Understanding the FreeBSD Startup Process
FreeBSD’s bootstrapping (startup) process is the means by which the system’s kernel is first located within its BSD partition and slice on your hard disk, and then launched in the manner necessary to activate all your hardware devices and make the system available to users. Accomplishing all this is more difficult than it sounds—it’s far from a straightforward procedure. Because of the way that PC hardware works, with bootable hard drive partitions governed by the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) software located on a chip on the motherboard, FreeBSD must launch itself in several stages—each stage having a very limited function and scope, and each executing one crucial step before passing off control ...
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