BIOS History and Design Theory

To configure a computer to handle several OSs, you must be able to coax each one into booting. This can sometimes be a challenging task because the original IBM PC was not designed with today's complex configurations in mind, and we're still living with the legacy of the IBM PC's design. In particular, the PC's basic input/output system (BIOS) possesses several limitations that are important for understanding how OSs boot. In a single-OS system, you generally need not be terribly concerned with these matters because the OS can generally handle things reasonably well. When you install several OSs, though, you must be aware of how the BIOS gets the OS booted because two OSs can interact with the BIOS in different ...

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