Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 14:11:14 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Ryan Sommers <ryans@gamersimpact.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Assembly, Kernels and Bootstraps Message-ID: <3D485271.C05F1425@mindspring.com> References: <20020731161322.O5057-100000@boise.neuroflux.com>
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Ryan Sommers wrote: > Several of the sites I have visited on assembly say it isn't needed > anymore. Is it still needed to write a bootstrap? Yes. Either you have to write it, or it has to be written and placed in a library for you to use, but it's there, no matter what. There's no way to write a processor control register without assembly language (same for most other priviledged instructions). > Where is a good starting point to just read through some of the Kernel > source? Where is the entry point? I'm on all x86 architecture. > > Are there any good references on the Internet or in printed form on the > kernel and how it works, bootsraps or assembly language on FreeBSD? http://oasis.uptsoft.com/~devnull/dh/x3392.html But really, this won't "give you" the information you need; no matter how you look at it, you will have to work at it. I suggest what I always suggest every time someone asks this question without looking at the list archives and seeing what the answer was the last time: read the list archives. > So far I have bookmarked the following sites, any others you have to add > would be much appreciated: Protected Mode Software Architecture Tom Shanley MindShare, Inc. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. ISBN: 020155447X Really, booting is all about starting out in real mode, making a paged protected mode memory map that looks exactly like the unpaged real mode memory map, flipping the switch, and then returning on an alternate stack. FreeBSD is not really the best example of how to get from real mode to protected mode, since it does this in a moderately clumbsy way, rather than in the most simple way possible. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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