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-
-The Linux !BootPrompt-!HowTo
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!!The Linux !BootPrompt-!HowTo
-
-!!by Paul Gortmaker. v1.3, Sept 4, 2001
-
-
-----
-'' This is the !BootPrompt-Howto, which is a compilation of all the
-possible boot time arguments that can be passed to the Linux
-kernel at boot time. This includes all kernel and device parameters.
-A discussion of how the kernel sorts boot time arguments, along
-with an overview of some of the popular software used to boot Linux
-kernels is also included.''
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!1. Introduction
-
-
-*1.1 Intended Audience and Applicability
-
-*1.2 Related Documentation
-
-*1.3 The Linux Newsgroups
-
-*1.4 New Versions of this Document
-
-
-
-
-
-!!2. Overview of Boot Prompt Arguments
-
-
-*2.1 General Notation
-
-*2.2 LILO (LInux LOader)
-
-*2.3 !LoadLin
-
-*2.4 The ``rdev'' utility
-
-*2.5 How the Kernel Sorts the Arguments
-
-*2.6 Setting Environment Variables.
-
-*2.7 Passing Arguments to the `init' program
-
-
-
-
-
-!!3. General Non-Device Specific Boot Args
-
-
-*3.1 Root Filesystem options
-
-*3.2 Options Relating to RAM Disk Management
-
-*3.3 Boot Arguments Related to Memory Handling
-
-*3.4 Boot Arguments for Network Settings with NFS Root Filesystem
-
-*3.5 Other Misc. Kernel Boot Arguments
-
-
-
-
-
-!!4. Boot Arguments to Control PCI Bus Behaviour (`pci=')
-
-
-*4.1 The `pci=bios' and `pci=nobios' Arguments
-
-*4.2 The `pci=conf1' and `pci=conf2' Arguments
-
-*4.3 The `pci=io=' Argument
-
-*4.4 The `pci=nopeer' Argument
-
-*4.5 The `pci=nosort' Argument
-
-*4.6 The `pci=off' Argument
-
-*4.7 The `pci=reverse' Argument
-
-
-
-
-
-!!5. Boot Arguments for Video Frame Buffer Drivers
-
-
-*5.1 The `video=map:...' Argument
-
-*5.2 The `video=scrollback:...' Argument
-
-*5.3 The `video=vc:...' Argument
-
-
-
-
-
-!!6. Boot Arguments for SCSI Peripherals.
-
-
-*6.1 Arguments for Mid-level Drivers
-
-*6.2 Arguments for SCSI Host Adapter Drivers
-
-*6.3 SCSI Host Adapters that don't Accept Boot Args
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7. Hard Disks
-
-
-*7.1 IDE Disk/CD-ROM Driver Parameters
-
-*7.2 Standard ST-506 Disk Driver Options (`hd=')
-
-*7.3 XT Disk Driver Options (`xd=')
-
-
-
-
-
-!!8. The Sound Drivers
-
-
-*8.1 The AD1848 (`ad1848=')
-
-*8.2 The Adlib (`adlib=')
-
-*8.3 The MAD16 (`mad16=')
-
-*8.4 The !ProAudioSpectrum PAS16 (`pas2=')
-
-*8.5 The !SoundBlaster (`sb=')
-
-*8.6 The UART 401 (`uart401=')
-
-*8.7 The UART 6850 (`uart6850=')
-
-*8.8 The Yamaha OPL2/OPL3/OPL4 FM Synthesizer (`opl3=')
-
-*8.9 The Yamaha OPL3-SA FM Synthesizer (`opl3sa=')
-
-*8.10 The Yamaha OPL3-SA2/SA3 FM Synthesizer (`opl3sa2=')
-
-
-
-
-
-!!9. CD-ROMs (Non-SCSI/ATAPI/IDE)
-
-
-*9.1 The Aztech Interface (`aztcd=')
-
-*9.2 The CDU-31A and CDU-33A Sony Interface (`cdu31a=')
-
-*9.3 The CDU-535 Sony Interface (`sonycd535=')
-
-*9.4 The !GoldStar Interface (`gscd=')
-
-*9.5 The ISP16 Interface (`isp16=')
-
-*9.6 The Mitsumi Standard Interface (`mcd=')
-
-*9.7 The Mitsumi XA/!MultiSession Interface (`mcdx=')
-
-*9.8 The Optics Storage Interface (`optcd=')
-
-*9.9 The Phillips CM206 Interface (`cm206=')
-
-*9.10 The Sanyo Interface (`sjcd=')
-
-*9.11 The !SoundBlaster Pro Interface (`sbpcd=')
-
-
-
-
-
-!!10. Serial and ISDN Drivers
-
-
-*10.1 The ICN ISDN driver (`icn=')
-
-*10.2 The PCBIT ISDN driver (`pcbit=')
-
-*10.3 The Teles ISDN driver (`teles=')
-
-*10.4 The !DigiBoard Driver (`digi=')
-
-*10.5 The RISCom/8 Multiport Serial Driver (`riscom8=')
-
-*10.6 The Baycom Serial/Parallel Radio Modem (`baycom=')
-
-
-
-
-
-!!11. Other Hardware Devices
-
-
-*11.1 Ethernet Devices (`ether=', `netdev=')
-
-*11.2 The Floppy Disk Driver (`floppy=')
-
-*11.3 The Bus Mouse Driver (`bmouse=')
-
-*11.4 The MS Bus Mouse Driver (`msmouse=')
-
-*11.5 The Printer Driver (`lp=')
-
-*11.6 The Parallel port IP driver (`plip=')
-
-
-
-
-
-!!12. Copying, Translations, Closing, etc.
-
-
-*12.1 Copyright and Disclaimer
-
-*12.2 Closing
-
-----
-
-!! 1. Introduction
-
-
-
-
-
-The kernel has a limited capability to accept information at
-boot in the form of a `command line', similar to an argument
-list you would give to a program. In general this is used to
-supply the kernel with information about hardware parameters
-that the kernel would not be able to determine on its own, or
-to avoid/override the values that the kernel would otherwise
-detect.
-
-
-However, if you just copy a kernel image directly to a floppy,
-(e.g. cp zImage /dev/fd0) then
-you are not given a chance to specify any arguments to that
-kernel. So most Linux users will use software like ''LILO''
-or ''loadlin'' that takes care of handing these arguments
-to the kernel, and then booting it.
-
-
-This present revision covers kernels up to and including v2.4.9.
-
-
-The !BootPrompt-Howto is by:
-
-Paul Gortmaker, p_gortmaker@yahoo.com
-
-
-
-This document is Copyright (c) 1995-2001 by Paul Gortmaker.
-Please see the Disclaimer and Copying information at the end
-of this document (
-copyright)
-for information about redistribution of
-this document and the usual `we are not responsible for what
-you manage to break...' type legal stuff.
-
-
-
-
-!!1.1 Intended Audience and Applicability
-
-
-
-Most Linux users should never have to even look at this document.
-Linux does an exceptionally good job at detecting most hardware and
-picking reasonable default settings for most parameters.
-The information in this document is aimed at users who might want
-to change some of the default settings to optimize the kernel to
-their particular machine, or to a user who has `rolled their own'
-kernel to support a not so common piece of hardware for which
-automatic detection is currently not available (e.g. some old ISA
-devices).
-
-
-''IMPORTANT NOTE:'' Driver related boot prompt arguments
-only apply to hardware drivers that are compiled directly into the
-kernel. They have ''no effect'' on drivers that are loaded
-as modules. Most Linux distributions come with a basic `bare-bones'
-kernel, and the drivers are small modules that are loaded after
-the kernel has initialized.
-If you are unsure if you are using modules then try lsmod,
-look at man depmod and man modprobe along with the
-contents of your /etc/modules.conf.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!1.2 Related Documentation
-
-
-
-The most up-to-date documentation will always be the kernel
-source itself. Hold on! Don't get scared. You don't need to
-know any programming to read the comments in the source files.
-For example, if you were looking for what arguments could be
-passed to the AHA1542 SCSI driver, then you would go to the
-linux/drivers/scsi directory, and look in the
-file aha1542.c for __setup(... , ...). The
-first thing in brackets is the argument you provide at boot,
-and the second thing is the name of the function that processes your
-argument. Usually near the top of this function or at the
-top of the source file you will find a description of the boot
-time arguments that the driver accepts.
-
-
-The linux directory is usually found in /usr/src/
-for most distributions. All references in this document
-to files that come with the kernel will have their pathname
-abbreviated to start with linux - you will have to add the
-/usr/src/ or whatever is appropriate for your system.
-(If you can't find the file in question, then make use of
-the find and locate commands.)
-
-
-The next best thing will be any documentation files that are
-distributed with the kernel itself. There are now quite a
-few of these, and most of them can be found in the directory
-linux/Documentation and subdirectories from there.
-Sometimes there will be README.foo files that can be found
-in the related driver directory (e.g. linux/drivers/???/,
-where examples of ??? could be scsi, char, or net).
-
-
-If you have figured out what boot-args you intend to use, and
-now want to know how to get that information to the kernel, then
-look at the documentation that comes with the software that you
-use to boot the kernel (e.g. LILO or loadlin). A brief overview
-is given below, but it is no substitute for the documentation
-that comes with the booting software.
-
-
-
-
-!! 1.3 The Linux Newsgroups
-
-
-
-If you have questions about passing boot arguments to the
-kernel, please check this document first. If this and the
-related documentation mentioned above does not answer your
-question(s) then you can try the Linux newsgroups.
-General questions on how to configure your system
-should be directed to the comp.os.linux.setup newsgroup.
