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SubjectRe: New new enhanced memory detection patch; testers wanted
Date


> Has anyone thought about possibly supporting the MultiBoot standard? If we
> moved memory detection and such to the boot loader, we could stop having
to
> constantly update the kernel for that kind of thing... Plus, it uses a
much
> better system for passing information :)


The problem with the boot loader approach is that it doesn't work when the
kernel is not loaded with a boot loader, such as when booting from a kernel
dd'd to a floppy. In the past I've had to do this for a couple of machines,
plus one I've still got today, who's BIOS didn't support the installed hard
drive's native capacity. These el cheapo drives didn't come with a
compatable version of disk manager which leaves booting from a dd'd kernel
on a floppy the best cost/time effective solution. This is not even
mentioning the emergency boot floppies (kernels' dd'd to floppies) that I
keep around in case something goes wrong with LILO. Time = money + free
time, so having to boot with a boot floppy to get a LILO damaged machine
back up, then reinstall LILO, and then reboot again so that the boot loader
could redetect the correct amount of memory to pass to the kernel could easy
add downtime costing Linux users both precious time and $. As far as
constantly modifying the kernel for this kind of thing I do not think memory
detection methods will change much if at all; it is against the hardware
maker's interests to do so (unless necessary), at least without backward
compatability, as this would make their hardware incompatable with a
significant portion, if not all, of the OSes out there; cutting their
potencial market share.

> (I wouldn't mind being able to specify the root in the bootloader without
using
> a root=... kernel option)






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