[ale] HOW TO: dual-boot Linux/Windows without rebooting

[fd0man™—The Magical Floppy Man]

On Wed, 2006-08-23 at 20:21 -0400, Randal Jarrett wrote:

> HOW TO: dual-boot Linux/Windows without rebooting
> 
> Declan Kennedy at APC Magazine has discovered that you don't need to
> reboot in order to dual-boot between Linux and Windows: you can switch
> between them without a reboot using hibernation if you have the right
> boot loader installed.
> 


In theory, there is also a kernel mechanism that can be used to load a
binary image that would, in theory, kick-start Windows, although I do
not know if the inverse would be possible.  From the current released
version of the kernel in arch/i386/Kconfig (and probably other
architectures, as well, though I have not checked):


config KEXEC
        bool "kexec system call (EXPERIMENTAL)"
        depends on EXPERIMENTAL
        help
          kexec is a system call that implements the ability to shutdown your
          current kernel, and to start another kernel.  It is like a reboot
          but it is indepedent of the system firmware.   And like a reboot
          you can start any kernel with it, not just Linux.

          The name comes from the similiarity to the exec system call.

          It is an ongoing process to be certain the hardware in a machine
          is properly shutdown, so do not be surprised if this code does not
          initially work for you.  It may help to enable device hotplugging
          support.  As of this writing the exact hardware interface is
          strongly in flux, so no good recommendation can be made.


So, in theory it is possible, though I am not sure what else would
exactly have to be implemented/installed/used to make it work.

    ? Mike

--
The fd0man??The Magical Floppy Man! (fd0man at gmail.com) 
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