Linker Documentation

[Paule]

Hi,

I have just begun a new project, this time a utility which is to be placed in the boot sector of a logical drive. It reqires 16 bit assembly which I (believe) can handle.

But -- how do I make the linker generate a real FLAT binary (not COM nor EXE)?

Can anybody provide me a link to a linker documentation which also covers my subject?

Thanks in advance

[PBrennick]

SolASM creates the type of binary you are talking about here. Currently, it is the only type it can create. You are looking in the wrong place for a solution, by the way. It is the assembler that creates what you want, not the linker.

Using ml.exe, just make sure you do not include /coff or /omf to get a flat assembly.

Paul

[japheth]

Hi,

this is a boot sector sample:

Code Select Expand



;--- boot sector sample
;--- to get a simple binary of size 512 3 things are important
;--- 1. provide a start address with "END"
;--- 2. place org 7C00h at the start of ".CODE"
;--- 3. link with /TINY (MS OMF linker)

.286
        .model small

.code
       
        org 7c00h
       
start:
        JMP     realstart
        NOP
db "MSDOS5.0"
       
        dw 200h ;bp+0B bytes/sector
        db 1 ;bp+0D sector/cluster
        dw 0001 ;bp+0E reserved sectors
        db 2 ;bp+10 number of fats
        dw 00E0h ;bp+11 root dir entries
        dw 18*80+2 ;bp+13 number of sectors
        db 0F0h ;bp+15 media byte
        dw 0009 ;bp+16 sectors/fat
        dw 0012h ;bp+18 sectors/track
        dw 0002 ;bp+1A number of heads
       
        dd 0 ;bp+1C FAT16 number of hidden sectors
        dd 0 ;bp+20 FAT16 total number of sectors
        db 0 ;bp+21 FAT16 logical drive number
        db 0 ;bp+22 FAT16 reserved
        db 29h ;bp+26 FAT16 extended signature (28h/29h)
        dd 0 ;bp+27 FAT16 serial number
        db "NO NAME    " ;bp+2B FAT16 volume label
        db "FAT12   " ;bp+3  FAT16 file system type
realstart:
        CLI
        CLD
        XOR     AX,AX
        MOV     DS,AX
        MOV SS,AX
        MOV SP,7C00h
        MOV     BP,offset start

waitforever:       
        jmp waitforever

        org 7C00h + 1FEh

dw 0AA55h

end start