Preface

The OpenBoot 2.x Command Reference manual describes the OpenBoot(TM) 2.x firmware that is part of the boot PROM in Sun(TM) systems.

Audience

The features of the OpenBoot firmware allow it to be used by end users as well as by system administrators and developers. This manual is for all such users who want to use the OpenBoot 2.x firmware to configure and debug their systems.

Contents

In this manual, you will find information about using the OpenBoot firmware to perform tasks such as:

• Booting the operating system

• Running diagnostics

• Modifying system start-up configuration parameters

• Loading and executing programs

• Troubleshooting

If you want to write Forth programs or use the more advanced features of this firmware (such as its debugging capabilities), this manual also describes the commands of the OpenBoot Forth Interpreter.

Assumptions

This manual assumes that you are working on a SPARC\256 system with a version 2.x OpenBoot PROM. Some of the tools and capabilities described in this manual do not exist on the pre-2.x PROM SPARC systems. If you are using a SPARCstation(TM) 1, SPARCstation IPC(TM), or other system with a pre-2.x version PROM, refer to an earlier version of this manual: Open Boot PROM Toolkit User's Guide, part number 800-5279-10. Also see Appendix C in this manual for a list of unsupported commands.

Organization

The OpenBoot 2.x Command Reference is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, Overview , describes the user interface and other main features of the firmware.

Chapter 2, Booting and Testing Your System, explains the most common tasks for which the OpenBoot firmware is used.

Chapter 3, Setting Configuration Parameters, details how to perform system administration tasks with NVRAM parameters.

Chapter 4, Using Forth Tools, describes both basic and advanced functions of the OpenBoot Forth language.

Chapter 5, Loading and Executing Programs, describes how to load and execute programs from various sources (such as Ethernet, disk, or a serial port).

Chapter 6, Debugging, describes the firmware's debugging capabilities, including the Disassembler, the Forth Source-level Debugger, and breakpoints.

Appendix A, Testing with a Terminal Emulator, describes how to connect your system to another Sun^TM system using serial ports.

Appendix B, Building A Bootable Floppy Disk, tells you how to create a bootable floppy diskette from which you can load programs or files.

Appendix C, Unsupported Commands, lists commands that may not be available in earlier OpenBoot systems and possible workarounds for them.

Appendix D, Troubleshooting Guide, discusses solutions for typical situations where you cannot boot the operating system.

Appendix E, Forth Word Reference , contains all currently-supported OpenBoot Forth commands.

Related Documentation

• Companion documents to this manual:

• OpenBoot 2.x Quick Reference

This fold-out card is a summary of often-used OpenBoot Forth commands.

• For information about FCode, the version of Forth implemented in the OpenBoot 2.x firmware for using SBus cards, refer to the Sun manual:

• Writing FCode 2.x Programs

• For more information on the Forth language, read:

• Starting Forth

• Leo Brodie/Forth, Inc. Prentice-Hall Software Series Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632

The second edition of Starting Forth describes the current Forth standard dialect, Forth 83.

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Note -

There are several differences between the versions of Forth described in the above document and the version described in this manual. Specifically, the boot PROM Forth Monitor uses 32-bit numbers instead of 16-bit numbers. Also, the text editor described in the referenced book is not the same as the Forth Monitor editor.

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