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teh_misteik

Member

From: Iran

Registered: 2024-03-12

Posts: 28

How can i boot an assembly code using qemu

So recently I was trying to make a bootable program and I use qemu for virtualization. But when I try this:

qemu-system-i386 -fda build/main_flp.img

The new windows that my program is supposed to run won't show up. My program does nothing, it's just an endless loop of nothing ( main: jmp main ).
My Makefile basically compiles the main.asm to main.bin and copies it to main_flp.img and

truncate -s 1440k build/main_flp.img

I'm pretty sure that the problem isn't my program so I asked it here.
Any solutions? Thanks

Last edited by teh_misteik (2024-03-16 18:25:03)

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Arch Linux newbie here

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Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,858

Re: How can i boot an assembly code using qemu

You need to provide a bootable floppy image that includes everything necessary to start an OS .

Typically bootable floppy images for MSDOS, FreeDos, win98, linux etc are used as a base.
What OS are you intending to boot to on main_flp.img ?

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2024-03-15 11:27:27)

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

teh_misteik

Member

From: Iran

Registered: 2024-03-12

Posts: 28

Re: How can i boot an assembly code using qemu

You need to provide a bootable floppy image that includes everything necessary to start an OS .

Typically bootable floppy images for MSDOS, FreeDos, win98, linux etc are used as a base.
What OS are you intending to boot to on main_flp.img ?

I am making my own os. If it helps, here is the source code and Makefile for the os

src/main.asm

org 0x7C00
bits 16

main:
  jmp main

times 510-($-$$) db 0
dw 0xaa55

Makefile

ASM=nasm

BUILD=build
SRC=src

$(BUILD)/main_flp.img: $(BUILD)/main.bin
	cp $(BUILD)/main.bin $(BUILD)/main_flp.img
	truncate -s 1440k $(BUILD)/main_flp.img

$(BUILD)/main.bin: $(SRC)/main.asm
	$(ASM) $(SRC)/main.asm -f bin -o $(BUILD)/main.bin

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Arch Linux newbie here

        Thanks for reading my signature, but I'm afraid there is nothing interesting to see over here. So I don't know why are you still reading this. Okay I should admit that you are curious, so if you are still reading this far, congratulations!       

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,858

Re: How can i boot an assembly code using qemu

You will have to use an existing bootloader or write your own so the physical / virtual machine knows how to start to your OS .

Here are some links I think you'll find useful :

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.co … k-bootable
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/X86_Assembly/Bootloaders
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/327 … 6#32705076

P.S. please change the thread title (edit first post) to something like "How to boot assembly code from floppy image using qemu ?"

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky