MASM OS

[dedndave]

another program i use for stuff like this is 7-zip
you can use your cd burner program to make an ISO image of a bootable cd
then, use 7-zip to extract all the files from the ISO
when you do, it creates the boot IMG file for you
once you have that, you may delete the ISO and other extracted files

http://www.7-zip.org/

[redskull]

Bootable CD's are a lot different than bootable floppy/usb/drive, read through the spec at http://www.phoenix.com/NR/rdonlyres/98D3219C-9CC9-4DF5-B496-A286D893E36A/0/specscdrom.pdf.  It has to be in a special track, and I think instead of 512 it has to be around 2000?  Again, I have no knowledge.  As far as virtual boxes, I'm no expert; perhaps the easiest thing to do might be to just install DOS virtually, and then write over the boot sector of the 'virtual hard drive' itself, which i assume could be done from debug.exe under dos under a VM under windows (that's a mouthful)  I assume you don't have a floppy drive, or spare second hard drive?

-r

[dedndave]

that is for el torito - he doesn't want that, i don't think
still a lot of good material in there

[dedndave]

i did find another doc on that site...

http://www.phoenix.com/NR/rdonlyres/56E38DE2-3E6F-4743-835F-B4A53726ABED/0/specsbbs101.pdf

[MichaelW]

At least up to 2003 the Adaptec and later Roxio CD-burning applications had the capability of creating bootable CDs in multiple formats.

[dedndave]

most cd burner programs do - on some of em, you have to look for it - lol
i lucked into CDBurnerXP - it is written by a Swede who is very good
he is continually updating it and adding features/formats
it is good for cd's and dvd's
and - the price is right - $0

there are a lot of good boot images out there
hirens - barts pe - etc
windows IMG is a bit tricky to burn, but it can be easily modified to suit your needs and can be found all over the place

i am trying to figure out what this guy is trying to do - lol
when someone says they want to write an OS, i begin to wonder
i am sure that sounds like fun, but not really - lol

[brodeur235]

Well you guys are all awesome. I booted from an OS that I WROTE!!!! MY OS output MY NAME!  :cheekygreen: I used the cdburnerxp and actually had to chase dependencies on windows... Usually that happens mostly to me in linux package manager... CDBXP required .NET, .NET required some INSTALLER 3.1, and INSTALLER 3.1 required INSTALLER 1. But... 72 hours ago my understanding of boot sectors, boot devices/images, and the boot sequence was less than half of what I know now. This is SO much fun. I just want to know if there is some way I can create the bootable image without going through a CD every time. Remember that all I have at point >A< is a .bin, and by >B< I need a bootable image. And it'd be awesome if there was a utility to do this for ubuntu. Props for all your help  :clap:

Brodeur235

[dedndave]

i suggest you uninstall windows installer 3.1 right away
it will say "the following programs might not operate if you remove it"
and give you a list
uninstall it anyways
then, install windows installer version 4.5

[dedndave]

if you want to play with boot code (without burning a cd every time),
use a floppy disk - if you don't have a floppy drive,
i suggest you use a spare hard drive - and format it as FAT 32 (or FAT 16 if it's small)
FAT formatted disks are much easier to access and set up for tests and trials than NTFS
of course there are other approaches
bootable SSDs, etc

[brodeur235]

I do have an external HD, but it plugs into my comp via usb. Wouldn't it be interpreted in the same manner as my usb flash drive was? (virtual box AND my BIOS not supporting this type of boot).

Tell me if I'm wrong and that using an external HD plugged in via usb will be different that a usb flash drive. If that's the case I will definetely back up the info I have on my HD and test this. But until I get word that someone else thinks that might work I don't want to go thru the hassle of risking/backing up my external HD's data.

Brodeur235

[redskull]

I would say your best option is to go buy an internal 3.5 floppy drive; you can get a brand new one for less than $20, but most likely you can find people giving them away for free, or from a junked PC.  With as much as you'll have to write the boot sector and reboot, it's worth the investment to not burn a CD everytime.  Also, as was said, a virtual machine is also a great setup for saving you time between reboots.

-r

[dedndave]

well - even though the BIOS will not boot from USB, there is likely to be some boot cd out there that will allow it
i have never had a desire to do this, but i think some of the "multi-boot" cd's boot up - then let you select a boot drive
hiren's boot cd comes to mind - or - the website bootdisk.com may have something

[brodeur235]

Went to Best Buy and got a floppy drive. Inserted an old floppy and found a games I made in the third grade in QBasic and a ppt game with hyperlinked slides. Wow, memories. [/nostalgia]. Anyways, I have ghex in ubuntu, but it doesn't have that 'extras' menu in this os's version... What's a good ubuntu app to edit a floppy byte by byte?

Brodeur235

[dedndave]

me no speak ubuntu
i am sure there must be a better place than masm32 forum to ask that one
although, someone in here may know

one of the places i learned much about slipstreaming, boot disks, all that sort of thing is MSFN
there are a lot of sharp guys hanging out in there
you will want to register

http://www.msfn.org/

that'll cost ya $50 (not to register - pay me for the info)

EDIT
a couple other places to look....
http://www.osdcom.info/content/view/28/38/
http://www.osdever.net/tutorials/pm.php

[brodeur235]

A trip to the official ubuntu forums and with the help of some guys that respond withing 2 minutes of original thread posting, I'm all set. I can create, revise, and test an OS in >>>Nasm<<< all from ubuntu in a matter of seconds. I recently found out that the .bin file outputed by an assembler/DEBUG.exe could have it's extension changed to .img and then easily booted from in VBox, without a burn, floppy, partition, or usb. Thanks for all your help, especially redskull and dedndave, who helped me with issues that have drifted so far from the main purpose of these forums I can hardly find my way back. I can now develop my own OS, with my only restriction being my knowledge of asm, which is much easier to learn than what this thread has helped me through. Thanks again,

Brodeur235