Is there an easier way to boot my kernel? |
| Yes, there is an easier way to boot your kernel, and
that is is by using an existing boot loader!
GRUB is probably the best bootloader around (and its GNU), and will take away the hassle of booting your kernel for you. You will no longer need to worry about trying to enable the A20 line, finding your kernel file on the disk or what filesystem your kernel is on! |
Boot Loaders / Boot Menus |
| Boot Loaders and Boot Menus... two similar but different types of programs.
The distinction between the two is simple, a boot menu allows you to select the operating system you want to boot but does not load anypart of that os into memory. A boot loader will allow you to select the os you want to boot AND load parts of it into memory. For example; System Commander is a boot menu. GRUB is a bootloader. By using a boot loader over a boot menu, you alleviate alot of the early angst hobbyist OS programmers usually get when trying to load their kernel. The boot loader loads your kernel for you, regardless of filesystem. Good boot loaders also recognise some executable fileformats. If you ignore using a boot loader, you have to write your own loader to read in your kernel file from the file system. |