NEWS:
Version 5.04 is released.
This is a bug fix release of 5.03.
You don't have to upgrade to 5.04 unless you have trouble with
5.03 or earlier.
Extipl is an OS boot selector. It can select which OS in a hard
disk is booted (Japanese webpage).
The advantages are:
- Extipl supports the LBA access and can load an OS at the end
of a large (greater than 8GB) harddisk (new in version 5).
- The user interface of OS selection is visual and user friendly
(new in version 5).
- Extipl can boot any OS in any hard disk which is recognized by
BIOS if target OS support this function. Following OS are known to
boot from second or later HD.
- Extipl can boot OS in an extended partition (partition ID 0x05 or 0x85)
- Extipl can be installed from Linux,
*BSD, or DOS.
- Extipl doesn't depend particular OS in hard disk. It can operate with
any combination of OS.
- Extipl can boot an OS even if its partition isn't marked "bootable."
- You don't have to install Extipl to hard disk to use it. It can be
installed to floppy disk.
System Requirements
You need Linux, *BSD, Windows, or MS-DOS to install Extended-IPL.
Download
The latest version is 5.04 released on March 26, 2002.
You can download Extended-IPL from
Please read carefully the manual
before install it.
Packages
Aside from this homepage,
extipl is distributed in the following way.
- Debian/GNU Linux
- A package containing ver. 5.04 is distributed at
ftp://ftp.jp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/e/extipl/.
- FreeBSD
- Version 5.01 is included in packages of FreeBSD
as sysutils/extipl.
Acknowledgment
T. Kimura and R. Matsumoto thank Mr. Taketoshi Sano
<kgh12351 at nifty.ne.jp>
for making the Debian/GNU package, and registering it.
He also motivated us for making extipl installable from
Linux/FreeBSD and spent long time on checking the program code
and the documentation.
We also thank Nobumasa Takayasu for informing how to boot
Windows in the second harddisk, testing extipl in a very dengerous way,
and reporting many bugs.
We also thank friends in tsden.org for supporting our activity.
Revision History
- Version 5.04, March 26, 2002:
- Fix an error with "Mark active and boot" when LBA mode is used.
- Version 5.03 cannot be compiled with nasm 0.98.24, which is fixed
in 5.04.
- Version 5.03, July 18, 2001:
- Fixed an error in src/Makefile.
- Version 5.02, July 3, 2001:
- Fixed a problem in selection of harddisks (gemini).
- Initialize the DL register at boot (gemini and aquila).
- Version 5.01, January 7, 2001:
- The BIOS identifier of a hard disk is swapped only if the selected partition
is DOS or Windows.
- Version 5.00, December 22, 2000:
- Changed the copyright to GPL.
LBA access was supported.
Treated the partition ID 0x0f as an extended partition.
Visual user interface added.
Documentation updated.
- Version 4.22, June 16, 1999:
- Changed the copyright and enabled binary-only distribution.
- Version 4.21, May 12, 1999:
- English documentations updated.
Man page added.
- Version 4.20, April 5, 1999:
- Can boot an OS in a Linux or DOS extended partition.
Can be compiled and installed with Linux and FreeBSD.
Enables DR-DOS password function.
Includes an example that can do LBA access.
- Version 4.10, October 27, 1998:
- A bug in the "restore" command is fixed.
- Version 4.00, October 23, 1998:
- Change the development environment from Borland C to
LSI-C and DR-DOS.
- Version 3.00, October 25, 1997:
- Can boot an OS in third or later HD.
English documentation.
Released in the Web.
Provide example codes and documentation for how Extended-IPL works.
- Version 2.00, March 22,1993:
- Separate the MBR code and the MINIX
specific loader. The latter was
released as "MXboot".
- Version 1.00, June 29, 1991, released as MXboot:
- Released as a boot selector for different versions of
MINIX.
Can boot an OS in the second harddisk.
Other boot selectors and relevant links
Feel free to send comments, suggestions, etc. to
extipl at tsden.org.
April 9, 2002, Ryutaroh Matsumoto