Linloader 0.40

Introduction

Linloader is RISC OS command line program for booting Linux on Acorn RiscPCs, RiscStations, Bush STBs and Castle's Iyonix. It does not provide a boot menu, or shut down the desktop. It does however boot gzipped kernels. Linloader is released under the GNU GPL and is © Timothy Baldwin and others.

Linloader is currently maintained by Vincent Sanders and Peter Naulls. you should contact Peter in the first instance about issues with linloader.

Disclaimer

Linloader is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Using Linloader

Options

Short Option	Long Option	Description
`-k`	`--kernel`	RISC OS filename of the kernel to be booted, if this option is omitted the first non-option argument is used as the kernel filename.
`-t`	`--tag`	Pass a tagged list to the kernel for boot options instead of the old param struct. This should be used where possible, as the old style is deprecated, and may not boot kernels successfully in some circumstances.
`-i`	`--initrd`	RISC OS filename of the initial ram disc (initrd) to be loaded, alternatively a initial ram disc may be specified by a argument beginning "`initrd=`".
`-c`	`--no-clear`	Do not clear the screen.
`-q`	`--quiet`	Do not display banner.
`-e`	`--extra-arguments`	Prompt for extra kernel arguments before clearing the screen or displaying the banner.
	`--dry-run`	Do a dry run, do not actually boot the kernel, but instead wait for a keypress, then exit. This is intended for testing Linloader.
`-h`	`--help`	Show help text.
	`--credits`	Show credits.

Long options may be abbreviated provided they remain unique, though this feature may be removed in future. If Linloader is given an option of -- then all following arguments are not treated as options, this is useful if you want to pass an argument to the kernel which begins with -.

Examples

Linloader ADFS::4.$.L.zImage root=/dev/hda3
Linloader --kernel=ADFS::4.$.L.zImage -- root=/dev/hda3 -b
Linloader ADFS::4.$.L.zImage initrd=ADFS::4.$.L.initrd
Linloader ADFS::4.$.L.zImage --initrd ADFS::4.$.L.initrd
Linloader -k ADFS::4.$.L.zImage -i ADFS::4.$.L.initrd

LOADLIN like options

By prefixing the arguments with -- Linloader can be made to accept options like those of LOADLIN.

Building Linloader

Currently to build Linloader you need zlib, OSLib and Acorn/Castle C/C++.

linloader can also be built with GCC targetting the SharedCLibrary, and this is now the default build option.

Credits

Matthias Seifert for the memory controller identification code which Linloader uses.
Russell King for the ARM Port of Linux, especially the header file asm-arm/setup.h which is used by Linloader.
The Free Software Foundation for GNU getopt.
OSLib developers for OSLib.
John Tygat for the RISC OS port of CVS.
And it would not be a complete list without Acorn, for Acorn C/C++, however they are not really deserving of a mention.

Changes

Changes since version 0.36

Substantial rewrite, comment additions and tidying of code
Iyonix Support
Preliminary Kinetic support
(Compile time) arbitary number of memory banks
Tagged list support
Select support
Better handling of location/handling of initrd and physical versus logical addresses.
Ability to compile with GCC

Changes since version 0.35

RiscStation support and other minor platforms

Changes since version 0.20

The second L in the name is now lower-case.
After major internal arrangements Linloader can now be used as a library, though the interface is neither documented or stable.
Can now boot gzipped kernels.
AS is no longer required to build Linloader.