MONITOR.8
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- .TH MONITOR 8
- .SH NAME
- monitor, edparams - load and start Minix, modify boot parameters
- .SH SYNOPSIS
- .B edparams
- .I device
- .RB [ command " ...]"
- .br
- .B boot.com
- .I virdisk
- .SH DESCRIPTION
- .de SP
- .if t .sp 0.4
- .if n .sp
- ..
- This text describes the Boot Monitor, a boot time interactive program designed
- not only to load and start Minix, its most important task, but to also
- provide an easy to use interface to configure Minix and to boot other
- operating systems.
- .PP
- The monitor is controlled with an environment that is modeled after the
- Bourne shell. This environment is filled at startup with default values
- that depend on the machine the monitor is running on and the environment
- settings saved into the boot parameters sector (the second sector on a
- device). When the environment is loaded, the monitor executes the function
- named
- .BR main ,
- which by default starts a simple menu.
- .PP
- The environment can be manipulated at boot time from the monitor prompt,
- but may also be edited using
- .B edparams
- on a given device.
- .B Edparams
- simulates the monitor as much as it can, echoing commands it can't execute
- between brackets. It can also be used in Makefiles and scripts by giving
- it commands as arguments.
- .PP
- The MS-DOS version of the monitor, usually named
- .B boot.com
- under DOS, boots Minix from a "DOS virtual disk". (See below.)
- .SH COMMANDS
- The monitor is best described by the commands you can type to the '>'
- prompt. This is known as the "monitor mode". You can enter this mode by
- hitting the Escape key. These are the monitor commands:
- .PP
- fInamefP = [fBdevicefP] fIvaluefP
- .SP
- .RS
- Set environment variable.
- .br
- Changes the value of
- .I name
- to
- .IR value .
- The optional word
- .B device
- marks
- .I name
- as being subject to device translation. (See the section on devices.) These
- (name, value) pairs are passed to the kernel who uses them to configure
- itself. These variables are passed by default:
- .SP
- .B rootdev
- .RS
- This is the device used as your root device. It is by default set to
- .BR ram,
- which means that the device specified by
- .B ramimagedev
- will be loaded into the RAM disk and used as root. If you change this
- variable then a physical device will be used as root, and the RAM disk will
- be uninitialized and have the size specified by
- .BR ramsize .
- .RE
- .SP
- .B ramimagedev
- .RS
- Describes the device to use to initialize the RAM disk if
- .B rootdev
- is set to
- .BR ram .
- It's by default set to
- .BR bootdev ,
- a special name for the device the monitor booted from.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B ramsize
- .RS
- The size of the RAM disk. If the RAM disk is used for the root file system
- then the root file system is stretched out to
- .B ramsize
- if possible.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B processor
- .RS
- Set by default to
- .BR 86 ,
- .BR 186 ,
- .BR 286 ,
- .BR 386 ,
- .BR 486 ", ..."
- depending on the hardware you have. You can set it to a smaller value to
- test your kernel in a more limited environment.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B bus
- .RS
- The type of system bus, either
- .BR xt ,
- .BR at
- or
- .BR mca .
- This answers basic questions like: "How many interrupt controllers and how
- to initialize?" Or: "Does the keyboard have LEDs?"
- .RE
- .SP
- .B memsize
- .RS
- Kilobytes of conventional memory. This is the amount of RAM within the
- first megabyte.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B emssize
- .RS
- Kilobytes of extended memory.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B video
- .RS
- Describes capabilities of the VDU:
- .BR mda ,
- .BR cga ,
- .B ega
- or
- .BR vga .
- .RE
- .SP
- .B chrome
- .RS
- Either
- .B color
- or
- .BR mono .
- .RE
- .SP
- .B console
- .RS
- If set to a hexadecimal value makes the monitor set the BIOS video mode to
- this value. This allows the use of video modes with more rows or colums
- than the standard 80x25 mode. The kernel must of course be able to handle
- a nonstandard mode. More parameters may follow the mode number.
- .B Warning:
- Not all monitors can handle all of the modes, some may generate frequencies
- that can damage your monitor. Read the manual of card and monitor for
- details.
- .RE
- .SP
- Two variables are only used by the monitor, even though they are passed to the
- kernel too:
- .SP
- .B image
- .RS
- The name of the file containing the kernel image, by default
- .BR minix .
- If it refers to a directory however then the newest file inside the
- directory is chosen to be the kernel image. The names inside
- .B /minix/
- are best set to the Minix version you are using, which looks good when the
- monitor prints its name. Rules for pretty printing image names:
- .RS
- .SP
- A '/' or '_' is changed to a space.
- .SP
- The first letter is changed from lowercase to uppercase.
- .SP
- An 'r' if followed by a digit changes to " revision ".
- .RE
- .RE
- .SP
- .B label
- .RS
- If set then only processes marked with this label or without a label are
- loaded from the image.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B Installboot -boot
- will create functions to select images and labels. These functions will set
- label and image and echo what you selected. The two numbers separated by a
- colon used as an image name tell the starting sector and sector count of the
- image on disk.
- .RE
- .SP
- fInamefP() { ... }
- .RS
- Define function.
- .br
- Functions may be used to bundle a set of commands, so that you can easily
- boot Minix with a different set of parameters then normal. E.g.
- .SP
- .RS
- ram() { rootdev=ram; boot }
- .RE
- .SP
- will allow you to run Minix with the root device on RAM for a change, if
- you normally use a real device as root. The only pre-set function is
- .B main
- with default value
- .BR menu ,
- which is the default command executed by the monitor. You can use newlines
- after the ')' token, the monitor will then use a '+' prompt and ask for the
- rest.
- .RE
- .SP
- fInamefP(fIkeyfP) { ... }
- .RS
- Define kernel selecting function.
- .br
- The menu command uses functions like these to add menu entries to select
- a different kernel from a boot disk.
- .B Installboot -boot
- produces these functions when the images are labeled. The label
- .B AT
- would give:
- .SP
- .RS
- AT(a) {label=AT;image=42:626;echo AT kernel selected;menu}
- .RE
- .SP
- With the menu option:
- .SP
- .RS
- a Select AT kernel
- .RE
- .SP
- Typing
- .B a
- will then execute the
- .B AT
- function above.
- .RE
- .SP
- fInamefP(fIkeyfP,fItextfP) { ... }
- .RS
- User defined menu option.
- .br
- This variant may be used to make any menu entry you like:
- .SP
- .RS
- dos(d,Boot MS-DOS) { boot hd1 }
- .RE
- .SP
- .I Text
- may be anything, even parentheses if they match.
- .RE
- .SP
- .I name
- .RS
- Call function.
- .br
- If
- .I name
- is a user defined function then its value is expanded and executed in place of
- .IR name .
- Try a recursive one like 'rec() {rec;xx}' one day. You can see the monitor
- run out of space with nice messages about using
- .BR chmem (1)
- to increase it's heap.
- .RE
- .SP
- fBbootfP [fB-fPfIoptsfP]
- .br
- fBbootfP fIdevicefP
- .RS
- Boot Minix or another O.S.
- .br
- Without an argument,
- .B boot
- will load and execute the Minix image named by the
- .B image
- variable. With options the variable
- .B bootopts
- is first set to
- .BI - opts
- before Minix is started, and unset when Minix returns. With a
- .I device
- argument,
- .B boot
- loads the boot sector of
- .I device
- into memory and jumps to it, starting another operating system. You would
- normally use partitions on the first hard disk for this command (hd[1-4]),
- using hd0 will also work (choosing the active partition). One can also boot
- devices on the second hard disk (hd[5-9]) if the bootstrap writer did not
- hardwire the disk number to disk 0.
- .br
- Some Operating Systems can only be booted from the active partition, if
- you use a '*', e.g.
- .BR "boot *hd3" ,
- then partition 3 is first made active. You'll then need to use
- .B installboot -master
- with a fix key to forcefully boot the Minix partition at startup.
- .RE
- .SP
- fBdelayfP [fImsecfP]
- .RS
- Delay (500 msec default).
- .br
- Fast booting speed was one of the objectives when this program was created,
- so a hard disk boot usually takes only a fraction of a second. If you need
- some time (to hit Escape, or stare at the numbers) you can use
- .B delay
- to make the monitor pause for a specified amount of time. To specify a delay
- just before Minix is started, you can set the variable
- .B delay
- to a number of milliseconds. Example:
- .SP
- .RS
- main() {delay 250; delay=500; boot}
- .RE
- .SP
- Look at this carefully, 'delay 250' means: "wait 1/4 sec now!",
- while 'delay=500' means: "wait 1/2 sec after loading Minix".
- .SP
- If you use
- .B delay=swap
- then the monitor will wait until you have inserted a root diskette and typed
- RETURN.
- .RE
- .SP
- fBechofP fIwordfP ...
- .RS
- Print these words.
- .br
- Used to tell you that you just selected image X.
- .RE
- .SP
- fBlsfP [fIdirectoryfP]
- .RS
- List contents of a directory.
- .br
- Useful when looking for kernel images.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B menu
- .RS
- Menu driven startup.
- .br
- This command allows you to execute functions defined with a
- .IR key .
- If no menu functions have been defined then
- .B menu
- will use this one hidden built-in function:
- .SP
- .RS
- *(=,Start Minix) { boot }
- .SP
- .RE
- Kernel selecting functions only add new options to this set, but if you
- define a two argument function yourself then the above one is no longer
- shown, allowing you to customize the menu completely. Your first
- function definition should therefore be one that starts Minix.