-We ask that you ''please'' respect this general guideline
-for content, and don't cross-post your request to other groups.
-
-
-Of course you should try checking the group before blindly
-posting your question, as it may even be a Frequently Asked
-Question (a FAQ).
-A quick browse of the Linux FAQ before posting is a ''good''
-idea. You should be able to find the FAQ somewhere close to
-where you found this document. If it is not a FAQ then
-use newsgroup archives, such as those
-at http://www.dejanews.com to quickly search years
-worth of postings for your topic. Chances are someone
-else has already asked (and another person answered!) the question
-that you now have.
-
-
-
-
-!! 1.4 New Versions of this Document
-
-
-
-New versions of this document can be retrieved via anonymous
-FTP from some Linux FTP sites. The location varies.
-In July 2004 the MIT archive
[ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/ps
]
-was working. Updates will be made as new
-information and/or drivers becomes available. If this copy that
-you are presently reading is more than six months old, then
-you should probably check to see if a newer copy exists.
-I would recommend viewing this via a WWW browser or in the
-Postscript/dvi format. Both of these contain cross-references
-that are lost in a simple plain text version.
-
-
-If you want to get the official copy,
here is URL.
-
-
-
-!BootPrompt-HOWTO
-
-
-----
-
-!! 2. Overview of Boot Prompt Arguments
-
-
-
-
-
-This section gives some examples of software that can be used
-to pass kernel boot-time arguments to the kernel itself.
-It also gives you an idea of how the arguments are processed,
-what limitations there are on the boot args, and how they filter
-down to each appropriate device that they are intended for.
-
-
-It is ''important'' to note that spaces should ''not'' be
-used in a boot argument, but only between separate arguments.
-A list of values that are for a single argument are to be
-separated with a comma between the values, and again without
-any spaces. See the following examples below.
-
-
-
-----
-
-ether=9,0x300,0xd0000,0xd4000,eth0 root=/dev/hda1 *RIGHT*
-ether = 9, 0x300, 0xd0000, 0xd4000, eth0 root = /dev/hda1 *WRONG*
-
-----
-
-
-Once the Linux kernel is up and running, one can view the command
-line arguments that were in place at boot by simply typing
-cat /proc/cmdline at a shell prompt.
-
-
-
-
-!!2.1 General Notation
-
-
-
-When giving examples of boot arguments for device drivers
-you will commonly see the following given as parameters
-where numbers matching your particular system will need to be used.
-
-
-io or iobase -- the first I/O port that the device occupies.
-These are specified in hexidecimal notation, and usually lie
-in the range from 0x200 to 0x3ff for ISA devices.
-Lower case is usually used in hex numbers with Linux.
-
-
-irq -- the hardware interrupt that the device is configured
-to use. Valid values will be dependent on the card in question,
-but will usually be 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 15. The other
-values are usually used for common peripherals like IDE hard
-disks, floppies, serial ports, etc.
-
-
-dma -- the DMA (Direct Memory Access) channel that the
-card may use. Typically only applies to bus-mastering cards.
-PCI and VLB cards are native bus-masters, and do not require
-and ISA DMA channel. Some sound cards use two DMA channels,
-an 8 bit one and a 16 bit one.
-
-
-
-
-!! 2.2 LILO (LInux LOader)
-
-
-
-The LILO program (LInux LOader) written by Werner Almesberger
-is the most commonly used. It has the ability to boot
-various kernels, and stores the configuration information
-in a plain text file. Most distributions ship with LILO
-as the default boot-loader. LILO can boot DOS, OS/2, Linux,
-FreeBSD, etc. without any difficulties, and is quite flexible.
-
-
-A typical configuration will have LILO stop and print LILO:
-shortly after you turn on your computer. It will then wait for
-a few seconds for any optional input from the user, and failing
-that it will then boot the default system. Typical system labels
-that people use in the LILO configuration files are linux
-and backup and msdos. If you want to type in a boot
-argument, you type it in here, after typing in the system label
-that you want LILO to boot from, as shown in the example below.
-
-
-
-----
-
-LILO: linux root=/dev/hda1
-
-----
-
-
-LILO comes with excellent documentation, and for the purposes
-of boot args discussed here, the LILO append= command
-is of significant importance when one wants to add a boot time
-argument as a permanent addition to the LILO config file.
-You simply add something like append = "foo=bar" to the
-/etc/lilo.conf file. It can either be added at the top
-of the config file, making it apply to all sections, or to a
-single system section by adding it inside an image= section.
-Please see the LILO documentation for a more complete description.
-
-
-
-
-!! 2.3 !LoadLin
-
-
-
-The other commonly used Linux loader is `!LoadLin' which is
-a DOS program that has the capability to launch a Linux
-kernel from the DOS prompt (with boot-args) assuming that
-certain resources are available. This is good for people
-that use DOS and want to launch into Linux from DOS.
-
-
-It is also very useful if you have certain hardware which relies
-on the supplied DOS driver to put the hardware into a known
-state. A common example is `!SoundBlaster Compatible' sound
-cards that require the DOS driver to set a few proprietary
-registers to put the card into a SB compatible mode. Booting
-DOS with the supplied driver, and then loading Linux from
-the DOS prompt with LOADLIN.EXE avoids the reset of
-the card that
-happens if one rebooted instead. Thus the card is left in a
-SB compatible mode and hence is useable under Linux.
-
-
-There are also other programs that can be used to boot Linux.
-For a complete list, please look at the programs available
-on your local Linux ftp mirror, under system/Linux-boot/.
-
-
-
-
-!! 2.4 The ``rdev'' utility
-
-
-
-There are a few of the kernel boot parameters that have their
-default values stored in various bytes in the kernel image itself.
-There is a utility called rdev that is installed on most
-systems that knows where these values are, and how to change them.
-It can also change things that have no kernel boot argument
-equivalent, such as the default video mode used.
-
-
-The rdev utility is usually also aliased to swapdev, ramsize,
-vidmode and rootflags. These are the five things that rdev
-can change, those being the root device, the swap device,
-the RAM disk parameters, the default video mode, and the
-readonly/readwrite setting of root device.
-
-
-More information on rdev can be found by typing
-rdev -h or by reading the supplied man page (man rdev).
-
-
-
-
-!!2.5 How the Kernel Sorts the Arguments
-
-
-
-Most of the boot args take the form of:
-----
-
-name[[=value_1][[,value_2]...[[,value_11]
-
-----
-
-
-where `name' is a unique keyword that is used to identify
-what part of the kernel the associated values (if any) are to be
-given to. Multiple boot args are just a space separated list
-of the above format. Note the limit of 11 is real, as the
-present code only handles 11 comma separated parameters per
-keyword. (However, you can re-use the same keyword with
-up to an additional 11 parameters in unusually complicated
-situations, assuming the setup function supports it.)
-Also note that the kernel splits the list into a maximum of
-ten integer arguments, and a following string, so you
-can't really supply 11 integers unless you convert the
-11th arg from a string to an int in the driver itself.
-
-
-Most of the sorting goes on in linux/init/main.c.
-First, the kernel checks to see if the argument is any of
-the special arguments `root=', `ro', `rw', or `debug'.
-The meaning of these special arguments is described further
-on in the document.
-
-
-Then it walks a list of setup functions (contained in the
-bootsetups array) to see if the specified
-argument string (such as `foo') has been associated with a
-setup function (foo_setup()) for a particular
-device or part of the kernel. If you
-passed the kernel the line foo=3,4,5,6,bar then the
-kernel would search the bootsetups array to see if
-`foo' was registered. If it was, then it would call the
-setup function associated with `foo' (foo_setup())
-and hand it the integer arguments
-3, 4, 5 and 6 as given on the kernel command line, and
-also hand it the string argument bar.
-
-
-
-
-!!2.6 Setting Environment Variables.
-
-
-
-Anything of the form `foo=bar' that is not accepted as a
-setup function as described above is then interpreted as an
-environment variable to be set. An example would
-be to use TERM=vt100 or BOOT_IMAGE=vmlinuz.bak
-as a boot argument. These environment
-variables are typically tested for in the initialization
-scripts to enable or disable a wide range of things.
-
-
-
-
-!!2.7 Passing Arguments to the `init' program
-
-
-
-Any remaining arguments that were not picked up by the
-kernel and were not interpreted as environment variables
-are then passed onto process one, which is usually the
-init program. The most common argument that is passed to
-the init process is the word ''single'' which instructs
-init to boot the computer in single user mode, and not
-launch all the usual daemons. Check the manual page for the
-version of init installed on your system to see what
-arguments it accepts.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!! 3. General Non-Device Specific Boot Args
-
-
-These are the boot arguments that are not related to any
-specific device or peripheral. They are instead related to
-certain internal kernel parameters, such as memory handling,
-ramdisk handling, root file system handling and others.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.1 Root Filesystem options
-
-
-
-The following options all pertain to how the kernel selects
-and handles the root filesystem.
-
-
-
-
-!The `root=' Argument
-
-
-This argument tells the kernel what device is to be used as
-the root filesystem while booting. The default of this setting
-is the value of the root device of the system that
-the kernel was built on.
-For example, if the kernel in question was built on a system
-that used `/dev/hda1' as the root partition, then the default
-root device would be `/dev/hda1'. To override this default
-value, and select the second floppy drive as the root device,
-one would use `root=/dev/fd1'.
-
-
-Valid root devices are any of the following devices:
-
-
-(1) /dev/hdaN to /dev/hddN, which is partition N on ST-506
-compatible disk `a to d'.
-
-
-(2) /dev/sdaN to /dev/sdeN, which is partition N on SCSI
-compatible disk `a to e'.
