Bootstrap loader in c?

[robban]

Hi!
Has anybody seen a bootstrap loader for x86 in C? There's a discussion wether a first stage bootstrap could be written in any other language but Assembly. Maybe only Award and Microsoft knows...

[bluex]

It's not so difficult to write it in asm ... so what's the problem. The bootstrap do only load the first boot block using bios routines ... and give it the hand. Why try to write it in a high level language since the full bootstrap takes only about 200 line in X86 asm. It's only 1/2hour of work for anybody having good knowlege in asm and PC hardware. And since writing bootstrap is only needed for people with such knowledge ... I think it's not a problem.
Using a compiler is problematic since you have to find a compiler that can deal with 16bit code and 32Bit code, since the PC boots in 16bit mode and the os switch it to 32 bit protected mode!

[robban]

Yeah, of course You're right. Since I'm interested in finding my own way of writing a file system with different geometry(e.g. flash memory) with a more linear way of addressing, it's interesting to find out wether it's possible to write real low-level C.
All contemporary OS relies on rotating media(floppy, CD-ROM, tape and hard drives)