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BOOTMENU is a replacement primary boot sector for MS-DOS compatible 
machines which allows boot-time selection of the active hard disk 
partition using a menu.  For example, users with both UNIX and DOS 
on their hard disk can choose which system to use at boot time. 
 
BOOTAUTO is similar to BOOTMENU but allows both unattended reboot 
and the ability to override the automatic selection of the active 
partition at boot-time.  (I used to call this version boot-hdp). 
 
BOOTMENU cannot do an unattended reboot but is very small and 
(as a result) will not be clobbered if you use the SpeedStor 
disk formatting/diagnostics program.  (Notes about SpeedStor's 
usage of the primary boot sector are in the file SStor.txt). 
 
PFDISK is a replacement for both DOS and UNIX fdisk programs. 
This replacement is distinguished for its ability to put 
an arbitrary binary image into the primary boot sector without 
clobbering an existing partition table.  PFDISK has no boot 
program built-in, but allows you to take the boot program 
from a file.  At least one of the boot program files, such as 
BOOTMENU, must be available to PFDISK if it is expected to 
initialize a newly formatted disk.  Unlike MSDOS fdisk, 
PFDISK correctly handles partition entries which extend 
beyond cyl 1023.  Unlike UNIX fdisk, PFDISK is not confused 
about the difference between highest-usable-cylinder-number 
and (beginning-cylinder plus number-of-cylinders). 
 
Documentation included: 
 
The file bootmenu.doc explains how to install and use the new 
boot programs.  The file pfdisk.man is manual entry in UNIX *roff 
format, and pfdisk.doc is a formatted copy for those without nroff. 
 
How to compile: 
 
To build pfdisk, either edit the Makefile to uncomment the 
appropriate line (i.e. SYS=i386) and type "make", or 
use a make command line like: 
	make SYS=i386 
This will just build the pfdisk program and boot sector binaries. 
It will not try to modify the hard disk boot sector. 
 
The boot program binaries are distributed as simple HEX encoded 
text files.  The (included) program hex2bin will convert them 
for the benefit of those without the MASM (DOS) assembler. 
 
Related packages (available separately): 
 
The LOSS1024.FIX package contains patches for MSDOS 3.3 to allow use 
of the first 1024 cylinders of a hard disk when the disk controller 
BIOS has installed disk parameters showing more than 1024 cylinders. 
Note that this patch is designed for use on PC/AT compatible disk 
controllers that have a BIOS parameter override feature, such as the 
RLL and ESDI controllers by Adaptec and Western Digital. 
 
The ESIX-BOOT package contains patches to make ESIX (Everex Systems 
SysV/386) boot from an inactive partition.  Normally, ESIX will refuse 
to boot unless its partition is marked as active.  These patches allow 
one to configure the partition table such that bootmenu will always 
present its boot menu (no partition marked active). 
 
Send e-mail if you are interested in either of the above. 
 
Gordon W. Ross  (M/S E095)	internet: gwr@linus.mitre.org 
The MITRE Corporation    	uucp: {decvax|philabs}!linus!gwr 
Burlington Road          	office phone: 617-271-3205 
Bedford, MA 01730 (U.S.A.)