[syslinux] Booting from CD.

[James Courtier-Dutton]

H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> 
>> I know that some BIOSes can boot from CD, and some cannot.
>> I was wondering if it would be possible to create a single Boot floppy 
>> that would cause the CD to boot just as if the BIOS had tried to boot it.
>> So, for example, I have a Bootable CD. I put it in a computer and it 
>> boots fine.
>> I then take that same Bootable CD to another computer, but it fails to 
>> boot because the BIOS does not support booting from CD. I would like 
>> to have a single floppy disk that I could put in this computer to 
>> cause the computer to boot from the CD.
>>
>> So, in summary, a boot floppy that would add El Torito support to any 
>> BIOS.
>>
>> Can any of the SYSLINUX etc. tools provide this.
>>
> 
> No.  Writing such a floppy would be possible, at least as long as you 
> only worry about ATAPI CD-ROMs (otherwise you need drivers for each.)
> 
>     -hpa
> 
Thanks for the quick reply.
Well, writing support for ATAPI CD-ROMs would be a start and would 
provide the functionallity I need for most desktop PCs.
With regard for other types of discs, eg. SCSI, dosn't the BIOS support 
INT13 calls to read the SCSI device.
I know that an Adaptec SCSI PCI card I have installs it's own BIOS, 
supplying INT13 support to read the SCSI drivers, so that I can boot off 
a SCSI device.
Am I wrong to assume that all SCSI PCI cards do this?

Cheers
James