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1995-04-21
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BootControl 2.1 (18.04.95) © 1995 Elaborate Bytes, Oliver Kastl
Welcome to BootControl!
DISCLAIMER
This software is subject to the "Standard Amiga FD-Software Copyright Note"
It is SHAREWARE as defined in paragraph 4s.
If you like it and use it regularly please send DM 30,- to the address listed
below.
For more information please read "AFD-COPYRIGHT" (Version 1 or higher).
REQUIREMENTS
This program requires Kickstart 3.0 or better.
For the VGA default monitor trick an AA/AGA Amiga (A1200, A4000) is required.
PURPOSE
This program allows you:
- To change your Amiga between NTSC and PAL, without using the
BootMenu. This method is better than switchin the PAL/NTSC jumper, as the
system timers may run incorrectly!
- Use the DblNTSC monitor as the default monitor. If you only have a VGA
monitor, you will be able to see the BootMenu! If your Amiga aborts the
startup-sequence for some reason, or if you select "Boot without startup-
sequence" from the BootMenu, you will get an DblNTSC screen!
- Redirect DisplayAlerts to EasyRequests, so you can see them with graphic
cards and VGA monitors.
- Remove harddisk partitions from the system
- Change the partition you wish to boot from
- Emulate the OCS and ECS chip sets on AA Amigas
- Other system degrations like NoFastMem, CacheControl, etc.
- All your settings will be stored reset resident in the system!
HOW IT WORKS
BootControl adds two reset resident romtags to the system.
After you installed BootControl, the settings will be effective after
you rebootet your machine.
All settings will be kept until you switch off the Amiga or you alter them
either with BootControl or the Amiga early startup BootMenu.
BootControl can be started from the CLI only.
It will crash your machine if you try to start it from Workbench.
INSTALLATION
Copy BootControl to your C: directory.
Put the line
BootControl install boot quiet [options]
early in your startup-sequence, where options are discussed later.
VGA monitor users should create a "emergency" disk with
BootControl install boot quiet [options]
as the first line of the startup-sequence of this floppy.
If you have a severe problem or if you like to reinstall your harddisk
simply boot with this disk. After a while you should be able to see
something.
If you wish to use the VGA mode of BootControl, you should remove the
VGAONLY and DblNTSC monitor from your devs:Monitors directory as they are
no longer needed.
BOOTCONTROL OPTIONS (in order if appearance)
MODE
Sets the display mode of your machine for the next boot.
Can be NTSC, PAL or VGA.
NTSC - Boot in NTSC mode
PAL - Boot in PAL mode
VGA - Boot in VGA (DblNTSC) mode
Example: BootControl MODE=NTSC
The default will be the current display mode of your machine.
If you use the Amiga Early Startup control (bootmenu), this value will
be overridden if you didn't specify MODE=VGA.
If VGA is specified, a DblNTSC monitor will be added to the system on the
next boot. This monitor will NOT be added, if you do NOT specify MODE=VGA
for compatibility reasons with some games.
You can force the initialisation of the DblNTSC monitor by specifying the
switch LOADVGA (see below).
READICON
If you start BootControl with READICON, BootControl will
look for the file DblNTSC.info in your devs:Monitors drawer.
If it can't be found there, it will look for it in your SYS:Storage/Monitors
drawer.
This will always happen, even if the current mode is NOT VGA.
However, if you switch to VGA later these settings will be used.
If the file can be found, any relevant tooltypes will be read and will be
used for the next reboot. These tooltypes can be created by MonED.
Known tooltypes are:
HBSTRT
HBSTOP
VBSTRT
VBSTOP
MINCOL
MINROW
TOTROWS
TOTCLKS
BEAMCON0
These tooltypes must be followed by a HEX number preceeded with 0x.
E.g., TOTCLKS=0x79
This is exactly the format MonED uses.
Simply start MonED, set the desired values and click SAVE.
Then type BootControl MODE VGA READICON and reboot.
