Installing the Apostle OS

Obtaining and compiling Apostle

Currently the Apostle OS is only available from CVS. To get the source code, checkout the module apostle:

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.apostle.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/apostle co apostle

Obtaining and compiling the Gemini Nucleus

Please consult the Gemini Nucleus home page for details on how to build the Gemini micro kernel.

Obtaining and compiling GRUB

The easiest way is to grab the GRUB binaries from the Apostle Project ftp site. The gzipped tar ball contains the precompiled binaries needed for the installation of Apostle OS.

You can also get a copy of the GRUB source code from the GRUB home page. To compile GRUB, please consult the documentation that comes with the GRUB sources.

Installing GRUB and booting Apostle OS

There are two ways to boot Apostle. If you have GRUB installed on your system already, you'll find it convenient to add the Apostle Operating System to your menu.lst file:

	# Apostle Operating System
	title=Apostle Operating System
	kernel=(hd0,0)/gemini-dir/gemini-nucleus
	module=(hd0,0)/apostle-dir/system
	module=(hd0,0)/apostle-dir/text
	module=(hd0,0)/apostle-dir/keyboard
	module=(hd0,0)/apostle-dir/shell

NOTE
(hd0,0) tells grub that Apostle is located on the first partition of your first hard drive. If Apostle is located elsewhere, it will be necessary to change this string to reflect the location of the Apostle binaries.

Ex. If the Apostle OS is located on the 2nd partition of your second hard drive, use (hd1,1).

If you want to make a bootable floppy, you'll need 2 floppies - one should be FAT formatted and the other blank. Then follow these steps:

1. Build the Apostle binaries by entering the apostle directory and typing configure and then make all.
2. Create a text file called menu.lst and enter the following information:

   	# Sample boot menu configuration file
                            
           # Boot automatically after 5 secs.
           timeout= 5
   
           # By default, boot the first entry.
           default= 0
   
           # Boot the Apostle OS
           title=Apostle Operating System
           root=(fd0)   
           kernel=(fd0)/gemini-nucleus
   	module=(fd0)/system
   	module=(fd0)/text
   	module=(fd0)/keyboard
   	module=(fd0)/shell
   

3. Copy menu.lst and the binaries onto the root directory of your formatted floppy. Optionally you could also copy the grub binaries onto your formatted floppy (stage1 and stage2).
4. Now you must copy the grub binaries onto the blank floppy.

   In Linux use:

   	dd if="stage1" of="/dev/fd0" bs=512 count=1
          	dd if="stage2" of="/dev/fd0" bs=512 seek=1
   

   In DOS you can use (I haven't tested this):

   	copy /B stage1+stage2 boot.sct
   

   You must now use a utility that can copy boot.sct to the first sectors of the blank floppy. One such utility is rawrite.exe. It comes with most Linux distributions and is also available at many websites.
5. Boot your test PC using the floppy from the last step.
6. Swap floppies.
7. At the GRUB prompt, type the following:

   	grub> root = (fd0)
           grub> install = /stage1 (fd0) /stage2 0x8000 p /menu.lst
   

   Now this command will give an error if you haven't copied the grub binaries onto your formatted floppy. In that case you have to specify the complete path to stage1 and stage2. E.g.:

   	grub install = (hd0,0)/apostle/grub/stage1 (fd0) \
   		(hd0,0)/apostle/grub/stage2 0x8000 p /menu.lst
   

8. You're done! Just reboot using the formatted floppy. Now, when you build a new version of the Apostle binaries, you simply need to copy them onto the formatted floppy. If you copied the grub binaries to your formatted floppy, you might want to remove them. They're not needed anymore.

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