sboot(2.00)	  Misc.	Reference Manual Pages	      sboot(2.00)



NAME
     sboot - bootstrap program

SYNOPSIS
     (From armsd, rdp, or exported styxmon connection)
     load sboot
     go

DESCRIPTION
     Sboot is a	standalone executable, currently  available  only
     for  the  StrongARM  architectures	(SA110 and SA1100), which
     loads and starts a	program	in Inferno boot	format	(for  the
     ARM,  this	 either	an AIF or Plan9-style executable).  Sboot
     loads the bootfile	at the entry  address  specified  by  the
     header,  usually  0x8000 on the SA1100.  After loading, con-
     trol is passed to the entry location.

LOADING	SBOOT FROM ARMSD
     If	a board	with the old Demon-based monitor is  being  used,
     there  are	 at least four ways that sboot can be loaded from
     the ARM debugger (armsd).	If the sboot binary file  resides
     on	the host in the	current	directory, it can be loaded with:
	  load sboot
	  go
     If	sboot has already been loaded into the	flash  memory  or
     ROM  at its default offset	(0x8000	on the SWoRD board), then
     this shortcut can be used:
	  pc=0x40
	  go
     If	sboot has been loaded into the flash memory or ROM  at	a
     different address,	then the following sequence can	be used:
	  r0=<offset of	sboot>
	  pc=0x48
	  go
     Finally, if the system has	been set up to autoboot, by  set-
     ting  the	autoboot  vector (described with the 'P' command,
     below), then sboot	will be	automatically  run  upon  booting
     and will attempt to automatically load the	kernel.

     After sboot is started, unless it is  in  autoboot	 mode,	a
     command prompt, `>>>', will appear	on the debugger	console.

LOADING	SBOOT FROM RDP
     With the rdp utility (a small armsd  replacment  which  runs
     under  Inferno), sboot will automatically get started unless
     the '-c' option is	given.	If the '-c' option is used to  go
     to	 command  mode,	 the  'sb'  command  can be used to start
     sboot.  Alternatively, the	commands used with  armsd  should
     still work	as expected.

LOADING	SBOOT FROM STYXMON
     From StyxMon, there are many ways that sboot can be  loaded.



SunOS 5.5.1		 Last change: 8				1






sboot(2.00)	  Misc.	Reference Manual Pages	      sboot(2.00)



     All  of  the following examples will assume that StyxMon has
     been mounted on /n/rdbg.

     If	the sboot binary file resides on the host, it can be sim-
     ply  be  copied  to  /n/rdbg/boot.	 This will copy	it to the
     board and execute it.

     If	sboot has already been loaded into the	flash  memory  or
     ROM  at its default offset	(0x8000	on the SWoRD board), then
     it	can be executed	with:
	  echo E > /n/rdbg/ctl
     If	sboot has been loaded into the flash memory or ROM  at	a
     different	address, then the following sequence can be used:
     (do not type the angle brackets
	  echo E0xoffset >/n/rdbg/ctl
     Finally, if the system has	been set up to autoboot, by  set-
     ting  the	autoboot  vector  (described  in the 'P' command,
     below), then sboot	will be	automatically  run  upon  booting
     and will attempt to automatically load the	kernel.

     After loading sboot via StyxMon, it will  export  the  flash
     partitions	  into	 the   namespace,   with  names	 such  as
     /n/rdbg/flash0sboot.  These files can be copied to	and  from
     like  ordinary  files.  It	will also export a temporary dev-
     ice, called /n/rdbg/tmp, which is mirrored	by the T!  device
     that will be discussed later in this document.

FILE AND DEVICE	NAMES
     From  the	sboot  shell  prompt,  most  commands  will  take
     filenames as arguments.  Filenames	can represent devices, or
     files in the more traditional sense, but in  either  case	a
     device  is	always specified.  Most	filenames are in the form
     device!unit!file.	 Some  devices	have  the  simpler   form
     device!file,  or device!argument.	This format is used to be
     consistent	with the plan9.ini format used	by  Inferno  boot
     loaders (such as b.com) on	other platforms.

     Supported devices are

     m	  Memory.  The single argument tells the base address  to
	  start, and defaults to 0 if omitted.

     Z	  Zero device.	The single optional  argument  tells  the
	  number of zeros to supply, otherwise an infinite source
	  is available.	 This is useful	 for  clearing	areas  of
	  memory, disk blocks, partition tables, etc.

     D	  The host debugger file system.  The  unit  is	 omitted,
	  and  the  file  represents  a	file on	the host machine.
	  These	host files are accessed	internally via the  Boot-
	  Param(8)  interface.	The D! device can only be used on
	  Demon-based systems, and will	not work on StyxMon-based



SunOS 5.5.1		 Last change: 8				2






sboot(2.00)	  Misc.	Reference Manual Pages	      sboot(2.00)



	  systems.   On	 systems  with StyxMon,	use the	T! device
	  instead, or directly access the exported  flash  parti-
	  tions.

