GRUB discussion follow up ?

[Mike Wright]

William Case wrote:
> Hi;
> 
> As a result of the ongoing GRUB discussion, I have been trying to trace
> the use of GRUB from BIOS to the end of GRUB stage 2.  I am particularly
> interested in seeing how the MBR is used.
> 
> I can create a temporary copy of my MBR using:
> # dd if=/dev/sdX of=/tmp/sda-mbr.bin bs=512 count=1
> 
> My question is; what program should I use to read this file in a human
> meaningful way (hexdump??)?  I am trying to see how the MBR names
> partitions; and how GRUB uses those names.  That is, are the partitions
> named in MBR actually named hd0,0 (ie the binary or hex equivalent of
> hd0,0) etc. or is there a further translation step required by GRUB?
> Does the device/partitioning system used by MBR and GRUB have a name(s)?
> (For Internet search purposes).  
> 
> I am interested in the hardware/software interface of booting.  Is there
> anything additional I should know about this partition-locating process?
> 

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