MONITOR.8
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- MONITOR(8) Minix Programmer's Manual MONITOR(8)
- NAME
- monitor, edparams - load and start Minix, modify boot parameters
- SYNOPSIS
- edparams device [command ...]
- boot.com virdisk
- DESCRIPTION
- 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.
- 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 main, which by default starts a simple menu.
- The environment can be manipulated at boot time from the monitor prompt,
- but may also be edited using edparams on a given device. 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.
- The MS-DOS version of the monitor, usually named boot.com under DOS,
- boots Minix from a "DOS virtual disk". (See below.)
- 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:
- name = [device] value
- Set environment variable.
- Changes the value of name to value. The optional word device marks
- 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:
- rootdev
- This is the device used as your root device. It is by default
- set to ram, which means that the device specified by
- 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 ramsize.
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- MONITOR(8) Minix Programmer's Manual MONITOR(8)
- ramimagedev
- Describes the device to use to initialize the RAM disk if
- rootdev is set to ram. It's by default set to bootdev, a
- special name for the device the monitor booted from.
- ramsize
- 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
- ramsize if possible.
- processor
- Set by default to 86, 186, 286, 386, 486, ... depending on the
- hardware you have. You can set it to a smaller value to test
- your kernel in a more limited environment.
- bus
- The type of system bus, either xt, at or mca. This answers
- basic questions like: "How many interrupt controllers and how
- to initialize?" Or: "Does the keyboard have LEDs?"
- memsize
- Kilobytes of conventional memory. This is the amount of RAM
- within the first megabyte.
- emssize
- Kilobytes of extended memory.
- video
- Describes capabilities of the VDU: mda, cga, ega or vga.
- chrome
- Either color or mono.
- console
- 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. 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.
- Two variables are only used by the monitor, even though they are
- passed to the kernel too:
- image
- The name of the file containing the kernel image, by default
- minix. If it refers to a directory however then the newest
- file inside the directory is chosen to be the kernel image.
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- MONITOR(8) Minix Programmer's Manual MONITOR(8)
- The names inside /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:
- A '/' or '_' is changed to a space.
- The first letter is changed from lowercase to uppercase.
- An 'r' if followed by a digit changes to " revision ".
- label
- If set then only processes marked with this label or without a
- label are loaded from the image.
- 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.
- name() { ... }
- Define function.
- 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.
- ram() { rootdev=ram; boot }
- 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 main with default value 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.
- name(key) { ... }
- Define kernel selecting function.
- The menu command uses functions like these to add menu entries to
- select a different kernel from a boot disk. Installboot -boot
- produces these functions when the images are labeled. The label AT
- would give:
- AT(a) {label=AT;image=42:626;echo AT kernel selected;menu}
- With the menu option:
- a Select AT kernel
- Typing a will then execute the AT function above.
- name(key,text) { ... }
- User defined menu option.
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- MONITOR(8) Minix Programmer's Manual MONITOR(8)
- This variant may be used to make any menu entry you like:
- dos(d,Boot MS-DOS) { boot hd1 }
- Text may be anything, even parentheses if they match.
- name
- Call function.
- If name is a user defined function then its value is expanded and
- executed in place of 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 chmem(1) to increase it's heap.
- boot [-opts]
- boot device
- Boot Minix or another O.S.
- Without an argument, boot will load and execute the Minix image
- named by the image variable. With options the variable bootopts is
- first set to -opts before Minix is started, and unset when Minix
- returns. With a device argument, boot loads the boot sector of
- 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.
- Some Operating Systems can only be booted from the active partition,
- if you use a '*', e.g. boot *hd3, then partition 3 is first made
- active. You'll then need to use installboot -master with a fix key
- to forcefully boot the Minix partition at startup.
- delay [msec]
- Delay (500 msec default).
- 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 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 delay to a number of milliseconds.
- Example:
- main() {delay 250; delay=500; boot}
- Look at this carefully, 'delay 250' means: "wait 1/4 sec now!",
- while 'delay=500' means: "wait 1/2 sec after loading Minix".
- If you use delay=swap then the monitor will wait until you have
- inserted a root diskette and typed RETURN.
- echo word ...
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- MONITOR(8) Minix Programmer's Manual MONITOR(8)
- Print these words.
- Used to tell you that you just selected image X.
- ls [directory]
- List contents of a directory.
- Useful when looking for kernel images.
- menu
- Menu driven startup.
- This command allows you to execute functions defined with a key. If
- no menu functions have been defined then menu will use this one
- hidden built-in function:
- *(=,Start Minix) { boot }
- 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.
- Menu entries are shown in the same order as set shows them. If you
- don't like the order then you have to unset the functions and retype
- them in the proper order.
- 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.
- save
- Save environment.
- 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.
- set
- Show environment.
- 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.
- trap msec command
- Schedule command.
- Schedules a command to be executed after msec milliseconds. Only
- the monitor mode cannot be interrupted, a scheduled trap is killed
- when the prompt is printed. Example:
- main() {trap 10000 boot; menu}
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- MONITOR(8) Minix Programmer's Manual MONITOR(8)
- This gives you 10 seconds to choose a menu option before Minix is
- booted.
- unset name ...
- Unset environment variables.
- 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.
- exit
- Exit the monitor
- Reboot the machine, exit to Minix or exit to DOS as appropriate.
- 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 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.
- The special name bootdev is translated to the name of the device booted
- from, like 'fd0', or 'hd3', and then searched for in /dev. Bootdev can't
- be translated to a device other then the fd or hd devices, so SCSI
- devices for instance must be named explicitly.
- 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:
- 0x0001 Call kernel in 386 mode.
- 0x0002 Do not make space for the bss areas of processes other then the
- kernel.
- 0x0004 Use the stack size set by chmem(1).
- 0x0008 Load MM, FS, etc. into extended memory.
- 0x0010 No need to patch process sizes into the kernel.
- 0x0020 The kernel can return to the monitor on halt or reboot.
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- MONITOR(8) Minix Programmer's Manual MONITOR(8)
- 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 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.
- SEE ALSO
- chmem(1), stat(2), installboot(8), usage(8), boot(8).
- BUGS
- The delay command will hang forever on the original IBM PC (not the XT!).
- Not that it matters, as everything takes forever on that box.
- Reading the first sector to boot a floppy (e.g. boot fd1), is done using
- whatever floppy parameters boot currently has available. This will
- probably always work.
- The two forms of delay are a crock.
- The word emssize comes from EMS, that has to do with expanded memory, not
- extended memory.
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Guy Helmer, for the floppy sensing code that somehow disappeared into the
- boot block.
- 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.
- AUTHOR
- Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)
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