Inside the Linux boot process

Wow..Why did I miss this article :-( No one can explain the linux boot process better. Tim Jones did an excellent job with his article published at ibm.com developerworks, in explaining the linux boot processes. If you are a linux learner at a novice level, this is a must to read. Quoting some linux jokes here, before I give you the link to that article,

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Windows: "Where do you want to go today?"
Linux: "Where do you want to go tomorrow?"
FreeBSD: "Are you guys coming, or what?"
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Macs are for those who don't want to know why their computer works.
Linux is for those who want to know why their computer works.
DOS is for those who want to know why their computer doesn't work.
Windows is for those who don't want to know why their computer doesn't work.
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The process of booting a Linux® system consists of a number of stages. But whether you're booting a standard x86 desktop or a deeply embedded PowerPC® target, much of the flow is surprisingly similar. This article explores the Linux boot process from the initial bootstrap to the start of the first user-space application. Along the way, you'll learn about various other boot-related topics such as the boot loaders, kernel decompression, the initial RAM disk, and other elements of Linux boot.

Read more here