Boot the LINUX system from the DOS system

The Linux operating system was born very early, but has been widely used in recent years. It has evolved from a research system to an application system that is easy to master. The open features and free software of Linux have become more and more popular among users. This kind of operating system brings about a revolution in the computer operating system, which may defeat the Windows operating system in the future. LINUX not only can boot directly with the LILO boot program, but also indirectly boot from the DOS operating system. Benefits of Linux operating system boot from DOS: 1. After using the DOS operating system for regular transaction processing, you can directly access the LINUX operating system without restarting the computer. 2. You can not write LILO boot data in the hard disk partition, so that you are not careful about writing errors, resulting in an operating system boot error. Is the most secure guide for the operating system. 3. For those who love to modify the Linux system boot kernel, using LOADLIN Program Boot in DOS can easily debug their own kernel programs without affecting any configuration of the original system. The DOS file system is different from the Linux File System. DOS currently only has two file formats: 16-bit and 32-bit. However, the Linux operating system supports various file systems, such as sys v, ext, ext2, dos.... The most popular file system for Linux is ext2. There are also UMDOS file systems created in the DOS environment. Ext2 file format is a popular Linux operating system. The UMDOS file system is a file management format that LINUX operating systems can run in the DOS file system.

When you get a Linux operating system CD, you also get the LOADLIN package. It is usually found in various LINUX releases and distribution versions. Of course, you can also find it on the Internet. This program has already been part of the LINUX operating system. It is stored in ZIP or TGZ compression format. Its file name is usually LOADLIN16.ZIP or LOADLIN16.TGZ, which contains the execution file and source code. Loadin supports both UMDOS and ext2 file systems. It is a free and open software. If you are interested or need it, you can solve it with the source code package to modify and compile it. Add new functions for it. Author of the original program. It is Hans Lermen.

The Loadlin package version you can obtain is probably 1.6. It is the most popular version.

Features and functions of this version are as follows:
1. Enhanced error check and full support for "command line features" in Linux ".
2. Accept the response file. The command line can contain more than 128 bytes.
3. Adapt to different DOS configurations. DOS configuration requirements are very few.
4. It can be executed in extended memory and supports large kernels (bzImages) and Virtual Disks (initrd)
5. Supports running LINUX systems in the DOS system file format

It is required to boot from the DOS file system into the Linux File System:

1. enough memory (can be loaded into the free memory of the Linux boot kernel), with a compressed kernel (zImage or
BzImage, which is the Linux boot kernel compressed file ).
And can be attached to an initrd image. (Linux File System RAM boot initialization ).

2. You need to run the DOS in real mode, that is, running in standard DOS mode can enter the Linux operating system.
Supports the EMS driver interface, that is, the extended memory. (VCPI)

3. A Linux operating system has been installed on your hard disk.

After you get the package, use the corresponding decompression software to decompress it to the corresponding directory. Here is an example:

Assume that your software file is named loadlin16.zip. Use UnZip to decompress the package to your C: LOADLIN directory and enter the following command in the doscommand line ::
C:> CD LOADLIN
C: LOADLIN> LOADLIN zimage root =/dev/hdb1 ro vga = ask
You can access the Linux operating system.

As shown in the preceding example, LOADLIN requires a zimage or bzimage file, which is a compressed file of the Linux kernel. zimage and bzimage are two different types of compressed Linux kernel. Zimage is the core of a linux operating system compiled using the Gcc program. It also plays an important role in LOLI guidance. Its function is to bootstrap the initialization of the Linux Device and call the process of the system's initial driver. Finally, go to the Linux console and perform the operation. In addition, you can select an image file to mount the disk. /Dev/hdb1 refers to the drive device of the system. In this example, it refers to the first partition of the second hard disk. In Linux, a hard disk, a CD, or similar device is specified in the format of/dev/xxx. Root =/dev/hdb1 is the location of the Linux system. It specifies where the Linux system is located. How does the Loadlin program identify and find the Linux operating system, so as to call specific files in linux operations, use zimage for guidance. The ro following/dev/hdb1 specifies the read attribute of the system. In the UMDOS file system, Linux is a type of DOS. Therefore, it is generally the rw attribute, that is, the read/write attribute. ro and rw indicate read-only or read/write. During LOADLIN boot, a LINUX boot core is required to specify the LINUX path. It can use LINUX core parameters in the doscommand line to directly pass the command line parameters to the LINUX kernel. You can directly use the Linux Kernel configuration in the command line.