9null - report #4

[Iruata Souza]

On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 6:00 PM, Iruata Souza<iru....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> The last week hasn't been much productive because of my university
> exams.
>
> Done:
> - FAT support removed from the PBS
> - PBS now reads a block from the disk. The block has (not only) the a.out header
> for the kernel that will be read.
> - A new kernel configuration called pctiny builds a kernel that is
> little enough to fit on a floppy without gzipping. It is being used in
> my testing disk.
> - mkdisk is a script that builds a disk file from the pbslba and 9pctiny.
> Used mainly for testing
>
> Next Steps:
> - I'm having some problems with the data read from disk, I can find it on memory
> by hand but not programmatically. I'm surely missing something simple,
> just don't know what. Need to fix it.
> - Run the read kernel
> - Write a userland program to replace some 9load functions (prompt for
> kernel to be booted, read plan9.ini, etc)
> - Get the kernel to use the above mentioned program
>
> Best,
> iru
>
> ps: thanks Devon for the help
>

Hello,

The last week was not as productive as I wanted since until today I
was busy with university exams. Fortunately for gsoc, the semester has
ended today.

Done:
- The FAT removal was not complete at all, clean the PBS better.
- Read the whole kernel from disk onto memory.
- Started prototype programs to read plan9.ini and/or ask the user for
boot directions, set the enviroment, etc.

Next Steps:
- Run the read kernel
- Make the prototypes have the necessary features to boot (at least) a terminal
- Stuff the new boot program into /boot/boot

Sorry for the delay in sending this.

Best,
iru