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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."

7 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. The good thing about Linux by X43B · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What I like about Linux is never having to reboot except when it is time for a kernal upgrade. :)

    1. Re:The good thing about Linux by Quasar1999 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or hardware installation :)

      About that... I've unsuccessfully tried hotswapping an AGP video card once... I spent the rest of the day looking up motherboard, ram, and video card prices online... using another computer... I'll let you figure out why...

      --

      ---
      Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
  2. 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

  3. 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.
    1. Re:Arrows by teknomage1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Tradition! Seriously though, BIOS code is very old and designed to provide for the least common denominator.

      --
      Stop intellectual property from infringing on me
  4. The BSD boot process by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And here i Present you the BSD boot process

    1) birth
    2) death (confirmed by netcraft)

  5. My boot process by i.r.id10t · · Score: 5, Funny

    Open the office, turn on the computer, walk out of the office, walk across campus to the cafeteria while ogling the young college chicks, get a cup of coffee, walk back, log in, do work.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos