diff --git a/src/kernel/boot/loader/loader.cpp b/src/kernel/boot/loader/loader.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cb5b5db1b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/kernel/boot/loader/loader.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+/*
+** Copyright 2003, Axel Dörfler, axeld@pinc-software.de. All rights reserved.
+** Distributed under the terms of the OpenBeOS License.
+*/
+
+
+#include "loader.h"
+
+#include <OS.h>
+#include <boot/stage2.h>
+#include <boot/vfs.h>
+#include <boot/platform.h>
+#include <boot/stdio.h>
+
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#ifndef BOOT_ARCH
+#	error BOOT_ARCH has to be defined to differentiate the kernel per platform
+#endif
+
+#define KERNEL_IMAGE	"kernel_" BOOT_ARCH
+
+
+bool
+is_bootable(Directory *volume)
+{
+	if (volume->IsEmpty())
+		return false;
+
+	// check for the existance of a kernel (for our platform)
+	int fd = open_from(volume, "beos/system/" KERNEL_IMAGE, O_RDONLY);
+	if (fd < B_OK)
+		return false;
+
+	close(fd);
+
+	return true;
+}
+
+
+status_t 
+load_kernel(stage2_args *args, Directory *volume)
+{
+	if (!is_bootable(volume))
+		return B_ENTRY_NOT_FOUND;
+
+	puts("load kernel...");
+
+	// ToDo: really load that thing :)
+
+	void *cookie;
+	if (volume->Open(&cookie, O_RDONLY) == B_OK) {
+		char name[B_FILE_NAME_LENGTH];
+		while (volume->GetNextEntry(cookie, name, sizeof(name)) == B_OK)
+			printf("\t%s\n", name);
+
+		volume->Close(cookie);
+	}
+	return B_OK;
+}
+
+
+status_t 
+load_modules(stage2_args *args, Directory *volume)
+{
+	return B_OK;
+}
+
+
+void
+start_kernel()
+{
+	// shouldn't return...
+}
+