bootloader-for-terchnerds

A professional 2-stage x86 bootloader written in Assembly, featuring a mini-shell, hardware detection (CPUID), and E820 memory mapping

16-Bit Legacy Bootloader

A professional-grade, dual-stage bootloader written in x86 Assembly. This project demonstrates the low-level transition from BIOS hand-off to a functional Stage 2 shell

Features

• Two-Stage Architecture: A tiny Stage 1 (512 bytes) handles the initial boot, which then loads a more capable Stage 2 from the disk
• FAT12 Compatibility: Includes a full BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) to ensure compatibility with various BIOS implementations.
• System Discovery: Automatically detects CPU Vendor ID (via CPUID) and Conventional Memory size
• Interactive Shell: A built-in CLI that supports basic commands like HELP and INFO
• Robust Disk Loading: Implements a retry-logic for disk reads to handle potential hardware/emulation hiccups

• boot.asm: The Master Boot Record (MBR) - Stage 1
• stage2.asm: The extended bootloader logic and Shell - Stage 2
• Makefile: Automated build script for NASM and QEMU
• LICENSE: MIT License

To compile and test this bootloader, you will need nasm and qemu installed on your system

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone [https://github.com/nazhickorkmaz/bootloader-for-terchnerds.git](https://github.com/nazhickorkmaz/bootloader-for-terchnerds.git)
   cd bootloader-for-terchnerds
   

enjoy :P