= AirBoot = == Description == Martin Kiewitz Boot Manager with on-the-fly partition detection[[BR]] == Welcome == AirBoot is a track0 Boot Manager.[[BR]] That means it is stored at the very start of the disk,[[BR]] just after the Master Boot Record.[[BR]] [[BR]] AirBoot is also an interactive Boot Manager,[[BR]] which means it presents a list of Operating Systems in a menu[[BR]] from which the user can select one to boot.[[BR]] == A Little History == AirBoot was initially designed and developed by Martin Kiewitz,[[BR]] back at the time when LBA addressing was just becoming mainstream.[[BR]] Over time, Martin continued to add features and fix reported problems,[[BR]] which resulted in a stable and mature product.[[BR]] [[BR]] When huge harddisks (>512 GiB) became more mainstream,[[BR]] the OS/2 Boot Manager was not capable of correctly handling them.[[BR]] After some investigation, it became clear that AirBoot would be a very[[BR]] suitable candidate to replace the aging OS/2 Boot Manager,[[BR]] but a few things needed to be fixed first.[[BR]] [[BR]] Martin however, had moved on to other projects and was not[[BR]] developing AirBoot anymore, but he kindly gave his permission to modify[[BR]] AirBoot in any way required such that it could replace the OS/2 Boot Manager.[[BR]] With the release of eComStation v2.1 (2011), AirBoot was ready to replace[[BR]] the OS/2 Boot Manager and so it was included in that release.[[BR]] [[BR]] It is safe to say that AirBoot saved the day at a time when[[BR]] huge harddisks came along and the fight for primary partitions got worse.[[BR]] [[BR]] '''Thank you Martin ! '''[[BR]] == Some AirBoot Highlights == === No Primary Partition Required === Because AirBoot is written in (neat and compact) Assembler,[[BR]] it is small enough to fit in the track0 (nowhereland) space.[[BR]] So, unlike OS/2 Boot Manager, AirBoot does not require a primary partition,[[BR]] resolving the problem that occured with Windows 7 OEM installations.[[BR]] And since OS/2 has had long time capability of booting from logical partitions,[[BR]] it could completely leave the dogfight for primaries.[[BR]] === On The Fly Partition Scanning === When AirBoot starts it scans all partitions[[BR]] on all disks and enumerates them in a list which is then presented.[[BR]] Whenever partitions are added or removed,[[BR]] at the next boot AirBoot presents these changes immediately.[[BR]] === Built-in Setup === AirBoot contains a Setup mode which allows[[BR]] configuration directly from within AirBoot itself.[[BR]] No other tools required.[[BR]] === Support For Huge Harddisks === Under OS/2, huge harddisks are handled by using a special geometry.[[BR]] AirBoot understands this special geometry, allowing OS/2 to boot from[[BR]] partitions located above the 512 GiB boundary.[[BR]] === Operating System Agnostic === While the major focus of AirBoot is booting OS/2,[[BR]] it has always been capable of booting other operating-systems.[[BR]] It supports booting many versions of Windows and booting Linux is[[BR]] done by chainloading GRUB.[[BR]] == Before Using AirBoot == Before installing AirBoot,[[BR]] it would be a good idea to learn a little bit more about it.[[BR]] This is especially true with regard to partitioning harddisks the way[[BR]] OS/2 likes it (use its volume manager) and the co-existance[[BR]] with other operating-systems.[[BR]] [[BR]] See the section below where[[BR]] to download AirBoot or view its manual.[[BR]] == AirBoot Downloads == [https://rousseaux.github.io/netlabs.air-boot/downloads/AirBoot-v1.1.0.zip][[BR]] (bootloader, installers & manual)[[BR]] ''(** contact information is out-of-date **)''[[BR]] [[BR]] [https://rousseaux.github.io/netlabs.air-boot/pdf/AirBoot-v1.1.0-manual.pdf][[BR]] (pdf-format)[[BR]] ''(** contact information is out-of-date **)''[[BR]] === Developer Notes === There exists a project clone at:[[BR]] [https://rousseaux.github.io/netlabs.air-boot][[BR]] That project is *not* a fork of the original Netlabs project.[[BR]] It is a *clone* done with {{{git-svn}}} with the purpose to be able[[BR]] to use Git Branching for testing and feature additions.[[BR]] The bi-directional mapping is:[[BR]] {{{github:project~master}}} <-> {{{netlabs:project~trunk}}}[[BR]] === Reporting Problems === The preferred way is through Netlabs Track,[[BR]] and you can create a new ticket using the following link:[[BR]] [http://trac.netlabs.org/air-boot/newticket][[BR]] (note: you need to be logged-in to netlabs to create a ticket)[[BR]] [[BR]] But, before you report a new problem,[[BR]] please check if the problem you are about to report[[BR]] was not already reported by somebody else:[[BR]] [http://trac.netlabs.org/air-boot/report][[BR]]