- this function returns a ritcher description of available memory
- is ACPI compliant, ACPI data structures are excluded from free
memory list
- available memory exported to Minix in a backwards compatible manner
- fallback to the old method if this function not available (old
hardware)
boot is a normal binary with a.out again. use 'cdbootblock,' a CDBOOT
variant of bootblock, both from bootblock.s, as the first boot image
that then loads boot, exactly like the bootblock loads boot when booting
from harddisk. the sector numbers (2048 byte iso sectors) are patched in
by writeisofs, like installboot does for bootblock. bootblock unchanged.
ow that the image has grown beyond the 1.44M that fits on a floppy.
(previously, the floppy emulation mode was used for cd's.)
the boot cd now uses 'no emulation mode,' where an image is provided on
the cd that is loaded and executed directly. this is the boot monitor.
in order to make this work (the entry point is the same as where the
image is loaded, and the boot monitor needs its a.out header too) and
keep compatability with the same code being used for regular booting, i
prepended 16 bytes that jumps over its header so execution can start
there.
to be able to read the CD (mostly in order to read the boot image),
boot has to use the already present 'extended read' call, but address
the CD using 2k sectors.