NOTE:
The READICON feature is not much tested, as I don't use MonED regulary.
Example: BootControl MODE=VGA READICON
READICON will be ignored, if RESET is specified (see below).
RESETVGA
Resets the DblNTSC settings back to defaults. This will cancel a previously
done READICON operation.
Example: BootControl RESETVGA
LOADVGA
Forces the usage of the embedded DblNTSC, even if MODE=VGA was not specified.
This will use the otherwise unused 8 kByte of the embedded DblNTSC
monitor.
Example: BootControl MODE NTSC LOADVGA
NOLOADVGA
Will not load the DblNTSC monitor. Is ignored, if MODE=VGA is set.
VGAONLY
Forces VGAONLY mode for the next boot.
Is the default, if BootControl is installed after VGAONLY has been started.
This happens regardless if you have set the MODE to VGA or not.
If you use MODE=VGA and you usually use the VGAONLY monitor,
you must set this flag.
Example: BootControl MODE=VGA VGAONLY
NOVGAONLY
Disables VGAONLY mode for the next boot.
Is the default, if BootControl is installed and VGAONLY has not been
started.
This happens regardless if you have set the MODE to VGA or not.
If you use MODE=VGA and you usually do not use the VGAONLY monitor,
you must set this flag.
Example: BootControl MODE=VGA NOVGAONLY
GFX
Sets the graphics (chipset) mode of your machine for the next boot.
Can be OLD, ECS, BEST or DEFAULT.
Will be ignored, if MODE is set to VGA or LOADVGA is specified,
as this implies BEST.
DEFAULT - Don't change anything
OLD - Boot in OLD chipset mode
ECS - Boot in ECS chipset mode
BEST - Force machine to its best (AA/AGA, if possible) mode
AA/AGA modes will be available even if SetPatch hasn't been started.
Example: BootControl MODE=NTSC GFX=BEST
If you use the Amiga Early Startup control (bootmenu), this value will
be overridden if you didn't specify MODE=VGA.
FASTMEM
Enable all FastMem (Default)
Example: BootControl MODE=NTSC GFX=BEST FASTMEM
NOFASTMEM
Disable all FastMem
Example: BootControl MODE=VGA NOFASTMEM
PATCHALERT
Patches DisplayAlert() (e.g., Gurus) to be visible on your
default public screen.
Example: BootControl MODE=VGA VGAONLY PATCHALERT
NOPATCHALERT
Removes the DisplayAlert() patch (default).
Example: BootControl MODE=NTSC GFX=ECS NOPATCHALERT
CACHE
Sets the CPU cache settings for the next boot.
Can be OFF, ON, FORCE.
OFF - Disable all caches
ON - Leave the instruction cache on (default)
FORCE - Force machine to use instruction & data caches
The data cache will be available even if SetPatch hasn't been started.
Example: BootControl MODE=NTSC GFX=BEST CACHE=FORCE
If you use the Amiga Early Startup control (bootmenu), this value will
be overridden.
CHIPRED
Reduces the amount of available Chip memory for the next boot.
Value is in kBytes (Default is 0)
Example: BootControl MODE=NTSC GFX=BEST CACHE=FORCE CHIPRED=1024
Will reduce chip memory to 1 MByte on machines with 2 MByte chip memory.
FASTRED
Reduces the amount of available Fast memory for the next boot.
Value is in kBytes (Default is 0)
Example: BootControl MODE=NTSC GFX=BEST CACHE=FORCE FASTRED=2048
Will reduce fast memory by 2 MByte.
BOOTDEV
Here you can specify the DOS device you wish to boot from next.
Do NOT add colons to the name!
Example: BootControl BOOTDEV=DH2
Will boot from DH2:
To reset to the default booting scheme, type
BootControl BOOTDEV=""
If you use the Amiga Early Startup control (bootmenu), this value will
be overridden.
INSTALL
Must be specified if you run BootControl for the first time.
If BootControl is already running, all other options will be ignored.