- .SP
- Menu entries are shown in the same order as
- .B set
- shows them. If you don't like the order then you have to unset the
- functions and retype them in the proper order.
- .SP
- If you type a key then a scheduled trap is killed and the appropriate menu
- function is executed. If you need more time to choose then hit the
- spacebar. A key not on the menu also kills a trap, but does nothing more.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B save
- .RS
- Save environment.
- .br
- This will save all the environment variables and functions with nondefault
- values to the parameter sector (the second sector on the boot device), so
- they are automatically set the next time you boot the monitor.
- .RE
- .SP
- .B set
- .RS
- Show environment.
- .br
- Show the current values of the environment variables and functions. Default
- values are shown between parentheses to distinguish them from values that
- were explicitly set.
- .RE
- .SP
- fBtrapfP fImsecfP fIcommandfP
- .RS
- Schedule command.
- .br
- Schedules a command to be executed after
- .I msec
- milliseconds. Only the monitor mode cannot be interrupted, a scheduled trap
- is killed when the prompt is printed. Example:
- .SP
- .RS
- main() {trap 10000 boot; menu}
- .RE
- .SP
- This gives you 10 seconds to choose a menu option before Minix is booted.
- .RE
- .SP
- fBunsetfP fInamefP ...
- .RS
- Unset environment variables.
- .br
- Removes the named variables and functions from the environment, and sets
- special variables back to their default values. This is also the only way
- to remove the "device name translation" property from a variable.
- .RE
- .SP
- fBexitfP
- .RS
- Exit the monitor
- .br
- Reboot the machine, exit to Minix or exit to DOS as appropriate.
- .RE
- .SH DEVICES
- The Minix kernel can't do anything with device names, so they have to be
- translated to device numbers before they are passed to the kernel. This
- number is found under the st_rdev field (see
- .BR stat (2))
- of the file on the boot file system. The monitor will look for the device
- file with the working directory set to '/dev'. If it can't find the device
- name then it will translate names like 'ram', 'fd1', 'hd6', 'hd3a', and 'sd2'
- to what it itself thinks the numbers should be.
- .PP
- The special name
- .B bootdev
- is translated to the name of the device booted from, like 'fd0', or 'hd3', and
- then searched for in /dev.
- .B Bootdev
- can't be translated to a device other then the fd or hd devices, so SCSI
- devices for instance must be named explicitly.
- .SH EXTENSIONS
- A few extensions have been made to this program for kernel hackers. They
- may be triggered by setting bits in the flags word in the kernel startup
- code (the mpx file.) The flag bits are:
- .TP 10
- 0x0001
- Call kernel in 386 mode.
- .TP
- 0x0002
- Do not make space for the bss areas of processes other then the kernel.
- .TP
- 0x0004
- Use the stack size set by
- .BR chmem (1).
- .TP
- 0x0008
- Load MM, FS, etc. into extended memory.
- .TP
- 0x0010
- No need to patch process sizes into the kernel.
- .TP
- 0x0020
- The kernel can return to the monitor on halt or reboot.
- .SH "MS-DOS MONITOR"
- Minix-vmd has a version of the monitor that runs under MS-DOS to boot
- a "DOS virtual disk". It is a simple COM program that interprets an MS-DOS
- file as a disk, loads a Minix kernel from the active partition in the same
- way as the BIOS based monitor, and executes it to start Minix. All the
- monitor commands function in the same way, except for the
- .B boot
- command, it can only load Minix. The memory that MS-DOS has in use is copied
- out of the way when Minix takes control, and is put back in place when Minix
- exits. This memory shuffling also happens when the BIOS disk driver makes
- BIOS calls, slowing things to a crawl. It is better to use a Minix driver.
- The MS-DOS monitor does not work if there is a memory manager active that
- runs in 386 protected mode, like EMM386.
- .SH "SEE ALSO"
- .BR chmem (1),
- .BR stat (2),
- .BR installboot (8),
- .BR usage (8),
- .BR boot (8).
- .SH BUGS
- The
- .B delay
- command will hang forever on the original IBM PC (not the XT!). Not that it
- matters, as everything takes forever on that box.
- .PP
- Reading the first sector to boot a floppy (e.g.
- .BR "boot fd1" ),
- is done using whatever floppy parameters boot currently has available. This
- will probably always work.
- .PP
- The two forms of
- .B delay
- are a crock.
- .PP
- The word
- .B emssize
- comes from EMS, that has to do with expanded memory, not extended memory.
- .SH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Guy Helmer, for the floppy sensing code that somehow disappeared into the
- boot block.
- .PP
- Earl Chew, for the inspiration his ShoeLace package provided, unless he wants
- to file a "look and feel" suit against me, then I will say I modeled it after
- the SunOS ROM boot monitor, which is also true.
- .SH AUTHOR
- Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)