[ros-kernel] Re: FreeLoader Update

[Eric K. <ek...@rz...>]

"Brian Palmer" <br...@sg...> wrote:


> I have just committed some major updates to FreeLoader. For those of you
who
> are brave enough to update to the latest, there are a few things you
should
> know about. First, I have changed the .ini file a bit so you'll have to
> tweak yours so that it conforms to the new format. I have completely
> rewritten the file system code and added vfat long file name support.
> However I also removed the hack of a disk cache it was using before, so
> those of you who are using floppies and aren't using bochs could be in for
a
> wait while it accesses the fat chain. This will be fixed soon. I also
added
> support for Int 13h Extensions, and it will use them if they are
supported.
> So let me know how it works when booting from a hard disk (Int 13h
> Extensions aren't supported for floppies). And finally, I have disabled
all
> boot types except for ReactOS. This means that you cannot use FreeLoader
to
> boot to your D: for example, because the boot type would be drive or
> partition. Anyways, the code is a lot more robust now and easier to
update.
> (The file system code is now semi-understandable ;-])
>
> Brian
>
That's great!

Unfortunately there seems to be another bug in the current in fat12 code. I
installed FreeLdr on a formatted floppy disk, copied FREELDR.SYS and
FREELDR.INI. First I tried my Acer Laptop.  After a very short moment
"Loading FreeLoader..." appeared on the screen and the machine seemed to be
frozen. Then after a while I got "Disk read error" and "Press any key".
FreeLoader cannot read the .ini file properly. I checked the sector/cluster
calculation and the disk itself using Norton DiskEdit. AFAICS the bug seems
to be in BiosInt13Read (in asmcode.S).

My very old Dell Laptop boot fine. Haven't tried my desktop yet.

I'll have a look at the bios bug.

- Eric Kohl





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