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==============================================================================
MKick 1.8
(c) 1992-1995 MJSoft System Software
Martin Mares
==============================================================================
Introduction and Copyright:
---------------------------
See README. It contains a lot of things worth of being known.
MKick usage:
------------
MKick may be called either from the CLI or from the Workbench.
Invocation from the CLI
-----------------------
Syntax: MKick [<Kickstart>] [<memory options>] [<other options>]
[<debug options>]
Kickstart specification:
These parameters specify which Kickstart do you want to use:
<name> - install Kickstart specified by its name
GUI - show GUI allowing to select the Kickstart and some basic
options by the mouse (or the rat if you have one :-)
ROM - go back to ROM Kickstart
Memory options:
These options control the place you want to store the Kickstart on:
NOREL - load Kickstart to its original memory location. Used automati-
cally when you have no relocation table for the Kickstart.
But only few Kickstarts are on such locations where you have
some RAM. (Many Kickstarts are stored in standard ROM memory
(at F80000 and higher). Only the beta-ROMs are located at
200000 (standard expansion memory) sometimes.)
ADR <address> - load Kickstart at specified address. It's used mostly for
debugging or when kicking to RAM placed on unusual location.
The address is specified in hexadecimal (base-16) notation.
All addresses of type 00xx0000 (xx is any number) can be
written in short form: xx (this is the notation introduced
in SKick). The Kickstart address must be a multiple of 64K
(the last four digits _MUST_ be 0) and mustn't be less than
40000.
CHIP,FAST,EXP,NAC - load Kickstart to CHIP/FAST/EXPANSION/NON-AUTOCONFIG MEMORY.
These options may be combined (you can say MKick kick34005.a500
CHIP FAST) and MKick will automatically select the best possible
location. (The standard order is NAC/EXP/FAST/CHIP, from top
to bottom. It is based on standard priority scheme used by Exec.
See also ADDMEM.) These options affect memory types offered
by the GUI.
<nothing> - When you specify no memory control options, MKick will assume
that CHIP, FAST, EXP and NAC options are set.
ADDMEM <base> <size> [<priority>] - add a region of NON-AUTOCONFIG RAM to the
system. The non-autoconfig (NAC) RAM can be found on many
accelerated systems. The basic property of this type of memory
is that it's present when the machine is rebooted, but no part
of the operating system is able to find it and give it to all
application programs. The manufacturers usually supply some
utility which is able to do the memory adding for you, but these
utilities have significant problems with the most of kickers.
In this case, you can simply say MKick where is your memory
located, how large is it (specified in bytes; both the address
and the size are hexadecimal numbers; the shortened form used
by ADR can be used here, too). The priority is a decimal number
in range <-128;127>. All regions of available memory are sorted
by their priority (expansion memory has 10, fast RAM 0, chip RAM
-10, default for ADDMEM is 20). When a program tries to allocate
some memory, the Exec will use available memory chunk with the
highest priority it founds and because the NAC RAM is often the
fastest one in the system, it's very good to use it first.
Other options:
AUTO - exit if already kicked. The operation you have selected won't be
done if there is already some Kickstart in RAM or if you sele-
cted (by the ROM option or by the GUI) that you want to use ROM
Kickstart. For example: if you have MKick in your startup-sequence
and you want to start KS 3.0 when you boot first time, you can
say 'MKick DEVS:Kickstarts/Kick39106.A1200 AUTO' in this case.
It will prevent MKick from trying to re-kick whenever you boot
and will allow you to stay in ROM KS without changing anything.
you can also say 'MKick AUTO GUI' - it displays GUI only when
you didn't select any Kickstart before.
NOTAGS - remove all resident modules before kicking. MKick tries to use
smart algorithm of removing of modules, which could cause system
crash, but there could be an exception that isn't capable of
being handled by this way. If MKick doesn't work on your system,
try to use this option.
NOPATCH - don't use the patches. The patch tables are usually built to
fix known Kickstart bugs. Some of these bugs can cause wrong
operation of kickers. Don't use this option when you don't know
what are you really doing.
KICKDIR <x> - search for Kickstarts in specified directory. The default is
"DEVS:Kickstarts". It affects only the GUI.
CACHE - turn on CPU caches as soon as it's possible. The machines
equipped with 68020 or higher CPU have a CACHE MEMORY. When
it's used, it speeds up a bit all operations, but not all
programs are compatible with this CPU enhancement. The caches
are normally switched on by CPU, SETCPU or other similar
command, which can be started from the startup-sequence.
If you want to enable the caches automatically, you should
specify this option.
EBREL - relocate ExecBase to expansion or non-autoconfig memory. It
can slightly increase system performance. This feature is
somewhat tricky and works only with some Kickstarts (Kickstarts
older than 2.04 and most of A600 versions don't allow it).
Because Kickstarts 1.X require ExecBase to be present when
the system starts, systems with ExecBase in expansion memory
cannot survive standard reboot (with ExecBase in non-autoconfig
memory it's usually possible). MKick's own resets (when
switching to another Kickstart) create fake ExecBase in chip
RAM allowing it to survive. Also the ColdReboot system call is
patched, so you can use it for rebooting without losing the
Kickstart.
There exists a FastEBPatch utility (distributed in this
archive), which patches some other system calls and creates
a Ctrl-Alt-Alt-Del sequence for resetting the machine in
a clean way.
RELVEC - relocate CPU vectors (normally placed on addresses 8-$3FF) to
fast RAM (applicable only with 68010 or newer CPU installed).
Can slightly increase system performance and reduce amount of
deadly system crashes (the probability that unwanted memory
access caused by a crash hits the vectors is a bit lower).
