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Linux/PC-98 v0.5.0

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@awemorris awemorris released this 03 Aug 03:10
v0.5.0
99836b8

Linux/PC-98 v0.5.0

This release adds the DOS-command Linux loader to every distributed CF/HDD image. The FAT16 boot partition contains both the uncompressed Linux kernel, VMLINUX, and LINUX98.EXE.

Using LINUX98.EXE

Boot plain real-mode MS-DOS, change to the FAT16 boot partition, and run:

LINUX98.EXE VMLINUX 0 root=/dev/hd98a2 rw

General syntax:

LINUX98.EXE VMLINUX [drive 0-3] [kernel arguments]
  • VMLINUX is the uncompressed ELF32 Linux kernel included beside LINUX98.EXE.
  • drive is the PC-98 BIOS fixed-disk unit number from 0 through 3.
  • If drive is omitted, the loader uses the current boot-drive value in the PC-98 BIOS work area at 0000:0584.
  • Remaining arguments are passed to the Linux kernel. For the supplied first-HDD images, the recommended root argument is root=/dev/hd98a2 rw.
  • The loader obtains the BIOS logical CHS geometry with INT 1Bh SENSE and passes the drive and geometry to Linux. This also provides a path for machines using DOS-installed BIOS geometry extensions.

Current limitations:

  • Use plain real-mode DOS. EMM386, QEMM, Windows DOS boxes, and other protected-mode virtualizers are not supported.
  • HIMEM.SYS may be present only when it does not virtualize protected mode; test first without memory managers.
  • The loader accepts an uncompressed ELF32 VMLINUX. It does not load bzImage, compressed kernels, or initrd images.

Images

  • linux-7.1-pc98-i386-busybox-h4.img.xz
    • Linux 7.1/i386 and i386-compatible BusyBox
    • H=4/S=17 PC-98 partition table
    • Intended for machines originally supplied with no HDD or a 20 MB-class HDD, including the PC-9801NS/20
    • Minimum RAM: 5 MiB
  • linux-7.1-pc98-i386-busybox-h8.img.xz
    • Linux 7.1/i386 and i386-compatible BusyBox
    • H=8/S=17 for ordinary 386-class systems with 80 MB or larger HDD configurations
    • Minimum RAM: 5 MiB
  • linux-7.1-pc98-i486-busybox-h8.img.xz
    • Linux 7.1/i486 and i486 BusyBox
    • Intended for ordinary i486 systems with less than 64 MiB RAM
    • Minimum RAM: 5 MiB
  • debian13-pc98-i486-live-cfcard-h8.img.xz
    • Linux 7.1/i486 and the Debian 13/i486 port
    • Requires an i486DX or newer CPU and 64 MiB RAM
  • debian13-pc98-i686-live-cfcard-h8.img.xz
    • Linux 7.1/i686 and Debian 13 using the official i686 userland
    • Requires a Pentium II-class or newer CPU and 64 MiB RAM

Validation

All five FAT16 boot partitions were verified to contain readable VMLINUX and LINUX98.EXE files. The H=8 images were boot-tested with qemu-pc98: the BusyBox images reached the interactive console, and the Debian images mounted the ext4 root filesystem and entered userspace initialization. The H=4 image was structurally verified as H=4/S=17 and remains a real-hardware test target because the current qemu-pc98 compatibility BIOS reports H=8.

Decompress an archive before writing it to a CF card or HDD. Writing an image overwrites the destination media, so verify the target device carefully.

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