Thankyou syg00, for taking time to respond, I have just one more quick question/clarification.
Quote:
The BIOS scans its known list of boot-able devices - if it finds an acceptable boot-loader, it invokes it. The bootloader then loads the kernel and (if present) the initrd.
The hardware (the BIOS) kicks it all off - the software (the bootloader) is subservient. No way I know of to get around that basic fact of life.
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Hmmm, so with something like Loadlin its impossible to chainload other non-multiboot OSs like WinXP? If not, why wouldn't it work?
Consider the following:
1) The BIOS scans the drives for a boot-loader, finds one on the main HDD and invokes it.
2) The bootloader automatically loads a modified FreeDOS kernel.
3) FreeDOS automatically runs Loadlin
4) Loadlin loads the kernel, and stops DOS.
As I understand it so far, this would(and does) work.
What I don't quite understand though, is this:
Why couldn't the loaded OS (FreeDOS, in this illustration) run a pseudo boot-loader (Loadlin, in this example) which scans the drives(with the OS drivers) and boots (or chainboots) another OS - whether it be on a BIOS-recognizable drive or not. It seems to me like it would work - I don't see why a bootloader couldn't be run from within an OS (like an application).
Your probably right, of course, I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just trying to understand _why_ it wouldn't work (and clarifying).
-Jonathanius