     F	  Flash	memory.	 The unit can be  either  the  number  or
	  name	of  a partition, where `all' is	the entire flash,
	  and `partition' is the partition table.

     T	  Temporary file.  This	 only  exists  for  styxmon-based
	  boards.   This  file	will  grow  as needed, and can be
	  copied to or from as the T!  device  (from  sboot  com-
	  mands), or as	/n/rdbg/tmp.

     When accessed from	sboot shell commands,  filenames  may  be
     optionally	 followed  by  an  offset and/or a length, in the
     following format:

     filename@offset[,length]

     The length	is relative to the starting offset.  If	an offset
     and/or  length is given and no device/filename is specified,
     then the `m' memory device	is used	by default.  Examples can
     be	found at the end of this document.

COMMANDS
     ?	  List commands.  This listing shows the  letter  of  the
	  command,  the	 minimum and maximum number of arguments,
	  and a	short description of the command.

     > [v|d]
	  Redirect output to video (v),	or debugger (d).

     < [k|d]
	  Redirect input from keyboard (k), or debugger	(d).

     =	  List all environment variables.  Those  with	asterisks
	  to the left of them are pseudo-variables that	have spe-
	  cial meaning,	and aren't passed on to	programs as  part
	  of the environment.

     variable=value
	  Set a	variable to the	specified  value,  which  can  be
	  either a string or number depending upon the meaning of
	  the variable.	 Variables can be  substituted	into  the
	  command line using $variablename, similar to many shell
	  programs.  P List partition  table.	This  shows,  for
	  each partition, the partition	device number, the start-
	  ing offset, the total	 size,	permissions,  flags,  and
	  name.	 It also shows the autoboot offset.  Note that as
	  long	as  the	 flash	exists,	 F!all	will  exist,  and
	  represents  the  entire flash	memory.	 Also, if an area
	  has  been  set  aside	 for  a	 partition  table,   then



SunOS 5.5.1		 Last change: 8				3






sboot(2.00)	  Misc.	Reference Manual Pages	      sboot(2.00)



	  F!partition will represent that area.	 All other parti-
	  tions	are reconfigurable.

     P/a number
	  Enable/disable  autoboot.   Given  a	partition  device
	  number, this will set	autoboot to occur from the speci-
	  fied partition.  This	will also set the internal vector
	  used	for finding sboot in debug mode.  Setting this to
	  0 will disable autoboot, but will not	change the inter-
	  nal  sboot  vector.	Generally,  the	partition holding
	  'sboot' should be used for autobooting.  WARNING:  set-
	  ting	this to	anything other than 0 or the sboot parti-
	  tion may make	the flash  unusable,  and  might  require
	  using	 an  EEPROM  burner to reprogram the flash.  Even
	  setting the autoboot to load sboot could be  dangerous.
	  The  autoboot	 sequence should first be tested with the
	  'A' command to make sure it behaves  as  expected,  and
	  also	to  make  sure that some means of disabling it is
	  accessible.

     P/d number
	  Delete the specified partition.

     P number start size perm flags name
	  Create a partition.  The permissions are  specified  in
	  octal	 as  standard Unix-style permissions.  Generally,
	  the flags should be set to 0.

     P/m  Show a map of	the entire flash,  with	 sectors  offsets
	  and  sizes, and whether or not the sector is protected.
	  Sector protection information	is not available  on  all
	  flash	devices.

     P/u number
	  Unprotect the	 sectors  for  the  specified  partition.
	  Changing  sector  protection	is  not	 available on all
	  flash	devices.

     P/p number
	  Protect  the	sectors	 for  the  specified   partition.
	  Changing  sector  protection	is  not	 available on all
	  flash	devices.

     T [repeat]
	  Show title.  This will cycle through the standard title
	  startup  sequence.  Given a non-zero parameter, it will
	  cycle	indefinately.

     B	  Show BootParam information.

     b [file] [args]...
	  Boot from the	specified  file/device.	  Boot	arguments



SunOS 5.5.1		 Last change: 8				4






sboot(2.00)	  Misc.	Reference Manual Pages	      sboot(2.00)



	  are  optional.   The file to boot from is optional, and
	  if it	is not specified, the command `b $bootfile  $boo-
	  targs' will be substituted, using the	bootfile and boo-
	  targs	environment variables.	If the boot file  is  not
	  specified,  and  the	variable  bootfile is not set, an
	  error	 will  be  reported.   The  boot  file	 can   be
	  compressed,  using  gzip  format, and	will be	automati-
	  cally	uncompressed prior to execution.

     e file
	  Examine the specified	file, using both hex  (in  32-bit
	  words) and ascii formats.

     d file val	[val]...
	  Deposit one or more values into the given file or  dev-
	  ice, using 32-bit words.

     E addr
	  Examine the 32-bit word at the specified address.

     D addr value
	  Deposit  the	given  32-bit  value  at  the	specified
	  address.

