mboot -- Device Driver

Master boot block for hard disk

To be  bootable, a COHERENT file  system must contain a  boot block (either
boot or  mboot).  In addition, all hard disks must  contain the master boot
block mboot or an equivalent.

mboot is  the master boot  block for a  hard-disk drive.  It  is compatible
with, and therefore can replace, the IBM master boot block installed by the
MS-DOS command FDISK. It must be  installed in the first sector of the hard
disk, as follows:

    /etc/fdisk -b /conf/mboot /dev/at0x
    /bin/sync

mboot searches its internal  partition table (updated by the command fdisk)
for an active partition.  You can select an alternate partition by pressing
0  through  7 before  the  system  selects the  active  partition.  If  the
selected partition  is of non-zero size with a  valid partition boot block,
COHERENT executes that partition's boot block.  Otherwise, the prompt

    Select partition [0-7]

appear, and the system waits for you to select the partition you want.

Files

/conf/mboot -- Hard-disk master boot block

See Also

boot,
device drivers,
fdisk,
mkfs

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness