Re: [linuxdc-dev]Burning bootable CD

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* edd...@wa... <edd...@wa...> on Wed, Mar 20, 2002:

>=20
> The code contained in 1ST_READ.BIN is dependant on the system state, as=
=20
> initialised by IP.BIN. That's why they're tied. As long as the=20
> 1ST_READ.BIN only needs the standard stuff, it's fine. But you can't say=
=20
> they are fully independant for this reason.
>=20

Sorry, I still can't accept this.  Homebrew software and Linux doesn't care
about the state of the machine since they reinitialize it anyway.  VBR,
cache, etc. is either setup implicitly (crt0.s), explicitly (newos, kos, or
linux), or ignored.  Even Sega software reinitializes the hardware past what
the IP.BIN bootstrap provides, and WinCE definitely goes and does its own
thing (trust me, I've seen the code).  The DC system BIOS and boot block do=
es
more meaningful hardware initialization than anything the IP.BIN bootstrap
could hope to accomplish.  Case-in-point: the original Serial Slave and
gdbstubs port were available as IP.BIN bootstrap replacements.  They did not
have any IP.BIN bootstrap routines to rely on, since they replaced them :P.

Also, since everyone uses the Sega standard IP.BIN, including games,
incompatibility is a non-issue.  There is no explicit connection (other
than the boot filename field in the IP.BIN header) between IP.BIN and
1ST_READ.BIN.  They are fully independent of one another.

M. R.