cross booting

If you move outside the PC world it is quite common for one OS to start the
boot process and another OS to finish it.

The minicomputers I used to work with had a microprocessor-based I/O
controller. The boot process started with a boot to an embedded OS (which
was actually the previous generation 16-bit OS) running on this
microprocessor. This OS started the basic I/O procedures (including disk)
and then loaded and started the 32-bit OS on the main CPU. The original boot
OS then reverted to its job of managing I/O while the OS running on the CPU
started the CLI and all the higher level services. Both OSes were then
running simultaneously. It was possible to stop the boot process after the
16-bit OS was running and perform tasks such as diagnostics or upgrades to
the 32-bit OS. At that point it was a standard dual-ground single-user
16-bit OS with its own CLI and access to most of the I/O. Then, when
diagnostics or whatever are finished, the operator would issue a CLI command
to boot the 32-bit OS, using the I/O services provided by the 16-bit OS.

That might not be quite what OP was referring to, but I would certainly call
it starting the boot with one OS and finishing the boot with a different OS.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Still, this does not match the description given. Yes, a boot can be
interrupted and another OS booted, but the second OS doesn't "finish" the
booting process, it's an entirely new process.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Jeff Richards" wrote in message
...
Note that if you are not talking generic Windows machines, then the
process you describe is fairly common. For instance, in embedded systems
it's not unusual for the boot process to load a partition image into
memory and then boot from that image instead of the disk (or ROM device
more usually) from which the boot code was loaded.

Here's an example:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/69...scription.html

The only circumstance I can think of where the hard drive boot process
gets restarted with a standard PC is with some drive overlay software.
The first part of the boot loads a BIOS replacement which then takes over
the boot process. In order to do this successfully the overlay software
needs to look as much as possible like the original BIOS boot code, and
to do this it effectively restarts the boot from scratch once it gets
loaded. So if drive 2 has this sort of BIOS overlay software installed,
but it was not expecting to get started from drive 2, and it didn't
understand about BIOS settings that re-assigned the drive order (or, it
replaced the code that responded to those settings), then I guess what
you are describing is a possibility.

It's a bit like the process that occurs when you want to boot a system
with drive overlay software installed from floppy - you can actually
interrupt it in the time between loading the overlay and loading the OS,
and tell it to load the OS from the floppy.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"b11_" wrote in message
...
Sometime ago, I entered BIOS and selected drive 2, which has W98 on an
active
partition, to boot. Well 2 started to boot but then I noticed a
different
drive, which has W98, booting. I beieve that when a drive starts booting
and
then another drive finishes booting then that is called cross booting.
__________________________________________________ _______
"philo" wrote:


"b11_" wrote in message
news I check the Microsoft website but can not find any article pertaining
to
cross booting. Your suggestions please.


You will get plenty of results on Google if you use the term "Dual
Booting"

If you want to mention which OS's you want to run...you can also get
some
help here.

As a general rule however... each OS should be on it's own
partition...with
the oldest OS installed first.

Sounds a *bit* like how Win3.1, 95 and 98 load, with MSDOS as the first OS.
Except DOS doesn't stay resident (does it?)

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Jeff Richards" wrote in message
...
If you move outside the PC world it is quite common for one OS to start
the boot process and another OS to finish it.

The minicomputers I used to work with had a microprocessor-based I/O
controller. The boot process started with a boot to an embedded OS (which
was actually the previous generation 16-bit OS) running on this
microprocessor. This OS started the basic I/O procedures (including disk)
and then loaded and started the 32-bit OS on the main CPU. The original
boot OS then reverted to its job of managing I/O while the OS running on
the CPU started the CLI and all the higher level services. Both OSes
were then running simultaneously. It was possible to stop the boot
process after the 16-bit OS was running and perform tasks such as
diagnostics or upgrades to the 32-bit OS. At that point it was a standard
dual-ground single-user 16-bit OS with its own CLI and access to most of
the I/O. Then, when diagnostics or whatever are finished, the operator
would issue a CLI command to boot the 32-bit OS, using the I/O services
provided by the 16-bit OS.

That might not be quite what OP was referring to, but I would certainly
call it starting the boot with one OS and finishing the boot with a
different OS.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Still, this does not match the description given. Yes, a boot can be
interrupted and another OS booted, but the second OS doesn't "finish" the
booting process, it's an entirely new process.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Jeff Richards" wrote in message
...
Note that if you are not talking generic Windows machines, then the
process you describe is fairly common. For instance, in embedded systems
it's not unusual for the boot process to load a partition image into
memory and then boot from that image instead of the disk (or ROM device
more usually) from which the boot code was loaded.

Here's an example:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/69...scription.html

The only circumstance I can think of where the hard drive boot process
gets restarted with a standard PC is with some drive overlay software.
The first part of the boot loads a BIOS replacement which then takes
over the boot process. In order to do this successfully the overlay
software needs to look as much as possible like the original BIOS boot
code, and to do this it effectively restarts the boot from scratch once
it gets loaded. So if drive 2 has this sort of BIOS overlay software
installed, but it was not expecting to get started from drive 2, and it
didn't understand about BIOS settings that re-assigned the drive order
(or, it replaced the code that responded to those settings), then I
guess what you are describing is a possibility.

It's a bit like the process that occurs when you want to boot a system
with drive overlay software installed from floppy - you can actually
interrupt it in the time between loading the overlay and loading the OS,
and tell it to load the OS from the floppy.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"b11_" wrote in message
...
Sometime ago, I entered BIOS and selected drive 2, which has W98 on an
active
partition, to boot. Well 2 started to boot but then I noticed a
different
drive, which has W98, booting. I beieve that when a drive starts
booting and
then another drive finishes booting then that is called cross booting.
__________________________________________________ _______
"philo" wrote:


"b11_" wrote in message
news I check the Microsoft website but can not find any article
pertaining to
cross booting. Your suggestions please.


You will get plenty of results on Google if you use the term "Dual
Booting"

If you want to mention which OS's you want to run...you can also get
some
help here.

As a general rule however... each OS should be on it's own
partition...with
the oldest OS installed first.

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:58:01 -0700, b11_

I check the Microsoft website but can not find any article pertaining to
cross booting. Your suggestions please.

Define( cross booting )

Do you mean...
- booting from one OS to another on the same PC
- booting one OS within another on the same PC
- booting one device from another on the PC
- hit keys to make the &%$ thing boot faster
....?



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To one who only has a hammer,
everything looks like a nail
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