JPS6238959A - Program read in method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily change or indicate a program read in destination by providing two outside storage devices. CONSTITUTION:A disc controller 5 controls a hard disc device (HD) 6, a flexible magnetic disc device of 8 inches (8'' FD) 7 and a flexible magnetic disc device of 5 inches (5'' FD) 8. And when an exclusive flag recording sector within the device 6 is impossible to be read out, or when a read in destination device cannot be specified by an exclusive flag, a read-in operation is performed changing automatically the read-in destination from 8''FD7 to 5''FD8. Thereby, it is easily possible to indicate the read-in device of a bootstrap program or a system program, etc. without indicating the outside device that reads in these programs by a switch or without switching a jumper plug by a jumper wire, and also, it is possible to switch an indicated device, when it is in a malfunction time, to other device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention relates to a program reading method for an information processing apparatus equipped with at least two external storage devices.

[Summary of the Disclosure J The present specification and the drawings describe a method comprising at least two external storage devices, a reading means for reading program reading destination index information from one of the external storage devices in an initial process, and The present invention discloses a program reading method that includes a selection means for selecting an external storage device from which a program is to be read in accordance with the read specification information, and which allows the program reading destination to be easily changed and designated.

[Prior Art] When a semiconductor RAM is used as the main memory in an information processing device, the processing program stored in the RAM is erased when the device is powered off.
When the power is turned on again, all programs must be read.

To load a program, first, before loading system programs and application programs, a bootstrap is used to load these programs.
trap) program, and this bootstrap program was used to sequentially read the system program and application program.

Furthermore, depending on the device, the bootstrap program and the system program are integrated, and each program is read from the outside as a series of programs before the start of processing.

Conventionally, this bootstrap program (and system program) was read only from a specific external storage device that was added in advance, or information specifying the read destination was input in advance using a jumper plug etc. on the board. Then, according to this instructed information, the program was read from the fingertip device.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] For this reason, it is not possible to change the destination where the bootstrap program etc. is read midway through, or even if it is possible to change the storage device from which the program is to be read, it is not possible to change the destination where the bootstrap program etc. is read, or even if it is possible to change the storage device from which the program should be read, There was a drawback that switches or jumper plates, etc., had to be changed in places that could not be operated.

Means for Solving Problem 1 J As a means for solving this problem, for example, at least two external storage devices and a reading means for reading program reading destination designation information from one of the external storage devices are provided. , and selection means for selecting an external storage device from which the program is to be read in accordance with the specification information read by the reading means.

1 Effect] In such a configuration, the program reading destination can be easily changed.
It is possible to provide a method for reading programs that allows indexing.

[Embodiment J] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Configuration of Embodiment (FIG. 1)] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 controls the entire device according to a processing program stored in the memory 2. CPU, 2 is a memory that stores execution programs etc. on the CPUI, 3 is a CRT display device (
A CRT controller (hereinafter referred to as CRT) 4 controls a CRT display device (hereinafter referred to as CRT).

5 is a disk controller, and the disk controller 5 is a hard disk device (hereinafter referred to as HD) and a 6.8-inch flexible magnetic disk device (hereinafter referred to as 8"F).
7 and a 5-inch flexible magnetic disk device (hereinafter referred to as 5''F D) 8.

6 is HD, 7 is 8″F D, and 8 is 5″F D.

Also, 9 is a keyboard controller, 10 is a keyboard,
11 is tie left memory access (hereinafter referred to as DMA)
12 is a read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as ROM) that holds and stores a monitor program (bootstrap program reading program) for the minimum operation of the CPUI; 13 is a system path; 14 is a C
This is a reset switch for inputting an instruction to initialize a process connected to the PUI.

[Operation of the Embodiment (Fig. 2)] The reading process of the bootstrap program, etc., executed according to the program stored in the ROM 12 in this embodiment with the above configuration will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in Fig. 2. explain.

The flowchart in FIG. 3 shows step Sl or step S.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the device is powered on or when the reset switch 14 is turned on, the processes from step S3 onwards are executed.

First, in step S3, the monitor program stored in the ROM 12 is activated and the following processing is executed. That is, in step S4, the CRT controller 3 is initialized, and the CRT
4, the keyboard controller 9 is initialized with the Scup S5, and keys on the keyboard 10 can be operated manually. Then, in the following step S6, the disk controller 5 to be initialized is an HD
6.8 Start up each of ``FD7.5'' and FD8 to make each device accessible.

Then, in the following step S7, an instruction flag for the program reading optical device written in advance in a specific sector in the HDB is read out. This designation flag is provided in a special track in the HD 6, and its details are shown in FIG.

Generally, in the HD recording format, as shown in FIG. 3, there are gaps (31, 36, 42) between data recording portions, during which no data is recorded.

