grub on the netvista 2200

[Peter Bergmann]

Hi,

This drives me crazy!

The IBM Netvista n2200 is a geode (mediagx) based 
hardware designed for network boot.
It also has the option to boot locally from compact flash.
But this option is very restricted and very different to 
the "normal" procedure on pc's.
The ns2200 bios can _only_ load and boot  a linux kernel
(only vmlinuz, no bzimage, no *bsd and others!) which 
_must_ be located on the first partition (hd0) of the compact
flash card with the file name kernel.2200.
There is no way to define linux kernel parameters.
I know this sounds crazy but the facts are like this.
As you can imagine this restricts the possibilities
one could have with this nice hardware very much.
(grub boot menu, netbsd, freedos, ...)

I'd really like to use grub on this device. 

Knowing the above rules - can anybody lead me to a hack ?

Is there a way to make the stage1.5 look like a linux kernel ?
If the 1.5 could be loaded and executed by the bios everthing should 
work - right ?
I know etherboot has done something similar with the .zlilo format
which makes the etherboot code look like a linux kernel in order
to "fool" grub/lilo.

Thx for any hints !!!

(Please cc me as  I'm not (yet ) subscribed to the list.)


Cheers,
Pet

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