NAME
multiboot
- procedure for booting NetBSD/i386 from a Multiboot-compliant boot loader
DESCRIPTION
Multiboot is a specification that defines a protocol between a boot loader
and a kernel.
This protocol allows passing boot information between the two in a standard
way, allowing any Multiboot-compliant boot loader to boot any
Multiboot-compliant kernel.
The
NetBSD
kernel supports Multiboot if it was compiled with
options MULTIBOOT
(the default in the
`GENERIC'
and
`GENERIC_LAPTOP'
configurations).
Unlike when using the native boot loader, the
NetBSD
kernel recognizes a set of command line arguments if booted through a
Multiboot-compliant boot loader.
This is because the Multiboot protocol is not complete enough to completely
configure a
NetBSD
kernel.
The following arguments are recognized:
- console
-
Specifies the console device name.
Can be one of
`com'
or
`pc'.
If the former,
console_addr
and
console_speed
should be given too.
- console_addr
-
Specifies the serial port address for the console.
Defaults to the value of
options CONADDR
or
`0x3f8'
if this was not given.
- console_speed
-
Specifies the serial port speed for the console.
Defaults to the value of
options CONSPEED
or
`9600'
if this was not given.
- root
-
Specifies the name of the device to be mounted as the root partition.
It should not be needed because the kernel tries its best to guess which
is the root partition (basing the decision on the device from which the
kernel was loaded from).
In cases where the automatic detection fails, this flag comes useful.
Example:
`root=wd0e'.
Booting with GRUB Legacy
GRUB Legacy is the most popular bootloader that supports Multiboot.
You can boot a
NetBSD
kernel (assuming it is compiled with Multiboot support) with a line
similar to the following one:
kernel (fd0)/netbsd.gz -c console=pc root=wd0e
SEE ALSO
options(4)
HISTORY
multiboot
support first appeared in
NetBSD4.0.
AUTHORS
multiboot
support was added by
Julio M. Merino Vidal <jmmv@NetBSD.org>
.