-
-
-(3) /dev/xdaN to /dev/xdbN, which is partition N on XT
-compatible disk `a to b'.
-
-
-(4) /dev/fdN, which is floppy disk drive number N. Having
-N=0 would be the DOS `A:' drive, and N=1 would be `B:'.
-
-
-(5) /dev/nfs, which is not really a device, but rather a
-flag to tell the kernel to get the root fs via the network.
-
-
-(6) /dev/ram, which is the RAM disk.
-
-
-The more awkward and less portable numeric specification
-of the above possible disk devices in major/minor format is
-also accepted. (e.g. /dev/sda3 is major 8, minor 3, so you
-could use root=0x803 as an alternative.)
-
-
-This is one of the few kernel boot arguments that has its
-default stored in the kernel image, and which can thus
-be altered with the rdev utility.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!The `ro' Argument
-
-
-When the kernel boots, it needs a root filesystem to read
-basic things off of. This is the root filesystem that is
-mounted at boot. However, if the root filesystem is mounted
-with write access, you can not reliably check the filesystem
-integrity with half-written files in progress. The `ro'
-option tells the kernel to mount the root filesystem as
-`readonly' so that any filesystem consistency check programs
-(fsck) can safely assume that there are no half-written
-files in progress while performing the check. No programs
-or processes can write to files on the filesystem in
-question until it is `remounted' as read/write capable.
-
-
-This is one of the few kernel boot arguments that has its
-default stored in the kernel image, and which can thus
-be altered with the rdev utility.
-
-
-
-
-!The `rw' Argument
-
-
-This is the exact opposite of the above, in that it tells the
-kernel to mount the root filesystem as read/write. The default
-is to mount the root filesystem as read only. Do not
-run any `fsck' type programs on a filesystem that is mounted
-read/write.
-
-
-The same value stored in the image file mentioned above is
-also used for this parameter, accessible via rdev.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.2 Options Relating to RAM Disk Management
-
-
-
-The following options all relate to how the kernel handles
-the RAM disk device, which is usually used for bootstrapping
-machines during the install phase, or for machines with
-modular drivers that need to be installed to access the
-root filesystem.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!The `ramdisk_start=' Argument
-
-
-To allow a kernel image to reside on a floppy disk along with a
-compressed ramdisk image, the `ramdisk_start=<offset>' command
-was added. The kernel can't be included into the compressed ramdisk
-filesystem image, because it needs to be stored starting at block
-zero so that the BIOS can load the bootsector and then the kernel
-can bootstrap itself to get going.
-
-
-Note: If you are using an uncompressed ramdisk image, then the kernel
-can be a part of the filesystem image that is being loaded into the
-ramdisk, and the floppy can be booted with LILO, or the two can be
-separate as is done for the compressed images.
-
-
-If you are using a two-disk boot/root setup (kernel on disk 1,
-ramdisk image on disk 2) then the ramdisk would start at block zero,
-and an offset of zero would be used. Since this is the default value,
-you would not need to actually use the command at all.
-
-
-
-
-!The `load_ramdisk=' Argument
-
-
-This parameter tells the kernel whether it is to try to load a
-ramdisk image or not. Specifying `load_ramdisk=1' will tell the
-kernel to load a floppy into the ramdisk. The default value is
-zero, meaning that the kernel should not try to load a ramdisk.
-
-
-Please see the file linux/Documentation/ramdisk.txt
-for a complete description of the new boot time arguments, and
-how to use them. A description of how this parameter can be set
-and stored in the kernel image via `rdev' is also described.
-
-
-
-
-!The `prompt_ramdisk=' Argument
-
-
-This parameter tells the kernel whether or not to give you a prompt
-asking you to insert the floppy containing the ramdisk image. In
-a single floppy configuration the ramdisk image is on the same floppy
-as the kernel that just finished loading/booting and so a prompt
-is not needed. In this case one can use `prompt_ramdisk='. In a
-two floppy configuration, you will need the chance to switch disks,
-and thus `prompt_ramdisk=1' can be used. Since this is the default
-value, it doesn't really need to be specified. (
-(Historical note: Sneaky people used to use the `vga=ask' LILO
-option to temporarily pause the boot process and allow a chance to
-switch from boot to root floppy.)
-
-
-Please see the file linux/Documentation/ramdisk.txt
-for a complete description of the new boot time arguments, and
-how to use them. A description of how this parameter can be set
-and stored in the kernel image via `rdev' is also described.
-
-
-
-
-!The `ramdisk_size=' Argument
-
-
-While it is true that the ramdisk grows dynamically as required,
-there is an upper bound on its size so that it doesn't consume
-all available RAM and leave you in a mess. The default is 4096
-(i.e. 4MB) which should be large enough for most needs. You
-can override the default to a bigger or smaller size with this
-boot argument.
-
-
-Please see the file linux/Documentation/ramdisk.txt
-for a complete description of the new boot time arguments, and
-how to use them. A description of how this parameter can be set
-and stored in the kernel image via `rdev' is also described.
-
-
-
-
-!The `ramdisk=' Argument (obsolete)
-
-
-(NOTE: This argument is obsolete, and should not be used except
-on kernels v1.3.47 and older. The commands that should be used
-for the ramdisk device are documented above.)
-
-
-This specifies the size in kB of the RAM disk device.
-For example, if one wished to have a root filesystem on a 1.44MB
-floppy loaded into the RAM disk device, they would use:
-
-
-
-----
-
-ramdisk=1440
-
-----
-
-
-This is one of the few kernel boot arguments that has its
-default stored in the kernel image, and which can thus
-be altered with the rdev utility.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!The `noinitrd' (initial RAM disk) Argument
-
-
-The v2.x and newer kernels have a feature where the root filesystem
-can be initially a RAM disk, and the kernel executes /linuxrc
-on that RAM image. This feature is typically used to allow loading
-of modules needed to mount the real root filesystem (e.g. load
-the SCSI driver modules stored in the RAM disk image, and then
-mount the real root filesystem on a SCSI disk.)
-
-
-The actual `noinitrd' argument determines what happens to the
-initrd data after the kernel has booted. When
-specified, instead of converting it to a RAM disk, it
-is accessible via /dev/initrd, which can be read once
-before the RAM is released back to the system. For full details
-on using the initial RAM disk, please consult
-linux/Documentation/initrd.txt. In addition, the most
-recent versions of LILO and LOADLIN should have additional
-useful information.
-
-
-
-
-!The `nmi_watchdog=' Argument
-
-
-Supplying a non-zero integer will enable the non maskable
-interrupt watchdog (assuming IO APIC support is compiled in).
-This checks to see if the interrupt count is increasing
-(indicating normal system activity) and if it is not then
-it assumes that a processor is stuck and forces an error
-dump of diagnostic information.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.3 Boot Arguments Related to Memory Handling
-
-
-
-The following arguments alter how Linux detects or handles
-the physical and virtual memory of your system.
-
-
-
-
-!The `mem=' Argument
-
-
-This argument has two purposes: The original purpose was to
-specify the amount of installed memory (or a value less than
-that if you wanted to limit the amount of memory available to
-linux). The second (and hardly used) purpose is to specify
-mem=nopentium which tells the Linux kernel to not use
-the 4MB page table performance feature.
-
-
-The original BIOS call defined in the PC specification that
-returns the amount of installed memory was only designed to
-be able to report up to 64MB. (Yes, another lack of foresight,
-just like the 1024 cylinder disks... sigh.) Linux uses this
-BIOS call at boot to determine how much memory is installed.
-If you have more than 64MB of RAM installed, you can use this
-boot argument to tell Linux how much memory you have.
-Here is a quote from Linus on the usage of the mem= parameter.
-
-
-``The kernel will accept any `mem=xx' parameter you give it, and if
-it turns out that you lied to it, it will crash horribly sooner or
-later. The parameter indicates the highest addressable RAM address,
-so `mem=0x1000000' means you have 16MB of memory, for example. For
-a 96MB machine this would be `mem=0x6000000'.
-If you tell Linux that it has more memory
-than it actually does have, bad things will happen: maybe not at
-once, but surely eventually.''
-
-
-Note that the argument does not have to be in hex, and the
-suffixes `k' and `M' (case insensitive) can be used to specify
-kilobytes and Megabytes, respectively. (A `k' will cause a 10 bit
-shift on your value, and a `M' will cause a 20 bit shift.)
-A typical example for a 128MB machine would be "mem=128m".
-
-
-
-
-!The `memfrac=' Argument
-
-
-Memory is broken down into zones; on i386 these zones
-correspond to `DMA' (for legacy ISA devices that can only address
-up to 16MB via DMA); `Normal' for memory from 16MB up to 1GB,
-and `!HighMem' for memory beyond 1GB (assuming your kernel
-was built with high mem support enabled). The two (or three)
-integers supplied here determine how much memory in each zone
-should be kept free - with the size of the zone divided by the
-number supplied being used as the minimum (so smaller numbers
-mean keep more free in the zone). The defaults are currently
-memfrac=32,128,128.
-
-
-
-
-!The `swap=' Argument
-
-
-This allows the user to tune some of the virtual memory (VM)
-parameters that are related to swapping to disk. It accepts
-the following eight parameters:
-
-
-
-----
-
-MAX_PAGE_AGE
-PAGE_ADVANCE
-PAGE_DECLINE
-PAGE_INITIAL_AGE
-AGE_CLUSTER_FRACT
-AGE_CLUSTER_MIN
-PAGEOUT_WEIGHT
-BUFFEROUT_WEIGHT
-
-----
-
-
-Interested hackers are advised to have a read of
-linux/mm/swap.c and also make note of the goodies in
-/proc/sys/vm. Kernels come with some
-useful documentation on this in the
-linux/Documentation/vm/ directory.
-
-
-
-
-!The `buff=' Argument
-
-
-Similar to the `swap=' argument, this allows the user to
-tune some of the parameters related to buffer memory management.
-It accepts the following six parameters:
-
-
-
-----
-
-MAX_BUFF_AGE
-BUFF_ADVANCE
-BUFF_DECLINE
-BUFF_INITIAL_AGE
-BUFFEROUT_WEIGHT
-BUFFERMEM_GRACE
-
-----
-
-
-Interested hackers are advised to have a read of
-linux/mm/swap.c and also make note of the goodies
-in /proc/sys/vm. Kernels come with some
-useful documentation on this in the
-linux/Documentation/vm/ directory.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.4 Boot Arguments for Network Settings with NFS Root Filesystem
-
-
-
-Linux supports systems such as diskless workstations via
-having their root filesystem as NFS (Network !FileSystem).
-These arguments are used to tell the diskless workstation
-which machine it is to get its system from. Also note that
-the argument root=/dev/nfs is required. Detailed
-information on using an NFS root fs is in the file
-linux/Documentation/nfsroot.txt.
-
-
-
-
-!The `nfsroot=' Argument
-
-
-This argument tells the kernel which machine, what directory
-and what NFS options to use for the root filesystem. The form
-of the argument is as follows:
-
-
-
-----
-
-nfsroot=[[<server-ip>:]<root-dir>[[,<nfs-options>]
-
-----
-
-
-If the nfsroot parameter is not given on the command line, the default
-`/tftpboot/%s' will be used. The other options are as follows:
-
-
-<server-ip> --
-Specifies the IP address of the NFS server. If this field
-is not given, the default address as determined by the
-nfsaddrs variable (see below) is used. One use of this
-parameter is for example to allow using different servers
-for RARP and NFS. Usually you can leave this blank.
-
-
-<root-dir> --
-Name of the directory on the server to mount as root. If
-there is a `%s' token in the string, the token will be
-replaced by the ASCII-representation of the client's IP
-address.
-
-
-<nfs-options> --
-Standard NFS options. All options are separated by commas.
-If the options field is not given, the following defaults
-will be used:
-
-
-
-
-port = as given by server portmap daemon
-rsize = 1024
-wsize = 1024
-timeo = 7
-retrans = 3
-acregmin = 3
-acregmax = 60
-acdirmin = 30
-acdirmax = 60
-flags = hard, nointr, noposix, cto, ac
-
-
-
-
-
-!The `ip=' or `nfsaddrs=' Argument
-
-
-This boot argument sets up the various network interface addresses
-that are required to communicate over the network. If this argument
-is not given, then the kernel tries to use RARP and/or BOOTP to
-figure out these parameters. The form is as follows:
-
-
-
-----
-
-nfsaddrs=<my-ip>:<serv-ip>:<gw-ip>:<netmask>:<name>:<dev>:<auto>
-
-----
-
-
-<my-ip> --
-IP address of the client. If empty, the address will either
-be determined by RARP or BOOTP. What protocol is used de-
-pends on what has been enabled during kernel configuration
-and on the <auto> parameter. If this parameter is not
-empty, neither RARP nor BOOTP will be used.
-
-
-<serv-ip> --
-IP address of the NFS server. If RARP is used to determine
-the client address and this parameter is NOT empty only
-replies from the specified server are accepted. To use
-different RARP and NFS server, specify your RARP server
-here (or leave it blank), and specify your NFS server in
-the nfsroot parameter (see above). If this entry is blank
-the address of the server is used which answered the RARP
-or BOOTP request.
-
-
-<gw-ip> --
-IP address of a gateway if the server in on a different
-subnet. If this entry is empty no gateway is used and the
-server is assumed to be on the local network, unless a
-value has been received by BOOTP.
-
-
-<netmask> --
-Netmask for local network interface. If this is empty,
-the netmask is derived from the client IP address,
-unless a value has been received by BOOTP.
-
-
-<name> --
-Name of the client. If empty, the client IP address is
-used in ASCII-notation, or the value received by BOOTP.
-
-
-<dev> --
-Name of network device to use. If this is empty, all
-devices are used for RARP requests, and the first one
-found for BOOTP. For NFS the device is used on which
-either RARP or BOOTP replies have been received. If
-you only have one device you can safely leave this blank.
-
-
-<auto> --
-Method to use for autoconfiguration. If this is either
-`rarp' or `bootp' or `dhcp' the specified protocol
-is being used.
-If the value is `both' or empty, both RARP and BOOTP
-protocols are used
-so far as they have been enabled during kernel configuration
-Using 'none' means no autoconfiguration. In this case you
-have to specify all necessary values in the fields before.
-
-
-The <auto> parameter can appear alone as the value to the
-nfsaddrs parameter (without all the `:' characters before) in which
-case autoconfiguration is used. However, the `none' value is not
-available in that case.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.5 Other Misc. Kernel Boot Arguments
-
-
-
-These various boot arguments let the user tune certain
-internal kernel parameters.
-
-
-
-
-!The `acpi=' Argument
-
-
-Currently this only accepts `off' to disable the ACPI subsystem.
-
-
-
-
-!The `console=' Argument
-
-
-Usually the console is the 1st virtual terminal, and so boot
-messages appear on your VGA screen. Sometimes it is nice to
-be able to use another device like a serial port (or even a
-printer!) to be the console when no video device is present.
-It is also useful to capture boot time messages if a problem
-stops progress before they can be logged to disk.
-An example would be to use
-console=ttyS1,9600 for selecting the 2nd serial port
-at 9600 baud to be the console.
-More information can be found in
-linux/Documentation/serial-console.txt.
-
-
-
-
-!The `debug' Argument
-
-
-The kernel communicates important (and not-so important)
-messages to the operator via the printk() function.
-If the message is considered important, the printk()
-function will put a copy on the present console as well
-as handing it off to the klogd() facility so that it
-gets logged to disk. The reason for printing important
-messages to the console as well as logging them to disk is
-because under unfortunate circumstances (e.g. a disk failure)
-the message won't make it to disk and will be lost.
-
-
-The threshold for what is and what isn't considered important
-is set by the console_loglevel variable. The default is
-to log anything more important than DEBUG (level 7) to
-the console. (These levels are defined in the include file
-kernel.h) Specifying debug as a boot argument will
-set the console loglevel to 10, so that ''all'' kernel
-messages appear on the console.
-
-
-The console loglevel can usually also be set at run time via
-an option to the klogd() program. Check the man page
-for the version installed on your system to see how to do this.
-
-
-
-
-!The `decnet=' Argument
-
-
-If you are using DECnet, you can supply two comma separated
-integers here to give your area and node respectively.
-
-
-
-
-!The `idle=' Argument
-
-
-Setting this to `poll' causes the idle loop in the kernel
-to poll on the need reschedule flag instead of waiting
-for an interrupt to happen. This can result in an improvement
-in performance on SMP systems (albeit at the cost of an
-increase in power consumption).
-
-
-
-
-!The `init=' Argument
-
-
-The kernel defaults to starting the `init' program at boot,
-which then takes care of setting up the computer for users
-via launching getty programs, running `rc' scripts and the like.
-The kernel first looks for /sbin/init, then
-/etc/init (depreciated), and as a last resort, it
-will try to use /bin/sh (possibly on /etc/rc).
-If for example, your init program got corrupted and thus stopped
-you from being able to boot, you could simply use the boot prompt
-init=/bin/sh which would drop you directly into a
-shell at boot, allowing you to replace the corrupted program.
-
-
-
-
-!The `isapnp=' Argument
-
-
-This takes the form of:
-isapnp=read_port,reset,skip_pci_scan,verbose
-
-
-
-
-!The `isapnp_reserve_dma=' Argument
-
-
-This takes the form of:
-isapnp_reserve_dma=n1,n2,n3,...nN
-where n1 ... nN are the DMA channel numbers to not use for PnP.
-
-
-
-
-!The `isapnp_reserve_io=' Argument
-
-
-This takes the form of:
-isapnp_reserve_irq=io1,size1,io2,size2,...ioN,sizeN
-where ioX,sizeX are I/O start and length pairs of regions
-in I/O space that are not to be used by PnP.
-
-
-
-
-!The `isapnp_reserve_irq=' Argument
-
-
-This takes the form of:
-isapnp_reserve_irq=n1,n2,n3,...nN
-where n1 ... nN are the interrupt numbers to not use for PnP.
-
-
-
-
-!The `isapnp_reserve_mem=' Argument
-
-
-This takes the form of:
-isapnp_reserve_mem=mem1,size1,mem2,size2,...memN,sizeN
-where ioX,sizeX are I/O start and length pairs of regions
-in memory space that are not to be used by PnP.
-
-
-
-
-!The `kbd-reset' Argument
-
-
-Normally on i386 based machines, the Linux kernel does not
-reset the keyboard controller at boot, since the BIOS is
-supposed to do this. But as usual, not all machines do what
-they should. Supplying this option may help if you are having
-problems with your keyboard behaviour. It simply forces a
-reset at initialization time. (Some have argued that this should
-be the default behaviour anyways).
-
-
-
-
-!The `maxcpus=' Argument
-
-
-The number given with this argument limits the maximum
-number of CPUs activated in SMP mode. Using a value of
-0 is equivalent to the nosmp option.
-
-
-
-
-!The `mca-pentium' Argument
-
-
-The IBM model 95 Microchannel machines seem to lock up on the
-test that Linux usually does to detect the type of math chip
-coupling. Since all Pentium chips have a built in math processor,
-this test (and the lock up problem) can be avoided by using
-this boot option.