In this mode, space for new vector table is allocated, the
vectors are moved into it and the VBR register is set to the new
address. The original vector area is cleared, only the longword
at address $8 points to the new vectors (this rule has been
introduced by SinSoft to be used in some products which require
exact knowledge of vector base without switching to supervisor
mode (e.g., if the ExecBase is inaccessible). The deadend alerts
don't work in this mode unless the FastEBPatch is installed.
Debug options:
WAIT - wait for RETURN key before resetting the machine. If you enter
'q', MKick will stop the action and exit immediately without
deallocating any memory, therefore you can look at MKick's
resident module and similar things. If you see that something
is wrong, you can press CTRL-C (MKick checks CTRL-C before it
installs the resident tags and before each reboot). In this
case, MKick deallocates all used memory and terminates. The
checking of CTRL-C doesn't depend on WAITing.
DEBUG - turn on debugging information. It consists of two sequences
of colourful stripes displayed during reboot with RAM KS.
The first set of stripes (all colours) is displayed before
the RAM KS is started. The second (black & white) one is
displayed when MKick fixes RAM, adds autoconfig devices
and does many other things. During the second phase, if you
hold the left mouse button and you have KS V36 or higher, the
startup-sequence will be disabled (the mouse button is tested
immediately after the black & white stripes appear). Please
include effect of this option if you are preparing a bug
report for me. Warning: pressing of LMB during the first phase
has different effect - removing of all resident modules.
NOTEST - don't test Kickstart image before using it. Don't use, because
invalid Kickstart images don't work properly.
FORCE - don't fail if Kickstart memory can't be allocated. Used rarely,
but if you have some non-autoconfig memory at $600000 and you
don't want to use ADDMEM and the memory is not added to the
system, you should enter 'MKick <Kickstart name> ADR 60 FORCE'.
Invocation from Workbench:
--------------------------
Simply double-click on MKick's icon and MKick will be started. Using
'Info' or 'Information' (WB 2.0 or higher), you may specify all previously
mentioned options using the tool types. The boolean (ON/OFF) switches can be
enabled using their name followed by '=' or '=ON'. If the Kickstart name
(FILE=) is not specified, the GUI is started automatically.
Graphic User Interface:
-----------------------
When MKick is started in the GUI mode, a screen with a list of available
Kickstarts will appear. You may select the Kickstart you want to use or hit
'Cancel'.
Then you may select the type of RAM you want to store the Kickstart to
(ORIGINAL location, CHIP RAM, FAST RAM, EXP RAM, NAC RAM or ANY RAM if you
want to choose the optimal location automatically). It's also possible to
disable the patches. Then hit the 'OK' gadget to start the whole loading
process.
Types of operation:
-------------------
- Normal loading - used when you load the Kickstart to memory which is free
- Loading to temporary buffer - used when you want to load the Kickstart to
memory which is not free, but if there is some room to load the image to.
- Hard loading - used if the FORCE option has been specified. In this case,
the RAM block containing the Kickstart image will be allocated only if it's
possible. Unsuccessful allocation will not be reported.
- Disconnecting of C0-RAM - used if you have only 0.5M of CHIP RAM and 0.5M
of FAST RAM. MKick will perform a reset to disconnect the FAST RAM from the
system memory list. Then (if started again) it will load the Kickstart to the
disconnected C0-RAM.
- Loading from Kickstart disk - MKick allows to load the Kickstart from the
floppy. It supports original SuperKickstart disks for the A3000 and the
specially formatted disks created by MakeKickDisk.
- Removing of RAM Kickstart - uses reset
- Replacing RAM Kickstart by another RAM Kickstart - uses reset to remove the
old one and then (if started again, normally from the Startup-sequence) tries
to load the Kickstart using one of previously mentioned methods.
Common problems:
----------------
- MKick has no effect - normal reboot happens: Some resident modules collide
with MKick. MKick normally tries to remove such modules, but ... you can fix
it by using of the NOTAGS option or by removing the module manually.
- Colourful stripes move on the screen and the machine seems to be crashed:
It occurs when MKick isn't able to allocate the Kickstart block memory. Try
the operation again after a cold reboot.
- Black and white stripes and the machine seems to be crashed: Kickstart image
checksum error during AUTOSUM test. Some program has destroyed the Kickstart.
Use MKick again.
- Black and white stripes, which disappear if you press the left mouse button:
MKick is unable to allocate space for some resident module. This should not
happen, but when it happens, it can be fixed if you select the NOTAGS switch.
- Quickly blinking power led with red color of screen background: Kickstart
image checksum doesn't match. Some program has destroyed the Kickstart. Use
MKick again.
- "Incorrect or suspicious Kickstart file" message: the Kickstart file you
have supplied is corrupted or encrypted. The only thing you can do with
corrupted Kickstart files is to throw them out. The encrypted files can be
decrypted using the MakeKick utility (see the KICKTO option of MakeKick).
- "Incorrect Kickstart address in header file","Invalid Kickstart original
address","Corrupted Kickstart file","Kickstart file doesn't match the header",
"Error reading Kickstart file" and other similar messages: The Kickstart file
you have supplied doesn't match the Kickstart header. Your Kickstart can be
corrupted or patched, but there's also a possibility that you have choosed
wrong name of the Kickstart.
- MKick can crash if you use some ROM remapping utility.
Removing of resident modules:
-----------------------------
In several situations, you might want to remove all resident modules
which survive reset (such as RAD, NewAlertHook etc. - especially useful
if debugging such a thing). MKick can help you: If you hold the left mouse
button during system reboot (after initialization of ROM Kickstart, but before
start of the one in RAM), the resident modules except MKick's own module are
removed.
Warning: If you want to invoke bootmenu, you must press the buttons
after the RAM Kickstart is started to avoid the actions described above.