;
;     Free DOS Alternative Kernel;  FDBOOT v. 1.10 (01-06-98)
;
;     =                        Read Me                      =
;
;               by Yury Semenov (yury@ultra.paco.net)
;

    Programs included to this archive allow you to

 * boot regular MSDOS kernel (v. 3.30 - 6.20) as well as Windows'95 and
   MS-DOS 7.0+
 * boot any of Free-DOS kernels that satisfies for some requirements
 * boot any kernel after adding to kernel file special loader leading sector
 * it is possible to interrupt boot process and change boot drive etc.


    I plan to extend next version in following way:

 * Implement real loader of .EXE kernels. Now XFDBOOT can load only
   executables *without* relocations and which have entry point at
   offset 200h - i.e. such executables as Windows'95 IO.SYS.
   [BTW: does sombody knows meaning of Windows'95 IO.SYS EXE-header fields -
    this header contain some nonstandard usage of fields...]

 * To make possible to select one or another partition from MBR partition
   table and boot this partition even if it is not marked as active.


You may assign any of these kernels as default kernel. Loading leading sector
allow to boot any fragmented kernel file from root directory. If there is
XBOOT.SYS file in root directory then operator can press any ctrl/alt/shift
key and then select other kernel file to boot.


         List of files included to FDBOOT11.ZIP

README   1ST         5 757  10.01.98  22:18 This file
HISTORY  TXT           451  10.01.98  21:19 History file
FDBOOT   TXT         7 541  10.01.98  21:34 More detailed information
MAKEFILE             1 191  09.01.98  17:29 Makefile for usual Make (Micro-C
                                            make process this file incorrectly):
FDBOOT   INC         2 995  09.01.98  23:05 Miscellaneous definitions
FDFUNC   INC         1 514  07.01.98  19:50        --  //  --
PREPBYTE INC           600  30.09.95  16:15        --  //  --
FDBOOT   ASM         8 798  09.01.98  22:58 Boot Sector source
MKBOOT   ASM         4 545  09.01.98  22:51 MakeBoot source
MKBOOT   EXE         1 904  10.01.98  18:13 MakeBoot utility
XBOOT    ASM         8 597  10.01.98  21:12 Extended Bootstrap source
XBOOTLDR INC         2 189  09.01.98  21:24 XBOOTLDR.INC
XBOOT    SYS         1 436  10.01.98  21:12    -- // --        loader
KRNLHEAD ASM         7 370  10.01.98  17:41 Example of Kernel leading sector
KRNLOAD  INC         1 913  08.01.98  23:00 Upper Loader for DOS-C 0.91

ATTENTION:   It is better to save original boot sector before any operations
             described below!
ENVIRONMENT: I hope that you have usual Make utility (for example Borland Make,
             but not Micro-C make), Arrow Assembler (asm) and VAL linker (val).


                            MKBOOT Utility


 Mkboot.exe writes FDBOOT boot sector to selected drive.
 Command format:

         mkboot  <DriveLetter>: <DefaultKernelName>

 For example:

          mkboot  c: io.sys

 If any error occures then appears one of following messages

         Message                                            Errorlevel

          Invalid Parameters                                     1
          Invalid Drive                                          2
          Illegal Kernel Name                                    3
          Can't read boot sector                                 4
          Can't write boot sector                                5
          Attempting write to write-protected disk               6

 and MKBOOT.EXE performs EXIT with corresponding errorlevel.

 To recompile MKBOOT.EXE use command

         make mkboot.exe


                    Extended Boot Driver XBOOT.SYS


 FDBOOT executes XBOOT.SYS during bootstrap only if this file have been copied
 to root directory of boot drive. If there is no such file then FDBOOT will
 boot default kernel without any output.
 XBOOT.SYS types OEM ID field ("FDLOADER ") from boot record and wait
 approximately 3 sec for pressing of any Ctrl/Alt/Shift key. If during this
 time interval any of these keys was not pressed then default kernel will be
 loaded. In other case XBOOT.SYS will type prompt

         [FDD 00 | *] Boot: [_       .   ]
          ^^^ ^^   ^         ^^^^^^^^ ^^^
          ||| ||   |         Kernel filename and extention
          ||| ||   |
          ||| ||   +-------- Partition to load [NOT IMPLEMENTED] or '*'
          ||| ||             for default
          ||| ||
          ||| ++------------ Drive number (0-based)
          |||
          +++--------------- HDD or FDD 

 ('_' marks cursor position) Now you may enter other kernel name. Following
 control keys are accepable:

        ESC                          Restart FDBOOT
        BACKSPACE                    Delete previous char
        ENTER                        Accept kernel name
        .                            Jump to filename extention
        :                            Change boot drive
 
 To recompile XBOOT.SYS use command

         make xboot.sys


                          Kernel Leading Sector

 To recompile KRNLHEAD.SYS use command

         make head
          or
         make krnlhead.sys

 and then type command

   copy/b  krnlhead.sys+<OriginalKernelName> <DriveLetter>:\<ModifiedKernel>

 for example

         copy/b  krnlhead.sys+ipl.sys  a:\xipl.sys

 You may include unique code for concrete kernel to KRNLOAD.INC.
 Demo version of KRNLOAD.INC is destined for loading DOS-C v. 0.91
 kernel IPL.SYS. Hm.. Now I didn't test it... But now XBOOT.SYS also
 constructed in same way - so it is good example of using krnlhead
 (see xbootldr.inc)...