Example: BootControl INSTALL BOOT QUIET MODE=VGA VGAONLY PATCHALERT
This is a typical startup-sequence line for the user of an VGA monitor.
REMOVE
Opposite of INSTALL. Will be ignored, if INSTALL is specified.
Example: BootControl REMOVE
After BootControl is removed, it can be installed again.
Note: The occupied memory will be freed after a reboot.
BOOT
Will reboot your machine, after the settings have been changed.
If BOOT is specified together with INSTALL, the machine will only
reboot if BootControl is run for the first time.
QUIET
Disables the output of status information.
HIDDEN
Here you can enter a list of DOS devices which you don't want to be mounted
if you reboot.
Do NOT add colons to the name!
Example: BootControl HIDDEN=DH2 DH3 VMEM
This will hide DH2:, DH3: and VMEM:
NOTE: A device specified with BOOTDEV will NOT be hidden!
This is helpful if you wish to use the BootMenu.
To reset to the default, type
BootControl HIDDEN=""
USING THE AMIGA EARLY STARTUP BOOTMENU
The BootMenu can still be used if BootControl is installed.
If you use MODE=VGA, do not press any key during the time the BootMenu
screen is visible as the display will be trashed.
If you select a boot device in BootMenu, BootControl will use this device
automatically and will store this value reset resident.
If you switch display modes within BootMenu (NTSC/PAL, OLD/ECS/BEST)
these values will be passed to BootControl if it is installed and will
be stored reset resident. Exception to this rule: If you use MODE=VGA
these settings are ignored.
One interesting thing: If you select "BEST" within BootMenu, this will
imply GFX=BEST for the NEXT BOOT.
If you didn't specify BEST from BootControl, all following boots
will have GFX=DEFAULT.
MEMORY USAGE
BootControl will constantly need about 10 kByte of memory once it is
installed. Please note that this includes the DblNTSC monitor, which
alone occupies about 8 kByte.
THANKS
Special thanks go to Stefan Scherer for his AAStarter program which
inspired me a lot.
Until I saw this program, I didn't believe that the VGA "hack" can be
done.
Thanks go to Ralph Babel for the idea of a second RomTag and for his
wonderful Amiga Guru book.
NOTES FOR PROGRAMMERS
I will write a seperate documentation how to use the BootControl.resource
for your own needs. There is a reserved field which you can use if you
wish to keep some values reset resident.
I am open for any good ideas!
For your information I have included the Assembler & C Headerfiles.
If you wish to assign currently unused flags for your application, please
contact me.
SHAREWARE
As previously stated, this program is shareware.
If you like it and if you wish to use it frequently, please send DM 30,- to:
Elaborate Bytes, Oliver Kastl
Am Westpark 5
81373 Munich
Germany
Compuserve: 100447,3361
Internet: 100447.3361@compuserve.com
I don't think this is too much, as this program saves you some money (you don't need
a ScanDoubler any more).
Please send comments & suggestions!
This program was made for YOU!
HISTORY
Version 1.3
First public release.
Version 1.4
Some minor bugs fixed.
Gives more help, if a wrong keyword was specified.
Changed "FORCEAGA" GfxMode to "BEST", as this was misleading.
Passes PAL/NTSC and OLD/ECS/BEST values from BootMenu to BootControl
Now can read MonED settings from DblNTSC monitor file.
Added switches READICON and RESET for this purpose.
Embedded DblNTSC monitor can be used, if MODE was different from VGA.
Added switches LOADVGA and NOLOADVGA for this purpose.
On first install, checks if VGAONLY was run and sets this as the default.
On first install, checks if DblNTSC.monitor is present and sets LOADVGA or
NOLOADVGA as defaults.
Some changes to the documentation.
Version 2.1
Major bugfix: LOADVGA could crash the machine!
Code optimized, size reduced
Better error checking
Better output format
REMOVE option added
Gives now error messages on invalid tooltype values in DblNTSC icon
Uses now a library header instead of a Node
First public release of include files
Bumped version number because of major changes