Tuesday 19 Mar, 2024
Welcome to RISCOS.org
Jump to 
Search Articles 
Search for Software 
 

Contents of RISC OS Select !Boot

The descriptions which follow are a broad explanation of what is going on. I've tried to use easy to understand terms wherever possible and I've also assumed that you have the latest !Boot sequence installed - ie. that supplied by RISCOS Ltd as part of their Select upgrade.

What's inside !Boot then?
Choices (directory)
This directory is where individual applications can store their user-customisable configuration files. For example, !ZapUser settings, Delirium screensaver or other settings that you may have chosen in applications.

It is likely to contain quite a few directories, depending upon what you've installed on your computer.

RISC OS Select differs from previous versions of RISC OS because it can support more than one user. Thus, the Choices directory has been altered from previous versions to include multi-user support - more info soon!

Choices.Boot.Desktop (file)
This is a file (filetyped 'Desktop') which shouldn't be changed by the user. It basically ensures that applications stored in the 'Hook' directories are 'seen', starts the internet resolver and determines if the !Internet part of the configuration is available.

Choices.Boot.PreDesk (directory)
This is where any modules or applications which need to be run BEFORE the desktop is entered are run. Only applications, Obey files and Modules are executed, so you may need to ensure that each file that goes in here is actually executed via a suitable Obey file.
This is where you would place things like !X-Files, !LongFiles or utility modules such as LineEditor. There are also a number of 'system' files such as 'Configure' and 'SetUpNet'.

Choices.Boot.PreDesk.SetUpNet (file)
The content of this file will vary depending upon whether you have TCP/IP enabled or not from the Configuration settings. This file will be discussed in more detail on my networking pages.

Choices.Boot.PreDesktop (file)
This file is 'Obeyed' by !Boot.Utils.!BootRun as part of the bootup sequence, before the desktop is run. It is the file which installs the new window manager if you have it installed. It also sets the resources paths and adds any relevant applications into the 'Apps' folder on the iconbar.
User commands can be appended to the end of it, such as loading new iconsprites etc.

Choices.Boot.Tasks (directory)
This is where your main !Boot file (on original machines) resides (if present) and also where you should place any directories that you want to be installed on bootup. This is where you would normally save your 'Desktop boot' file from the taskmanager icon.

There is also a short 'Configure' obey file which sets up any relevant desktop font changes.

Library (directory)
This is where utility modules and executables go which are executed on typing their filename from the (f12) CLI prompt. This is kind of similar to the old DOS directory on older PCs. Things like PGP are placed in here, so that typing "PGP" will run the file without the need to specify a full pathname.
For the technical users, the Library (or Run$Path) is actually specified at the beginning of the !Boot.Utils.BootRun file, so unless it's been changed it should point to this directory by default.

RISC OS Select varies from previous versions of RISC OS in that you can have multiple directories within the Library directory. This is so that similar utilities can be grouped together.

PartNumber (file)
Serial/reference numbers for your machine internals. You can ignore this file.

Resources (directory)
This directory (which is generally the biggest directory, in terms of disc space, in your !Boot sequence) is where system wide resources go. Averything in here is 'seen' on bootup and essential resources like Font and System directories are located in here.

Anything which is shared by multiple applications and that you want readily available if required is stored here. This is where things like !MoveFS and !Java go - Things you don't actually want running on bootup, but nonetheless want available if needed by other applications.

ROxxxHook (directories)
There should be four of these directories; one for each major release of RISC OS. Inside each is an 'Apps', 'Boot' and 'Res' directory, each of which contain applications and files specific to different versions of RISC OS. Generally, it is safe to delete any which are of a newer version of RISC OS to that fitted to your machine. However, if you have a RISC PC I would leave them all intact in case you later upgrade to StrongArm or something.

Softload (directory)
This is arguably the most important directory for RISC OS Select, as it's the one that holds the main ROM image that you will be booting into.
Inside the Softload directory is an 'obey' file called !Softload which tells the computer which softloadable rom image to use when the machine is re-booted. The other files in this directory are the actual rom images themselves (each approx 3.5MB long) and filetyped EPROM (FE5).

Utils (directory)
AddtoRMA
   · This small utility module adds the 'AddtoRMA' command to RISC OS, which allows you to increase the RMA space by a specified amount.

BootRun
   · This file is executed when !Boot runs and is crucial to the correct operation of RISC OS. This file in turn initialises the desktop and defines !System and !Fonts paths etc in addition to running the PreDesk file and eventually the Desktop boot file.

BootVars
   · This file is run prior to the BootRun file above and setup the Boot environment.

DeskRun
   · This is the file that is run when you double-click on !Boot. It will either issue the 'You cannot reconfigure this machine' error if the machine hasn't booted correctly, or it will run the main RISC OS configuration application.

FreePool
   · Set application space and define desktop application environment.

HOn
   · Turn the hourglass on

PatchApp
   · Application patcher module for StrongArm unaware applications.

UnplugTbox
   · Compare ROM module version numbers and versions in !System and unplug ROM versions if they are older.

VProtect
   · Pineapple's virus detection module

Contents of RISC OS Select 3i1 ROM (RISC OS 4.36)
The modules listed below are the latest ones I know of in RISC OS Select 4 (3rd May 2003)
If you can provide more details on the purpose on any modules, please feel free to contact us.

