boot linux kernel without boot loader

vignesh_murali2003 · 06-21-2013, 01:08 PM

I have a single board computer. I would like to boot directly into the kernel without boot loader. Is it possible. If so can you share it how to do it. Thanks

szboardstretcher · 06-21-2013, 02:00 PM

AFIK there is no way to boot directly to the kernel using standard means, unless you have a UEFI capable computer(kernel 3.3+ only). You can google for instructions on how to do that.

I have a few devices with imbedded systems, and they all use a bootloader to load their boot images. If i remember correctly, they are using Lilo.

Any particular reason for wanting to boot directly into the kernel? You can always install a boot loader with a timeout of 0 so it looks like its booting directly.

jefro · 06-21-2013, 02:54 PM

I guess it would depend on the board design. Some systems like DEC had a way to have the boot loader on a pc board. Other mini and mainframe had other ways to boot the OS.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-linuxboot/

frieza · 06-21-2013, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by szboardstretcher

AFIK there is no way to boot directly to the kernel using standard means, unless you have a UEFI capable computer(kernel 3.3+ only). You can google for instructions on how to do that.

I have a few devices with imbedded systems, and they all use a bootloader to load their boot images. If i remember correctly, they are using Lilo.

Any particular reason for wanting to boot directly into the kernel? You can always install a boot loader with a timeout of 0 so it looks like its booting directly.

i agree with szboardstretcher, unless there is a specific reason to do so, I wouldn't waste my effort, removing the boot loader makes installing updated kernels difficult at best, although you could look into coreboot
http://www.coreboot.org/Welcome_to_coreboot
which would replace your board's firmware with an open source firmware implementation, though it would be more like putting the boot-loader into firmware rather than replacing the boot-loader, but depending on whether or not your board is supprted such might be a viable option.