And a synchronization signal recording area (SYNC) 32 for synchronizing data reading following the gap.

37, an address mark (AM) 33.38 follows, followed by a data area. This data area synchronizes the starting position of sectors within a track, and also includes an index mark (ID) indicating the track number of the track.
) 34 followed by a check code 35, followed by a normal data area (normal sector area) 40 and its check code 41.

This index mark (ID) 34 is 1 for l track.
There is one, indicating the starting position of the sector.

In this embodiment, a flag area 39 is provided in a part of this data area 40, and the program reading optical device is sandwiched depending on the value of the flag.

The special W immediately after ID34 of the specific track in step S7
As a result of reading processing of the flag area in the sector, it is determined in step S8 whether the flag 39 of the sector (ID34 and following) of the specific track has been read, and if it has been read, ID6 is in an operable state. In the following step s9, the program read destination device indicated by the read flag 39 checks whether the instruction from ID6 is received or not.

Here, if the reading instruction is from ID6, step SI
Read the reboot strap program, system program, etc. from ID6 at O, and then from step 320 onwards,
Executes processing according to the loaded program. This program reading process is carried out by, for example, the DMA controller 11.
It may also be performed by DMA control.

In step S9, if the flag 39 is not an instruction for ID6, the process advances to step Sll, and it is checked whether or not the reading instruction is from the 8" FPD7. If the reading instruction is from the 8" FPD7, the process advances to step S12, and the process proceeds to step S12. "Read the program from FPD 7 and execute the process according to the read program in step S20. In step Sll, 8"F
If the reading instruction is not from PD7, the remaining 5”FP
Since the instruction is to read the program from D8, the process proceeds to step S13, reads the program from 5 F P D 8, and proceeds to step S20.

Examples of this program loading destination flag are shown in Figures 4 (A) to (
Shown in C).

Here, FIG. 4(A) shows an example of specifying that a program such as a Pootstrap program should be read from ID6, and FIG. 4(B) shows an 8" FPD7 and a fourth
Figure (C) shows an example in which 5” FPD8 is specified.

In the illustrated example, the values of the flags are "1" for ID6,
8"FPD7 is °゛2", 5"FPD8 is"
3” is shown.

On the other hand, in step S8, if the riffraff 39 cannot be read IIj by ID6, it is assumed that this ID8 is defective in reading 1fjL, and in step S15, the 8"FPD7 is driven (accessed).Then, in step S16, the 8"FPD
7 is accessible (readable) or not. If it is accessible, the process proceeds to step S12; if it is not accessible, the process proceeds to step S13 to read the bookram from the 5'' FPD 8.

As explained above, according to Kimi-ryu, it is possible to easily load external storage devices such as bootstrap programs and system programs without using switches or changing jumper plugs using jumper wires. It is possible to designate an optical device for reading a program, and when the specified device is malfunctioning, it is possible to manually switch to another device, making it easy to use.

In addition, in the explanation below, if the dedicated flag recording sector in ID6 cannot be read/lj or if the reading optical device cannot be specified due to the dedicated flag, the reading destination can be set to 8.
I mentioned the example of changing "FPD7 → 5" and reading from FPD8, but without changing automatically, CR
A display to that effect may be displayed on the display screen of the CRT 4 via the T controller 3, and the operator may specify this reading optical device using a key on the keyboard 10J-.

"Effects of the Invention" As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily change the reading light of a bootstrap program or a system program.
Even if there is a malfunction (logical error) in the external storage device, the program can be easily read from another device, or the device to be read can be easily changed by simply rewriting the dedicated flag. It has the effect of

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a control flowchart at startup of this embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a program reading light in the hard disk device of this embodiment. FIGS. 4A to 4C are diagrams showing examples of sector configurations including device designation flags. FIGS. 4A to 4C are diagrams showing device designation examples of program reading destination device flags in this embodiment. In the diagram, ■...CPU, 2...Memory, 3...CR
T controller, 4...CRT, 5...Disk controller, 6...HD, 7...8"FPD, 8...
・・5″FFD, 9・Keyboard controller, l
O...keyboard, 11...DMA controller,
12...ROM, 14...Reset switch.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A method for reading a program in an information processing apparatus having at least two external storage devices, the reading means for reading program reading destination designation information from one of the external storage devices; 1. A program reading method, comprising a selection means for selecting an external storage device as a program reading destination according to specification information, and making it possible to easily change and specify a program reading destination. (2) The method for reading a program according to claim 1, characterized in that if the reading device cannot read the reading destination designation information, the program is read from a specific other external storage device. (3) The program reading method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the programs to be read are a bootstrap program and a system program. (4) The program reading method according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the external storage device includes a hard magnetic disk device and a flexible magnetic disk device.