-
-
-
-
-!The `md=' Argument
-
-
-If your root filesystem is on a Multiple Device then you can
-use this (assuming you compiled in boot support) to tell the
-kernel the multiple device layout. The format (from the
-file linux/Documentation/md.txt) is:
-
-
-md=md_device_num,raid_level,chunk_size_factor,fault_level,dev0,dev1,...,devN
-
-
-Where md_device_num is the number of the md device,
-i.e. 0 means md0, 1 means md1, etc.
-For raid_level, use -1 for linear mode and 0 for striped mode.
-Other modes are currently unsupported.
-The chunk_size_factor is for raid-0 and raid-1 only and
-sets the chunk size as PAGE_SIZE shifted left the specified
-amount. The fault_level is only for raid-1
-and sets the maximum fault number to the specified number.
-(Currently unsupported due to lack of boot support for raid1.)
-The dev0-devN are a comma separated list of the devices that
-make up the individual md device:
-e.g. /dev/hda1,/dev/hdc1,/dev/sda1
-
-
-
-
-!The `no387' Argument
-
-
-Some i387 coprocessor chips have bugs that show up when
-used in 32 bit protected mode. For example, some of the
-early ULSI-387 chips would cause solid lockups while
-performing floating point calculations, apparently due to
-a bug in the FRSAV/FRRESTOR instructions. Using the `no387'
-boot argument causes Linux to ignore the math coprocessor
-even if you have one. Of course you must then have your
-kernel compiled with math emulation support! This may also
-be useful if you have one of those ''really'' old 386 machines
-that could use an 80287 FPU, as Linux can't use an 80287.
-
-
-
-
-!The `no-hlt' Argument
-
-
-The i386 (and successors thereof) family of CPUs have a
-`hlt' instruction which tells the CPU that nothing is
-going to happen until an external device (keyboard, modem,
-disk, etc.) calls upon the CPU to do a task. This allows the
-CPU to enter a `low-power' mode where it sits like a zombie
-until an external device wakes it up (usually via an interrupt).
-Some of the early i486DX-100 chips had a problem with the
-`hlt' instruction, in that they couldn't reliably return to
-operating mode after this instruction was used. Using the
-`no-hlt' instruction tells Linux to just run an infinite loop
-when there is nothing else to do, and to ''not'' halt your
-CPU when there is no activity. This allows people with these
-broken chips to use Linux, although they would be well advised
-to seek a replacement through a warranty where possible.
-
-
-
-
-!The `no-scroll' Argument
-
-
-Using this argument at boot disables scrolling features that
-make it difficult to use Braille terminals.
-
-
-
-
-!The `noapic' Argument
-
-
-Using this option tells a SMP kernel to not use some of the
-advanced features of the interrupt controller on multi processor
-machines. Use of this option may be required when a device
-(such as those using ne2k-pci or 3c59xi drivers) stops generating
-interrupts (i.e. cat /proc/interrupts shows the same
-interrupt count.)
-See linux/Documentation/IO-APIC.txt for more information.
-
-
-
-
-!The `noisapnp' Argument
-
-
-If ISA PnP is built into the kernel, this will disable it.
-
-
-
-
-!The `nomce' Argument
-
-
-Some newer processors have the ability to self-monitor and
-detect inconsistencies that should not regularly happen.
-If an inconsistency is detected, a Machine Check Exception
-will take place and the system will be halted (rather than
-plundering forward and corrupting your data). You can use
-this argument to disable this feature, but be sure to check
-that your CPU is not overheating or otherwise faulty first.
-
-
-
-
-!The `nosmp' Argument
-
-
-Use of this option will tell a SMP kernel on a SMP machine to
-operate single processor. Typically only used for debugging
-and determining if a particular problem is SMP related.
-
-
-
-
-!The `notsc' Argument
-
-
-Use of this option will tell the kernel to not use the
-Time Stamp Counter for anything, even if the CPU has one.
-
-
-
-
-!The `nofxsr" Argument
-
-
-
-
-
-Use of this option will tell the kernel to not use
-any speed-up tricks involving the floating point unit,
-even if the processor supports them.
-
-
-
-
-!The `panic=' Argument
-
-
-In the unlikely event of a kernel panic (i.e. an internal error
-that has been detected by the kernel, and which the kernel decides
-is serious enough to moan loudly and then halt everything), the
-default behaviour is to just sit there until someone comes along
-and notices the panic message on the screen and reboots the machine.
-However if a machine is running unattended in an isolated location
-it may be desirable for it to automatically reset itself so that
-the machine comes back on line. For example, using panic=30 at
-boot would cause the kernel to try and reboot itself 30 seconds
-after the kernel panic happened. A value of zero gives the default
-behaviour, which is to wait forever.
-
-
-Note that this timeout value can also be read and set via the
-/proc/sys/kernel/panic sysctl interface.
-
-
-
-
-!The `pirq=' Argument
-
-
-Using this option tells a SMP kernel information on the PCI
-slot versus IRQ settings for SMP motherboards which are
-unknown (or known to be blacklisted).
-See linux/Documentation/IO-APIC.txt for more
-information.
-
-
-
-
-!The `profile=' Argument
-
-
-Kernel developers can
-profile how and where the kernel is spending its CPU cycles
-in an effort to maximize efficiency and performance. This
-option lets you set the profile shift count at boot. Typically
-it is set to two. You need a tool such as
-readprofile.c that can make use of the /proc/profile
-output.
-
-
-
-
-!The `quiet' Argument
-
-
-This is pretty much the opposite of the `debug' argument.
-When this is given, only important and system critical
-kernel messages are printed to the console. Normal messages
-about hardware detection at boot are suppressed.
-
-
-
-
-!The `reboot=' Argument
-
-
-This option controls the type of reboot that Linux will do
-when it resets the computer (typically via /sbin/init
-handling a Control-Alt-Delete). The default as of v2.
-kernels is to do a `cold' reboot (i.e. full reset, BIOS does
-memory check, etc.) instead of a `warm' reboot (i.e. no full
-reset, no memory check). It was changed to be cold by default
-since that tends to work on cheap/broken hardware that fails
-to reboot when a warm reboot is requested. To get the old
-behaviour (i.e. warm reboots) use reboot=w or in fact
-any word that starts with w will work.
-
-
-Why would you bother? Some disk controllers with cache memory
-on board can sense a warm reboot, and flush any cached data
-to disk. Upon a cold boot, the card may be reset and the
-write-back data in your cache card's memory is lost. Others have
-reported systems that take a long time to go through the
-memory check, and/or SCSI BIOSes that take longer to initialize
-on a cold boot as a good reason to use warm reboots.
-
-
-
-
-!The `reserve=' Argument
-
-
-This is used to ''protect'' I/O port regions from probes.
-The form of the command is:
-
-
-
-
-reserve=iobase,extent[[,iobase,extent]...
-
-
-
-In some machines it may be necessary to prevent device drivers from
-checking for devices (auto-probing) in a specific region. This may be
-because of poorly designed hardware that causes the boot to ''freeze''
-(such as some ethercards), hardware that is mistakenly identified,
-hardware whose state is changed by an earlier probe, or merely
-hardware you don't want the kernel to initialize.
-
-
-The reserve boot-time argument addresses this problem by specifying
-an I/O port region that shouldn't be probed. That region is reserved
-in the kernel's port registration table as if a device has already
-been found in that region (with the name reserved).
-Note that this mechanism shouldn't be necessary on most machines.
-Only when there is a problem or special case would it be necessary
-to use this.
-
-
-The I/O ports in the specified region are protected against
-device probes that do a check_region() prior to probing
-blindly into a region of I/O space. This was put in to be used
-when some driver was hanging on a NE2000, or misidentifying
-some other device as its own. A correct device driver shouldn't
-probe a reserved region, unless another boot argument explicitly
-specifies that it do so. This implies that reserve will
-most often be used with some other boot argument. Hence if you
-specify a reserve region to protect a specific device, you
-must generally specify an explicit probe for that device. Most
-drivers ignore the port registration table if they are given an
-explicit address.
-
-
-For example, the boot line
-
-
-
-----
-
-reserve=0x300,32 blah=0x300
-
-----
-
-
-keeps all device drivers except the driver for `blah' from
-probing 0x300-0x31f.
-
-
-As usual with boot-time specifiers there is an 11 parameter limit,
-thus you can only specify 5 reserved regions per reserve keyword.
-Multiple reserve specifiers will work if you have an unusually
-complicated request.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!The `vga=' Argument
-
-
-Note that this is not really a boot argument. It is an option
-that is interpreted by LILO and not by the kernel like all the
-other boot arguments are. However its use has become so common
-that it deserves a mention here. It can also be set via using
-rdev -v or equivalently vidmode on the vmlinuz file.
-This allows the setup code to use the video BIOS to change
-the default display mode before actually booting the Linux
-kernel. Typical modes are 80x50, 132x44 and so on. The best
-way to use this option is to start with vga=ask which
-will prompt you with a list of various modes that you can use
-with your video adapter before booting the kernel. Once you
-have the number from the above list that you want to use, you
-can later put it in place of the `ask'. For more information,
-please see the file linux/Documentation/svga.txt
-that comes with all recent kernel versions.
-
-
-Note that newer kernels (v2.1 and up) have the setup code that
-changes the video mode as an option, listed as
-Video mode selection support so you need to enable this
-option if you want to use this feature.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!4. Boot Arguments to Control PCI Bus Behaviour (`pci=')
-
-
-The `pci=' argument (not avail. in v2.0 kernels)
-can be used to change the behaviour of PCI bus device
-probing and device behaviour. Firstly the file
-linux/drivers/pci/pci.c checks for
-architecture independent pci= options.