ModuleVersion
UtilityModule4.36 (03 May 2003)
Podule1.50 (24 Sep 2001)
Conversions0.06 (11 Jan 2003)
SystemVars0.03 (06 Aug 2002)
OSSWIs0.05 (06 Aug 2002)
EvaluateExpression0.07 (01 May 2003)
OSCommands0.10 (13 Apr 2003)
FSCommands0.04 (02 Mar 2003)
ModuleCommands0.05 (08 Jun 2002)
CLIV0.14 (03 May 2003)
LegacyBBC0.03 (17 Dec 2002)
FileSwitch2.55 (01 May 2003)
ResourceFS0.19 (11 Apr 2003)
Messages0.88 (31 Oct 2002)
MessageTrans0.36 (09 Mar 2003)
TerritoryManager0.26 (12 Apr 2003)
UK0.24 (12 Apr 2003)
Mouse0.13 (11 Aug 2002)
PS2Driver0.31 (17 Oct 2002)
InternationalKeyboard0.44 (15 Sep 1999)
WindowManager5.02 (06 May 2003)
Desktop2.63 (24 Mar 2003)
TaskManager1.40 (24 Mar 2003)
ADFSFiler0.93 (25 Feb 2002)
ARM0.14 (16 Mar 2002)
BASIC1.27 (02 Mar 2003)
BASICTrans2.02 (20 Nov 2002)
BufferManager0.28 (20 Dec 2001)
ColourTrans1.72 (24 Mar 2003)
Debugger1.57 (29 Oct 2002)
DeviceFS0.40 (11 Apr 2002)
DragASprite0.17 (26 Feb 2003)
DragAnObject0.05 (30 Jan 2003)
Draw1.12 (09 May 2002)
FileCore3.21 (13 Oct 1999)
ADFS3.31 (01 May 2001)

Disc based modules
Although RISC OS Select incorporates most of the latest modules in ROM, there are a number of disc based modules provided with the standard RISC OS Select !Boot sequence. These are listed below.
Please note that some of these are third party modules, so may have newer versions available. Please see my 'third-party' modules listing for more information.
Please NOTE that any miscellaneous third party modules are still placed in the 310.Modules directory, as the !System directory structure on RISC OS Select is the same as the Universal Boot Structure.

File/DirectoryVersionPurposeChecksum
ABCLib4.04 (07 Jun 1996)ABC Compiler runtime library7B6A6A9F
ABIMod2.86 (18 Jan 1994)Computer Concepts ABI module2436F4E6
BASIC641.27 (02 Mar 2003)64 bit precision version of BBC BASIC86E38C29
DDT1.81 (30 Jun 1998)Dynamic Debugging Tool626291B8
Installer0.09 (02 Feb 2002)30C8E04C
OLESupport0.24 (03 Dec 1996)A2BFDF75
SCSIFiler1.10 (16 Jan 1992)8A27D30F
SerialUtil0.02 (11 Feb 1992)F79E655D
Network
Ether14.00 (12 Mar 1996)Ethernet driver3C195427
Ether23.55 (23 Mar 1995)Ethernet network driverB6A66632
Ether3-84.20 (03 Aug 1995)Ethernet driver, by AntCB1E3069
Ether3-164.23 (13 Sep 1996)Ethernet driver, by AntE890DBA4
EtherB4.23 (13 Sep 1996)Ethernet driver, by Ant81236423
EtherH84.33 (27 Nov 1997)Ethernet driver, by i-cubed6E4035B8
EtherH164.33 (27 Nov 1997)Ethernet driver, by i-cubed697A6700
EtherM0.39 (10 Apr 1997)Ethernet driver, by Ant3E8BE791
EtherO4.03 (28 Apr 1995)Ethernet driver, by Network SolutionsEC346ECB
URI0.12 (09 Feb 1998)Acorn URID72E660B
Network.URL
Data0.05 (06 Nov 2002)Data URL Fetcher3B5A785
File0.38 (04 Jun 1998)File Fetcher4FE59E84
FTP0.32 (06 Oct 1998)FTP FetcherEAEF69F5
Gopher0.13 (16 Sep 1998)Gopher FetcherF38E985A
HTTP0.84 (16 Sep 1998)HTTP FetcherD2DBF3CD
URL0.41 (06 Oct 1998)URL FetcherC6F4C1D8
WhoIs0.07 (16 Sep 1998)WhoIs FetcherB43C6F2
Toolbox

Add a comment to this article

If you wish to add a comment to this article, please use the form below. Please note that by submitting comments using this form you are allowing all of the information submitted to be visible on this website. Your comment will be published immediately, so please proof-read before you add. Any comments deemed to be abusive or irrelevant to the topic of the article may be removed without warning.

Posted by: (optional)

Email or web site: (optional, emails will be mangled to avoid spambots)

Comments: (maximum length 2000 characters)

If you would like to add a URL to another site, please enter the address (without http://) inside square brackets. Use an optional closing curly bracket to add a description. eg. to link to http://www.vigay.com enter [www.vigay.com}Vigay.com]

To prevent spambots, please re-enter the following code:
*****


Email Email this page to a friend

 Last edit: 10th Apr 2016 at 4:57pm (2900 days ago)

Bookmark with:What are these?
delicious Deliciousdigg Diggreddit redditfacebook Facebookstumbleupon StumbleUpon

RSS Feed 

^
 
Valid HTML 4.01!
Valid CSS!
Best viewed with a cup of tea Crafted by RISC OS