Re: alpha cds bootable?

[Falk Hueffner <falk.hueffner@student.uni-tuebingen.de>]

Alastair McKinstry <mckinstry@computer.org> writes:

> I don't know whether alphas can boot ISOLINUX format. If not, we
> will need to juggle packages to make everything fit in 2.8 MB on
> alpha.

CD booting on Alpha is completely different than for PCs. The firmware
(SRM) reads a bootloader from a fixed offset of the medium (which
fortunately is not used otherwise on ISO images). The bootloader
(aboot) understands file systems like ext2 or iso9660. So there's no
limit on the size of a kernel or initrd at all.

(There's also another firmware (ARC), but I've never understood how CD
booting works there...)

-- 
	Falk