     S file
	  Stat a file.	Get information	about the requested  file
	  or device.

     c src dest
	  Copy a file from the source to the destination.  A dash
	  (-)  can be specified	to mean	either standard	input for
	  the source, or standard output for the destination.

     c/u src dest
	  Copy a compressed file from the source to the	 destina-
	  tion,	uncompressing it before	writing	it.  This takes	a
	  file that was	compressed using the gzip format.

AUTOBOOT
     When the autoboot vector is set in	the  flash  to	automati-
     cally  run	 sboot	(using	the  P command), sboot will first
     cycle through the title sequence, and then	try to	automati-
     cally  boot from the file specified by the	bootfile environ-
     ment variable, as if the following	commands had been typed:
	  T 0
	  b $bootfile $bootargs

     The sequence to disable autoboot varies, depending	upon  the
     customized	 autoboot  code,  but  with the	standard autoboot
     sequence it is as follows:





SunOS 5.5.1		 Last change: 8				5






sboot(2.00)	  Misc.	Reference Manual Pages	      sboot(2.00)



     When the title screen starts to fade in, press and	hold  the
     Escape  key.   This should	cause the standard kernel boot to
     be	aborted, and the system	should instead display	a  screen
     asking  whether  to  go  into  maintenance	 mode.	From this
     screen, press Ctrl-D to disable  autoboot.	  Ctrl-E  may  be
     pressed to	re-enable autoboot.  In	this manner, it	is possi-
     ble to test autoboot first	with the 'A' command, then  press
     Escape  and Ctrl-E	to enable autoboot, ensuring that it will
     be	possible to reach the screen to	turn it	off again later.

     Autoboot can also be cleared by using an  EEPROM  programmer
     to	rewrite	the boot monitor to the	flash.

     From the sboot prompt, autoboot can be turned off	with  the
     command:
	  P 0
     It	should be noted, however, that the sboot prompt	cannot be
     easily  reached  once the machine is restarted with autoboot
     enabled.  In particular, the serial debugger  connection  is
     no	longer active.

EXAMPLES
     Note: all of these	example	commands are run from sboot.

     To	see the	current	partition table:
	  P

     To	create a default partition table, assuming some	 non-zero
     information  already  exists  as  a partition table, the old
     information first needs to	be cleared.  This can be done  by
     copying from the zero device to the partition table:
	  c Z!200 F!partition

     Now, to create the	standard partition table (assuming a  4MB
     flash), the following commands can	be used:
	  P 0 0	8000 644 0 demon
	  P 1 8000 18000 644 0 sboot
	  P 2 20000 80000 666 0	kern
	  P 3 a0000 80000 666 0	kern2
	  P 4 120000 280000 666	0 fs

     To	boot a kernel that resides in the host filesystem  (where
     armsd is running):
	  b D!infernosword
     Or	for a compressed kernel:
	  b D!infernosword.gz

     To	download a new kernel into flash, after	first compressing
     the kernel	with gzip:
	  c D!infernosword.gz F!kern





SunOS 5.5.1		 Last change: 8				6






sboot(2.00)	  Misc.	Reference Manual Pages	      sboot(2.00)



     To	 download  a  compressed  file	system	to   the   board,
     uncompress	it, and	save it	to a flash partition called fs:
	  c/u D!swordfs.gz F!fs

     To	boot the kernel	out of flash:
	  b F!kern

     To	boot a kernel that needs to  use  serial  line	for  some
     other purpose (such as a PPP link), and to	be able	to switch
     the line while the	kernel is uncompressing, it is	necessary
     to	 redirect  the output to the screen first, instead of the
     default debugger console.	This can be accomplished with:
	  > v
	  b F!kern

     To	examine	memory,	for instance 200 bytes at offset 4000:
	  e @4000,200
     Alternatively, this format	could be used to quickly  examine
     a single 32-bit word:
	  E 4000

     To	deposit	three values in	memory,	for instance  the  values
     1,	2, and 3 at offset 0xa94 (in 32-bit words):
	  d @a94 1 2 3
     Alternatively, to change a	single value, this  format  could
     be	used:
	  D a94	1

     To	enter new lines	directly into  the  plan9.ini  partition,
     first zero	it out to be safe:
	  c Z!1000 F!plan9.ini
     Then tell sboot to	copy from standard input  to  the  parti-
     tion:
	  c - F!plan9.ini
     After entering the	new lines, end it with Ctrl-D.	When typ-
     ing  on  the  device,  this only has to be	typed once.  From
     ARMSD, Ctrl-D needs to be typed twice, and	when using  ARMSD
     from  DOS/Windows,	 Ctrl-D	 needs	to be entered twice, then
     followed by a carriage return.

     To	change the bootfile variable to	F!kern2:
	  bootfile=F!kern2

     To	change the default radix to 10 (it defaults to 16):
	  r=10

FILES
     swordmon
     sboot

SEE ALSO
     plan9.ini(8) b.com(8)



SunOS 5.5.1		 Last change: 8				7