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Anatomy of the Linux Boot Process

Posted by Zonk on from the step-one-turn-on-computer dept.

Donna writes "This article discusses detailed similarities and differences involved in booting Linux on an x86-based platform (typically a PC-compatible SBC) and a custom embedded platform based around PowerPC, ARM, and others. It discusses suggested hardware and software designs and highlights the tradeoffs of each. It also describes important design pitfalls and best practices."

2 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. What a Debian system looks like when booting by El+Cubano · · Score: 5, Interesting
    http://seehuhn.de/comp/bootlog.html

    Originally posted on the debian-devel list: http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/11/msg00 547.html

  2. Arrows by Bios_Hakr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I really hate to nit-pick, but any editor should have caught that the arrows in the flow chart point the wrong way.

    Anyway, I've often wondered why the OS insists on redetecting hardware when BIOS does it for me already. I've heard that the LinuxBios actually does away with the hardware detect phase; leaving it solely to the kernel.

    If the most popular OSes out there are taking care of HW at the high level, why haven't BIOS makers taken advantage of this to reduce their workload?

    --
    I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.