Re: layman explanation please
lanz <lanzbase@xtra.co.nz> writes:
> I need to know if grub can/will boot Debian/gnu/hurd.
> Is there any sample code/how to specific to compiling grub for this.
There are installation instructions for Debian/GNU Hurd. I just
followed those and it worked rather well.
Have a look at http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd and follow the links
to the installation instructions. There's an `easy guide' to
installing the Hurd which worked reasonably well for me. (The `easy
guide' is a bit outdated which means some of the steps mentioned there
can be skipped, but to someone who knows Unix, it is obvious which
steps to skip.)
The `easy guide' includes a pointer to downloading Grub which you can
then put on a floppy.
> a) Debian/gnu/hurd partitioning appears obscure,therefore which/what is the
> host envirement used,mach i assume,but how do i fdisk,set up a mach
> partition,which is mach,or is mach really linux 83,please explain.
Using Linux, create a Linux partition. Then, create a file system on
it with the following command: mke2fs -o hurd /dev/hdb2
Of course, you need the right device name. The "-o hurd" part is
important.
> 3/.I assume because the hurd uses a mach microkernel i could also switch
> micro-kernels in the root area/configure to boot another os on the same
> partition via loop process,like linux,or could you explain the
> multiboot
> kernel/principle as this appears to be a way to use the oskit multiboot
> kernels / micro kernels to run more than one os in same partition,or am
> i wrong.I tried reading cs.utag.edu info and debian info and mach info
> but
> as i'm new to all this i need a layman to generalize/explain/simplify
> all???
Hm? I suggest that you put different OSes in different partitions,
then use Grub or Lilo to boot into the different OSes as you like.
Lilo cannot boot the Hurd, however.
> 4/.I know the mach micro-kernel used is a multi-server base as
> opposed to current linux kernel which appear single server,does this
> mean this mach mico-kernel runs more than one server on one computer
> system per se. How does the oskit mach multiboot kernel differ
> and/or can this also be used,how and in what case situation for
> example.
A `server' in the Hurd roughly corresponds to a kernel module in
Linux. This is about a million miles away from the term `server' used
to describe, say, a Web server or mail server.
> 5/Does debian/gnu/hurd run linux programs and how does it manage linux
> ext2 overall,and does anything linux need to be in a seperate partition
> or directory etc.
I gather that the Hurd is somewhat posixly compliant which means that
some Unix programs can be compiled on it. It is _not_ possible to run
Linux _binaries_ on the Hurd.
> Thanks(in advance) / (excuse my ignorance/newbie/making the shift from
> win95)
Hm. Given the current state of development, I'm not sure at all that
you want to switch from Win95 directly to the Hurd. The Hurd is not
all that well documented, so some amount of experience with a Unixish
system will be an advantage. If you don't have any Unix experience, I
suggest that you start with Linux or FreeBSD or one of the other
mature Unix-like OSes. (You need Linux to install the Hurd, anyway.
At least this week; who knows what will be next week...)
kai
--
Life is hard and then you die.
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