From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me
X-Spam-Level: 
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham
	autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit
X-Google-Thread: 103376,2fb871d920f67058
X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public
X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-04-01 20:47:09 PST
Path: 
 archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!sn-xit-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail
From: James Ross <rem.jr@rem.webross.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Bootable Ada/Gnat context for PC's
Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 22:47:17 -0600
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
Message-ID: <kidiaucvueovp4oun3l39oc6qb6men3mm7@4ax.com>
References: <mailman.1017610022.25619.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.8/32.548
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com
Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:21978
Date: 2002-04-01T22:47:17-06:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

On Sun, 31 Mar 2002 15:28:03 -0600, sk <sknipe@ktc.com> wrote:

>However, a completly bootable Ada context is 
>available (I deliberately do not use the term "OS").
>
>This release is premature but I have to move onto 
>other things. So I am releasing to prevent the 
>project from disappearing into the black-hole of 
>archives and backups.
>
>The project is available for download through my 
>homepage
>
>www.ktc.com/~sknipe

Good work!  And thanks for making it available before it got lost in
the bit bucket :)  Even though there are some difficulties to overcome
yet, this proves that it is possible to get a "quasi-OS" up and
running using Gnat.  I had to replace gcc with gnatgcc in the Makefile
on my Linux Gnat 3.13p installation, but after that it worked fine.

I gave up on the example at web.wanadoo.be/rc.s/AdaOS because it
relies on GRUB as the loader and I didn't want to redo my Linux loader
just to play with it.  Also, I wouldn't like that exclusive dependency
on a loader anyway.  

I have been toying with getting a boot disk to load.  There are quite
a few how-to's on the net about it. I have gotten as far as loading
the extra sectors from the floppy into memory.  But haven't got a Gnat
image yet.

A good tool for testing the boot process by the way is at
bochs.sourceforge.net  (The EduOS fails on bochs however!  It
complains that a floppy seek was made out of bounds)

Also, does anyone know why ld (the linker) crashes when I execute the
-oformat binary option on the Windows version of Gnat?  Or is just on
my Windows XP box?
JR