Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/011.lha/Commandes/kb.doc

Text File | 1986-11-10 | 7KB | 173 lines

KickBench.doc! Version 1.2.0 (C) 1986, Alonzo M. Gariepy

All files and programs Copyright (c) 1986 by Alonzo Gariepy.
Permission is given to distribute these files and to use them
for any purpose as long as this file and those listed below
are included unchanged.  If you have found this program useful
or profitable, I would appreciate a donation.

Alonzo Gariepy
620 Christie St.
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA  M6G 3E5

[phone]

This file documents the creation and usage of a kickbench (KB) disk.
This disk contains both the kickstart and system software, and will
boot up directly from power on without swapping disks.

files included in this release are:

    KickBench.doc    this file
    KickBench        program for creating a kickbench disk
    Kick             program for arming/disarming kickbench disks
    AutoKB           command file for running KickBench
    Convert          program converts makeboth for use with Kick V 1.2.0

It is assumed that you know enough about AmigaDOS to decide what files
you need and want on your system disk.  Only two thirds of the disk
will be available for files, with the rest taken up by the kickstart
code.  I generally omit the editors and printer drivers I do not use,
as well as the translator/narrator devices, some fonts, info files
and other nonCLI paraphernalia.  If you can get rid of Preferences,
you'll save much space.

To use KickBench, you can study AutoKB and read this file to under-
stand how it works, or you can just execute AutoKB and hope for the
best.  To run AutoKB, you should copy all the above files onto the
RAM: drive, change your default directory to RAM: and "EXECUTE AutoKB".

CONVERTING MAKEBOTH DISKS
=========================

To convert an existing MakeBoth disk to work with Kick V 1.2.0 you
use the command "CONVERT DF0: CONV" (or df1: if that is where it is).
This command has no other uses and gives no error messages.

If you accidentally use the old Kick program from makeboth with a KB
V 1.2.0 disk, you will need to CONVERT it back before it will once
again work with V 1.2.0 Kick.  The new Kick can be distinguished by
the message is prints out when you type "KICK ?".  Replace the Kick
command on your MakeBoth disks when you have converted them.

HOW TO USE A KICKBENCH DISK
===========================

Arming a disk makes it into a Kickstart disk (so you can power up with it).
Disarming a disk makes it into a DOS disk (so you can access its files).

After the KB disk is created, it must be armed before it can be used
as a kickstart.  This is accomplished with the command

   KICK DF1:

You can also specify DF0: (the default).

When you insert a KB disk and turn on your machine, the system recognizes
it as a Kickstart disk.  During the boot process, the KB disk turns itself
into a DOS disk so that you can access files.  For this reason, THE DISK
MUST BE WRITE ENABLED AT ALL TIMES.  This means that the write protect tab
should cover the hole.  At some time before you turn off your machine, the
disk must be re-armed so that it will work as a kickstart disk when you
power on again.

YOU CAN CONTINUE TO USE THE DISK
================================

You can re-arm the disk without DOS knowing.  This allows you to continue
to use the disk after it has been turned back into a Kickstart.  You can
continue this way until the disk is identified as a non DOS disk.  If you
remove and re-insert the KB disk after it has been re-armed, it will be
treated as a Kickstart disk.  Certain programs will also cause a disk to
be identified including DISKCHANGE, DISKCOPY, DISKED, etc.  Since it is
inconvenient to lose access to your system disk, you should not remove a
KB disk or run any of these programs when the disk is armed, unless you
are going to reboot or turn off the machine.

If this does happen, you can reboot the KB disk with ctrl-Amiga-Amiga.
If you have been very clever and copied the KICK command to the RAM:
disk in your startup sequence, you can swap disks whenever you like
and always be able to reinsert and disarm the KB disk with

    RAM:KICK DF0: DISARM

This change will not be recognized until DOS identifies the disk.  You
can use the DISKCHANGE command or remove and re-insert the disk.

POWERING ON WITH A DISARMED KICKBENCH DISK
==========================================

The other problem you may encounter that is even more inconvenient is
turning off your machine with your KB disk disarmed (in the DOS state).
This means that you can not use it as a kickstart disk when you power
on your machine.  To remedy this, you must use a real kickstart disk
and insert the KB disk when the workbench disk is required.  Make sure
you arm your disk before turning off the power.  This is done with

    KICK                                (since df0: is the default)

If, at any time, you cannot reboot your KB disk with ctrl-A-A you must
power off and on.  This will only happen if you have booted a disarmed
KB disk using a real kickstart disk.

GENERAL USE
===========

The above things never happen to me but it is nice to know that you can
recover from them.  I generally don't arm my disk until I am ready to
turn off the machine.  That way I can swap disks back and forth and
even boot different disks to my hearts content.  If for some reason I
have booted another disk and I'm ready to power down, I can stick the
KB disk into drive one and type

    DF1:C/KICK DF1:

AUTOMATIC USE
=============

If you are running an application with its own boot disk that runs by
itself and does not require disk swapping, you will want the disk to
re-arm itself automatically.  You do this by placing the command KICK
in the startup-sequence.  The best place for it is right at the start.

Such turnkey applications include games, bulletin board systems, word
processors and control systems.  You cannot boot an armed kickbench
disk if the system was powered on with a regular kickstart disk.  You
must power off and on to boot in such a case.

USES OF KICKBENCH
=================

    Power fail recovery in realtime control and data acquisition.
        - machines reboot and restart the software -

    Production testing Amiga hardware peripherals (such as memory).
        - you can power on and off repeatedly without swapping -

    Exceptional programs that require old Kickstart and Workbench.
        - you don't need to search for that 1.1 kickstart disk -

    Bulletin board systems (you do lose space on drive DF0: however).
        - you can stick the disk in, power on, and go out -

    Programs which get major use: Word Processors, Terminal Programs.
        - you can stick the disk in, power on, and put on a record -

    Systems which take a long time to intialize (eg. large RAM disks).
        - put in both floppies, power on, and don't wait twice -

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MAKEBOTH AND KICKBENCH
==========================================

    - KickBench does not require DiskEd
    - KickBench is easier to use manually (without a command file)
    - AutoKB will execute very smoothly under 1.1
    - Kick V 1.2.0 will not work with unconverted MakeBoth disks
    - KickBench and Kick V 1.2.0 have usage and error messages
    - MakeBoth programs did not check for errors and wrong disks
    - KickBench works automatically on 1.1 or 1.2 kickstart disks
    - MakeBoth Kick will turn KB disks into MakeBoth disks (don't)