-The remaining allowed arguments are handled
-in linux/arch/???/kernel/bios32.c and are
-listed below for ???=i386.
-
-
-
-
-!!4.1 The `pci=bios' and `pci=nobios' Arguments
-
-
-
-These are used to set/clear the flag indicating that the
-PCI probing is to take place via the PCI BIOS. The default
-is to use the BIOS.
-
-
-
-
-!!4.2 The `pci=conf1' and `pci=conf2' Arguments
-
-
-
-If PCI direct mode is enabled, the use of these enables
-either configuration Type 1 or Type 2. These implicitly
-clear the PCI BIOS probe flag (i.e. `pci=nobios') too.
-
-
-
-
-!!4.3 The `pci=io=' Argument
-
-
-
-If you get a message like PCI: Unassigned IO space for.../
-then you may need to supply an I/O value with this option.
-From the source:
-
-
-``Several BIOS'es forget to assign addresses to I/O ranges.
-We try to fix it here, expecting there are free addresses
-starting with 0x5800. Ugly, but until we come with better
-resource management, it's the only simple solution.''
-
-
-
-
-!!4.4 The `pci=nopeer' Argument
-
-
-
-This disables the default peer bridge fixup, which according
-to the source does the following:
-
-
-``In case there are peer host bridges, scan bus behind each of
-them. Although several sources claim that the host bridges should
-have header type 1 and be assigned a bus number as for PCI2PCI
-bridges, the reality doesn't pass this test and the bus number
-is usually set by BIOS to the first free value.''
-
-
-
-
-!!4.5 The `pci=nosort' Argument
-
-
-
-Using this argument instructs the kernel to not sort the
-PCI devices during the probing phase.
-
-
-
-
-!!4.6 The `pci=off' Argument
-
-
-
-Using this option disables all PCI bus probing. Any
-device drivers that make use of PCI functions to find
-and initialize hardware will most likely fail to work.
-
-
-
-
-!!4.7 The `pci=reverse' Argument
-
-
-
-This option will reverse the ordering of the PCI devices
-on that PCI bus.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!5. Boot Arguments for Video Frame Buffer Drivers
-
-
-The `video=' argument (not avail. in v2.0 kernels)
-is used when the frame buffer device abstraction layer
-is built into the kernel. If that sounds complicated,
-well it isn't really too bad. It basically means that
-instead of having a different
-video program (the X11R6 server) for each brand of video
-card (e.g. XF86_S3, XF86_SVGA, ...), the kernel would have
-a built in driver available for each video card and export
-a single interface for the video program so that only one
-X11R6 server (XF86_FBDev) would be required. This is similar
-to how networking is now - the kernel has drivers available for
-each brand of network card and exports a single network
-interface so that just one version of a network program
-(like Netscape) will work for all systems, regardless of the
-underlying brand of network card.
-
-
-The typical format of this argument is
-video=name:option1,option2,...
-where name is the name of a generic option or of a
-frame buffer driver.
-The video= option is passed from linux/init/main.c
-into linux/drivers/video/fbmem.c for further processing.
-Here it is checked for some generic options before trying to
-match to a known driver name. Once a driver name match is made,
-the comma separated option list is then passed into that particular
-driver for final processing. The list of valid driver names
-can be found by reading down the fb_drivers array in the
-file fbmem.c mentioned above.
-
-
-Information on the options that each driver supports will
-eventually be found in linux/Documentation/fb/ but
-currently (v2.2) only a few are described there.
-Unfortunately the number
-of video drivers and the number of options for each one
-is content for another document itself and hence
-too much to list here.
-
-
-If there is no Documentation file for your card, you
-will have to get
-the option information directly from the driver. Go to
-linux/drivers/video/ and look in the appropriate
-???fb.c file (the ??? will be based on the card name).
-In there, search for a function with _setup in its name
-and you should see what options the driver tries to match,
-such as font or mode or...
-
-
-
-
-!!5.1 The `video=map:...' Argument
-
-
-
-This option is used to set/override the console to frame buffer
-device mapping. A comma separated list of numbers sets the mapping,
-with the value of option N taken to be the frame buffer device
-number for console N.
-
-
-
-
-!!5.2 The `video=scrollback:...' Argument
-
-
-
-A number after the colon will set the size of memory allocated
-for the scrollback buffer. (Use Shift and Page Up or Page Down
-keys to scroll.) A suffix of `k' or `K' after the number will
-indicate that the number is to be interpreted as kilobytes
-instead of bytes.
-
-
-
-
-!!5.3 The `video=vc:...' Argument
-
-
-
-
-
-
-A number, or a range of numbers (e.g. video=vc:2-5)
-will specify the first, or the first and last frame
-buffer virtual console(s). The use of this option also
-has the effect of setting the frame buffer console to
-''not'' be the default console.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!6. Boot Arguments for SCSI Peripherals.
-
-
-This section contains the descriptions of the boot args that
-are used for passing information about the installed SCSI
-host adapters, and SCSI devices.
-
-
-
-
-!!6.1 Arguments for Mid-level Drivers
-
-
-
-The mid level drivers handle things like disks, CD-ROMs and
-tapes without getting into host adapter specifics.
-
-
-
-
-!Maximum Probed LUNs (`max_scsi_luns=')
-
-
-Each SCSI device can have a number of `sub-devices' contained
-within itself. The most common example is any of the
-SCSI CD-ROMs that handle more than one disk at a time.
-Each CD is addressed as a `Logical Unit Number' (LUN) of
-that particular device. But most devices, such as hard disks,
-tape drives and such are only one device, and will be
-assigned to LUN zero.
-
-
-The problem arises with single LUN devices with bad firmware.
-Some poorly designed SCSI devices (old and unfortunately new)
-can not handle being probed for LUNs not equal to zero. They
-will respond by locking up, and possibly taking the whole
-SCSI bus down with them.
-
-
-The kernel has a configuration option that allows you
-to set the maximum number of probed LUNs. The default is to
-only probe LUN zero, to avoid the problem described above.
-
-
-To specify the number of probed LUNs at boot, one enters
-`max_scsi_luns=n' as a boot arg, where n is a number between
-one and eight. To avoid problems as described above, one would
-use n=1 to avoid upsetting such broken devices
-
-
-
-
-!SCSI Logging (`scsi_logging=')
-
-
-Supplying a non-zero value to this boot argument turns on
-logging of all SCSI events (error, scan, mlqueue, mlcomplete,
-llqueue, llcomplete, hlqueue, hlcomplete). Note that
-better control of which events are logged can be obtained
-via the /proc/scsi/scsi interface if you aren't
-interested in the events that take place at boot before
-the /proc/ filesystem is accessible.
-
-
-
-
-!Parameters for the SCSI Tape Driver (`st=')
-
-
-Some boot time configuration of the SCSI tape driver can
-be achieved by using the following:
-
-
-
-----
-
-st=buf_size[[,write_threshold[[,max_bufs]]
-
-----
-
-
-The first two numbers are specified in units of kB.
-The default buf_size is 32kB, and the maximum size
-that can be specified is a ridiculous 16384kB.
-The write_threshold is the value at which the buffer is
-committed to tape, with a default value of 30kB.
-The maximum number of buffers varies with the number of drives
-detected, and has a default of two. An example usage would be:
-
-
-
-----
-
-st=32,30,2
-
-----
-
-
-Full details can be found in the README.st file that is
-in the scsi directory of the kernel source tree.
-
-
-
-
-!!6.2 Arguments for SCSI Host Adapter Drivers
-
-
-
-General notation for this section:
-
-
-scsi-id -- the ID that the host adapter uses to identify
-itself on the SCSI bus. Only some host adapters allow you to
-change this value, as most have it permanently specified
-internally. The usual default value is seven, but the Seagate
-and Future Domain TMC-950 boards use six.
-
-
-parity -- whether the SCSI host adapter expects the attached
-devices to supply a parity value with all information exchanges.
-Specifying a one indicates parity checking is enabled, and a
-zero disables parity checking. Again, not all adapters will
-support selection of parity behaviour as a boot argument.
-
-
-
-
-!Adaptec aha151x, aha152x, aic6260, aic6360, SB16-SCSI (`aha152x=')
-
-
-The aha numbers refer to cards and the aic numbers refer to
-the actual SCSI chip on these type of cards, including the
-Soundblaster-16 SCSI.
-
-
-The probe code for these SCSI hosts looks for an installed BIOS,
-and if none is present, the probe will not find your card. Then
-you will have to use a boot argument of the form:
-
-
-aha152x=iobase,irq,scsi-id,reconnect,parity
-
-
-Note that if the driver was compiled with debugging enabled,
-a sixth value can be specified to set the debug level.
-The second to fifth values are also optional.
-
-
-All the parameters are as described at the top of this section,
-and the reconnect value will allow device disconnect/reconnect
-if a non-zero value is used.
-Note that the parameters must be specified in order, meaning that
-if you want to specify a parity setting, then you will have to
-specify an iobase, irq, scsi-id and reconnect value as well.
-
-
-
-
-!Adaptec aha154x (`aha1542=')
-
-
-These are the aha154x series cards. The aha1542 series cards
-have an i82077 floppy controller onboard, while the aha1540
-series cards do not. These are busmastering cards, and have
-parameters to set the ``fairness'' that is used to share the
-bus with other devices. The boot argument looks like the following.
-
-
-
-----
-
-aha1542=iobase[[,buson,busoff[[,dmaspeed]]
-
-----
-
-
-Valid iobase values are usually one of:
-0x130, 0x134, 0x230, 0x234, 0x330, 0x334.
