is not defined, it allows you to choose it within some devices. It has a far more simple command line parsing routine. That allowed to save about 33% of the size, which in turn allowed the new BootLinux to be smaller than the old one. Drawback: no checking is done. Anyway, it has the same syntax than the previous BootLinux. I now give a MASM source ! ===============================================================================