As I had no experience with any kind of assembly, I’ve decided to learn by writing a simple boot effect. In these posts I am going to describe the process I’ve followed step by step for me to not forget what I’ve done and for any other newbie interested to read how to write pixels and load device sectors in 8086 mode.
Since some days ago I’ve finished BootBoot, my x86 assembly helloworld, I am posting a quick update on it and I’ll continue the blog posts when I have more time. A demo of it is on youtube:
The code is on Github: https://github.com/hikiko/bootboot
and I plan to explain it in depth in future posts in this category.
This is my second post on BootBoot, the “boot loader” I am writing to load the real boot loader after displaying something on screen. I am writing this program for fun, and to learn the x86 assembly basics. I am trying to write one blog post per commit for me to remember what I’ve done next time I need to use assembly, and for any other assembly n00b out there who might be interested in reading my steps.
In this second post, I am going to extend the program of Part 1 to load the second sector, jump to it and clear the screen with a different color after that. If the displayed color is the new one I can validate the jump was successful.
Continue reading [BootBoot] Part 2: Boot from a floppy drive, load the 2nd sector, jump to it
Hi there! This is my first attempt to write a program in x86 assembly. I’ll call it BootBoot and it will be a boot loader that boots a program from the first floppy drive, displays an effect, and then boots grub and the OS. I am going to write a blog post after each commit to remember the steps I followed (hoping that writing my next ASM program will be easier if every step of this one is documented). In this post (part 1) my goal is to load a program that boots from the floppy drive and clears the screen.
Continue reading [BootBoot] Part 1: Boot from a floppy drive and clear the screen