-Clone cards may permit other values.
-
-
-The buson, busoff values refer to the number of microseconds
-that the card dominates the ISA bus. The defaults are 11us on, and
-4us off, so that other cards (such as an ISA LANCE Ethernet card)
-have a chance to get access to the ISA bus.
-
-
-The dmaspeed value refers to the rate (in MB/s) at which the
-DMA (Direct Memory Access) transfers proceed at. The default is
-5MB/s. Newer revision cards allow you to select this value as part
-of the soft-configuration, older cards use jumpers. You can use
-values up to 10MB/s assuming that your motherboard is capable of
-handling it. Experiment with caution if using values over 5MB/s.
-
-
-
-
-!Adaptec aha274x, aha284x, aic7xxx (`aic7xxx=')
-
-
-These boards can accept an argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-aic7xxx=extended,no_reset
-
-----
-
-
-The extended value, if non-zero, indicates that extended
-translation for large disks is enabled. The no_reset
-value, if non-zero, tells the driver not to reset the SCSI bus
-when setting up the host adaptor at boot.
-
-
-
-
-!!AdvanSys SCSI Host Adaptors (`advansys=')
-
-
-The !AdvanSys driver can accept up to four i/o addresses that
-will be probed for an !AdvanSys SCSI card. Note that these
-values (if used) do not effect EISA or PCI probing in any way.
-They are only used for probing ISA and VLB cards.
-In addition, if the driver has been compiled with debugging
-enabled, the level of debugging output can be set by
-adding an 0xdeb[[-f] parameter. The -f
-allows setting the level of the debugging messages to any
-of 16 levels of verbosity.
-
-
-
-
-!Always IN2000 Host Adaptor (`in2000=')
-
-
-Unlike other SCSI host boot arguments, the IN2000 driver uses
-ASCII string prefixes for most of its integer arguments. Here
-is a list of the supported arguments:
-
-
-ioport:addr --
-Where addr is IO address of a (usually ROM-less) card.
-
-
-noreset --
-No optional args. Prevents SCSI bus reset at boot time.
-
-
-nosync:x --
-x is a bitmask where the 1st 7 bits correspond with
-the 7 possible SCSI devices (bit 0 for device #, etc).
-Set a bit to PREVENT sync negotiation on that device.
-The driver default is sync DISABLED on all devices.
-
-
-period:ns --
-ns is the minimum # of nanoseconds in a SCSI data transfer
-period. Default is 500; acceptable values are 250 to 1000.
-
-
-disconnect:x --
-x = 0 to never allow disconnects, 2 to always allow them.
-x = 1 does 'adaptive' disconnects, which is the default
-and generally the best choice.
-
-
-debug:x
-If `DEBUGGING_ON' is defined, x is a bitmask that causes
-various types of debug output to printed - see the DB_xxx
-defines in in2000.h
-
-
-proc:x --
-If `PROC_INTERFACE' is defined, x is a bitmask that
-determines how the /proc interface works and what it
-does - see the PR_xxx defines in in2000.h
-
-
-
-
-
-Some example usages are listed below:
-
-
-
-----
-
-in2000=ioport:0x220,noreset
-in2000=period:250,disconnect:2,nosync:0x03
-in2000=debug:0x1e
-in2000=proc:3
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!AMD AM53C974 based hardware (`AM53C974=')
-
-
-Unlike other drivers, this one does not use boot parameters
-to communicate i/o, IRQ or DMA channels. (Since the AM53C974
-is a PCI device, there shouldn't be a need to do so.)
-Instead, the parameters are used to communicate the transfer
-modes and rates that are to be used between the host and
-the target device. This is best described with an example:
-
-
-
-----
-
-AM53C974=7,2,8,15
-
-----
-
-
-This would be interpreted as follows: `For communication between
-the controller with SCSI-ID 7 and the device with SCSI-ID 2, a
-transfer rate of 8MHz in synchronous mode with max. 15 bytes
-offset should be negotiated.' More details can be found in
-the file linux/drivers/scsi/README.AM53C974
-
-
-
-
-!!BusLogic SCSI Hosts (`!BusLogic=')
-
-
-With v2.x kernels, the !BusLogic driver accepts many parameters.
-(Note the case in the above; upper case B and L!!!).
-There are simply too many to list here. A complete description
-is tucked away in the middle of the driver
-linux/drivers/scsi/!BusLogic.c and searching for the
-string !BusLogic= will put you right on it.
-
-
-
-
-!EATA SCSI Cards (`eata=')
-
-
-As of late v2.0 kernels, the EATA drivers will accept a boot
-argument to specify the i/o base(s) to be probed. It is of the
-form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-eata=iobase1[[,iobase2][[,iobase3]...[[,iobaseN]
-
-----
-
-
-The driver will probe the addresses in the order that they are
-listed.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!Future Domain TMC-8xx, TMC-950 (`tmc8xx=')
-
-
-The probe code for these SCSI hosts looks for an installed BIOS,
-and if none is present, the probe will not find your card. Or,
-if the signature string of your BIOS is not recognized then it
-will also not be found. In either case, you will then have to use a
-boot argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-tmc8xx=mem_base,irq
-
-----
-
-
-The mem_base value is the value of the memory mapped
-I/O region that the card uses. This will usually be one of
-the following values:
-0xc8000, 0xca000, 0xcc000, 0xce000, 0xdc000, 0xde000.
-
-
-
-
-!Future Domain TMC-16xx, TMC-3260, AHA-2920 (`fdomain=')
-
-
-The driver detects these cards according to a list of known
-BIOS ROM signatures. For a full list of known BIOS revisions,
-please see linux/drivers/scsi/fdomain.c as it has a
-lot of information at the top of that file. If your BIOS is not
-known to the driver, you can use an override of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-fdomain=iobase,irq[[,scsi_id]
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-!IOMEGA Parallel Port / ZIP drive (`ppa=')
-
-
-This driver is for the IOMEGA Parallel Port SCSI adapter
-which is embedded into the IOMEGA ZIP drives. It may also
-work with the original IOMEGA PPA3 device. The boot argument
-for this driver is of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-ppa=iobase,speed_high,speed_low,nybble
-
-----
-
-
-with all but iobase being optionally specified values. If you
-wish to alter any of the three optional parameters, you
-are advised to read linux/drivers/scsi/README.ppa
-for details of what they control.
-
-
-
-
-!NCR5380 based controllers (`ncr5380=')
-
-
-Depending on your board, the 5380 can be either i/o mapped
-or memory mapped. (An address below 0x400 usually implies
-i/o mapping, but PCI and EISA hardware use i/o addresses
-above 0x3ff.) In either case, you specify the address, the
-IRQ value and the DMA channel value. An example for an i/o
-mapped card would be: ncr5380=0x350,5,3. If the card
-doesn't use interrupts, then an IRQ value of 255 (0xff)
-will disable interrupts. An IRQ value of 254 means to
-autoprobe. More details can be found in the file
-linux/drivers/scsi/README.g_NCR5380
-
-
-
-
-!NCR53c400 based controllers (`ncr53c400=')
-
-
-The generic 53c400 support is done with the same driver as
-the generic 5380 support mentioned above. The boot argument is
-identical to the above with the exception that no DMA channel
-is used by the 53c400.
-
-
-
-
-!NCR53c406a based controllers (`ncr53c406a=')
-
-
-This driver uses a boot argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-ncr53c406a=PORTBASE,IRQ,FASTPIO
-
-----
-
-
-where the IRQ and FASTPIO parameters are optional. An interrupt
-value of zero disables the use of interrupts. Using a value of
-one for the FASTPIO parameter enables the use of insl and
-outsl instructions instead of the single-byte inb
-and outb instructions. The driver can also use DMA as
-a compile-time option.
-
-
-
-
-!Pro Audio Spectrum (`pas16=')
-
-
-The PAS16 uses a NCR5380 SCSI chip, and newer models support
-jumper-less configuration. The boot argument is of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-pas16=iobase,irq
-
-----
-
-
-The only difference is that you can specify an IRQ value of
-255, which will tell the driver to work without using interrupts,
-albeit at a performance loss. The iobase is usually 0x388.
-
-
-
-
-!Seagate ST-0x (`st0x=')
-
-
-The probe code for these SCSI hosts looks for an installed BIOS,
-and if none is present, the probe will not find your card. Or,
-if the signature string of your BIOS is not recognized then it
-will also not be found. In either case, you will then have to use a
-boot argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-st0x=mem_base,irq
-
-----
-
-
-The mem_base value is the value of the memory mapped
-I/O region that the card uses. This will usually be one of
-the following values:
-0xc8000, 0xca000, 0xcc000, 0xce000, 0xdc000, 0xde000.
-
-
-
-
-!Trantor T128 (`t128=')
-
-
-These cards are also based on the NCR5380 chip, and accept
-the following options:
-
-
-
-----
-
-t128=mem_base,irq
-
-----
-
-
-The valid values for mem_base are as follows:
-0xcc000, 0xc8000, 0xdc000, 0xd8000.
-
-
-
-
-!Ultrastor SCSI cards (`u14-34f=')
-
-
-Note that there appears to be two independent drivers
-for this card, namely CONFIG_SCSI_U14_34F that uses
-u14-34f.c and CONFIG_SCSI_ULTRASTOR that uses
-ultrastor.c. It is the u14-34f one that (as of late
-v2.0 kernels) accepts a boot argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-u14-34f=iobase1[[,iobase2][[,iobase3]...[[,iobaseN]
-
-----
-
-
-The driver will probe the addresses in the order that they are
-listed.
-
-
-
-
-!Western Digital WD7000 cards (`wd7000=')
-
-
-The driver probe for the wd7000 looks for a known BIOS ROM
-string and knows about a few standard configuration settings.
-If it doesn't come up with the correct values for your card,
-or you have an unrecognized BIOS version, you can use
-a boot argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-wd7000=irq,dma,iobase
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!6.3 SCSI Host Adapters that don't Accept Boot Args
-
-
-
-At present, the following SCSI cards do not make use of any
-boot-time parameters. In some cases, you can ''hard-wire''
-values by directly editing the driver itself, if required.
-
-
-
-
-Adaptec aha1740 (EISA probing),
-NCR53c7xx,8xx (PCI, both drivers)
-Qlogic Fast (0x230, 0x330)
-Qlogic ISP (PCI)
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!7. Hard Disks
-
-
-This section lists all the boot args associated with standard
-MFM/RLL, ST-506, XT, and IDE disk drive devices.
-Note that both the IDE and the generic ST-506 HD driver
-both accept the `hd=' option.
-
-
-
-
-!!7.1 IDE Disk/CD-ROM Driver Parameters
-
-
-
-The IDE driver accepts a number of parameters, which range
-from disk geometry specifications, to support for advanced or
-broken controller chips. The following is a summary of
-all the possible boot arguments. For full details, you
-''really'' should consult the file ide.txt in the
-linux/Documentation directory, from which this
-summary was extracted.
-
-
-
-----
-
-"hdx=" is recognized for all "x" from "a" to "h", such as "hdc".
-"idex=" is recognized for all "x" from "" to "3", such as "ide1".
-"hdx=noprobe" : drive may be present, but do not probe for it
-"hdx=none" : drive is NOT present, ignore cmos and do not probe
-"hdx=nowerr" : ignore the WRERR_STAT bit on this drive
-"hdx=cdrom" : drive is present, and is a cdrom drive
-"hdx=cyl,head,sect" : disk drive is present, with specified geometry
-"hdx=autotune" : driver will attempt to tune interface speed
-to the fastest PIO mode supported,
-if possible for this drive only.
-Not fully supported by all chipset types,
-and quite likely to cause trouble with
-older/odd IDE drives.
-"idex=noprobe" : do not attempt to access/use this interface
-"idex=base" : probe for an interface at the addr specified,
-where "base" is usually 0x1f0 or 0x170
-and "ctl" is assumed to be "base"+0x206
-"idex=base,ctl" : specify both base and ctl
-"idex=base,ctl,irq" : specify base, ctl, and irq number
-"idex=autotune" : driver will attempt to tune interface speed
-to the fastest PIO mode supported,
-for all drives on this interface.
-Not fully supported by all chipset types,
-and quite likely to cause trouble with
-older/odd IDE drives.
-"idex=noautotune" : driver will NOT attempt to tune interface speed
-This is the default for most chipsets,
-except the cmd640.
-"idex=serialize" : do not overlap operations on idex and ide(x^1)
-
-----
-
-
-The following are valid ONLY on ide0,
-and the defaults for the base,ctl ports must not be altered.
-
-
-
-----
-
-"ide0=dtc2278" : probe/support DTC2278 interface
-"ide0=ht6560b" : probe/support HT6560B interface
-"ide0=cmd640_vlb" : *REQUIRED* for VLB cards with the CMD640 chip
-(not for PCI -- automatically detected)
-"ide0=qd6580" : probe/support qd6580 interface
-"ide0=ali14xx" : probe/support ali14xx chipsets (ALI M1439/M1445)
-"ide0=umc8672" : probe/support umc8672 chipsets
-
-----
-
-
-Everything else is rejected with a "BAD OPTION" message.
-Also note that there is an implied ide0=0x1f0 ide1=0x170
-in the absence of any other ide boot args.
-
-
-
-
-!!7.2 Standard ST-506 Disk Driver Options (`hd=')
-
-
-
-The standard disk driver can accept geometry arguments for
-the disks similar to the IDE driver. Note however that it
-only expects three values (C/H/S) -- any more or any less
-and it will silently ignore you. Also, it only accepts
-`hd=' as an argument, i.e. `hda=', `hdb=' and so on are
-not valid here. The format is as follows:
-
-
-
-----
-
-hd=cyls,heads,sects
-
-----
-
-
-If there are two disks installed, the above is repeated
-with the geometry parameters of the second disk.
-
-
-
-
-!!7.3 XT Disk Driver Options (`xd=')
-
-
-
-If you are unfortunate enough to be using one of these old
-8 bit cards that move data at a whopping 125kB/s then here
-is the scoop. The probe code for these cards looks for an installed
-BIOS, and if none is present, the probe will not find your card. Or,
-if the signature string of your BIOS is not recognized then it
-will also not be found. In either case, you will then have to use a
-boot argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-xd=type,irq,iobase,dma_chan
-
-----
-
-
-The type value specifies the particular manufacturer of the
-card, and are as follows: =generic; 1=DTC; 2,3,4=Western Digital,
-5,6,7=Seagate; 8=OMTI. The only difference between multiple types
-from the same manufacturer is the BIOS string used for detection,
-which is not used if the type is specified.
-
-
-The xd_setup() function does no checking on the values, and
-assumes that you entered all four values. Don't disappoint it.
-Here is an example usage for a WD1002 controller with the BIOS
-disabled/removed, using the `default' XT controller parameters:
-
-
-
-----
-
-xd=2,5,0x320,3
-
-----
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!8. The Sound Drivers
-
-
-
-
-
-With the sound driver(s) compiled into older kernels,
-it was virtually impossible to change the parameters that
-were selected at compile time. Now, each driver has an
-individual boot argument, and no defaults are set at
-compile time (i.e. you ''must'' supply a boot
-argument for older non-PNP ISA cards to be detected.)
-If information on your card is not here then check the files
-in linux/Documentation/sound/.
-You can typically use -1 for unused parameters
-or to disable various things like the 16 bit DMA channel(s).
-
-
-
-
-!!8.1 The AD1848 (`ad1848=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-ad1848=io,irq,dma,dma2,type
-
-
-
-
-!!8.2 The Adlib (`adlib=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-adlib=io
-
-
-
-
-!!8.3 The MAD16 (`mad16=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-mad16=io,irq,dma,dma16,mpu_io,mpu_irq.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!8.4 The !ProAudioSpectrum PAS16 (`pas2=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-pas2=io,irq,dma,dma2,sbio,sbirq,sbdma,sbdma16
-
-
-where the sb prefixed values are for the !SoundBlaster
-emulation that the PAS16 provides.
-You should also use the sb= argument with the
-same values given for the !SoundBlaster emulation.
-
-
-
-
-!!8.5 The !SoundBlaster (`sb=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-sb=io,irq,dma,dma2.
-
-
-
-
-!!8.6 The UART 401 (`uart401=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-uart401=io,irq.
-
-
-
-
-!!8.7 The UART 6850 (`uart6850=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-uart6850=io,irq.
-
-
-
-
-!!8.8 The Yamaha OPL2/OPL3/OPL4 FM Synthesizer (`opl3=')
-
-
-
-This argument expects an I/O address only, and the most
-common one (for ISA cards) is opl3=0x388.
-
-
-
-
-!!8.9 The Yamaha OPL3-SA FM Synthesizer (`opl3sa=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-opl3sa=io,irq,dma,dma2,mpu_io,mpu_irq.
-
-
-
-
-!!8.10 The Yamaha OPL3-SA2/SA3 FM Synthesizer (`opl3sa2=')
-
-
-
-This takes an argument of the form:
-
-
-opl3sa2=io,irq,dma,dma2,mss_io,mpu_io,ymode,loopback,isapnp,multiple
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!9. CD-ROMs (Non-SCSI/ATAPI/IDE)
-
-
-This section lists all the possible boot args pertaining to
-these older CD-ROM devices on proprietary interface cards.
-Note that this does not include SCSI or
-IDE/ATAPI CD-ROMs. See the appropriate section(s) for those
-types of CD-ROMs.
-
-
-Note that most of these CD-ROMs have documentation files that you
-''should'' read, and they are all in one handy place:
-linux/Documentation/cdrom.
-
-
-
-
-!!9.1 The Aztech Interface (`aztcd=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this type of card is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-aztcd=iobase[[,magic_number]
-
-----
-
-
-If you set the magic_number to 0x79 then the driver
-will try and run anyway in the event of an unknown firmware
-version. All other values are ignored.
-
-
-
-
-!!9.2 The CDU-31A and CDU-33A Sony Interface (`cdu31a=')
-
-
-
-This CD-ROM interface is found on some of the Pro Audio
-Spectrum sound cards, and other Sony supplied interface cards.
-The syntax is as follows:
-
-
-
-----
-
-cdu31a=iobase,[[irq[[,is_pas_card]]
-
-----
-
-
-Specifying an IRQ value of zero tells the driver that hardware
-interrupts aren't supported (as on some PAS cards). If your
-card supports interrupts, you should use them as it cuts down
-on the CPU usage of the driver.
-
-
-The `is_pas_card' should be entered as `PAS' if using a
-Pro Audio Spectrum card, and otherwise it should not be
-specified at all.
-
-
-
-
-!!9.3 The CDU-535 Sony Interface (`sonycd535=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this CD-ROM interface is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-sonycd535=iobase[[,irq]
-
-----
-
-
-A zero can be used for the I/O base as a `placeholder'
-if one wishes to specify an IRQ value.
-
-
-
-
-!!9.4 The !GoldStar Interface (`gscd=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this CD-ROM interface is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-gscd=iobase
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!9.5 The ISP16 Interface (`isp16=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this CD-ROM interface is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-isp16=[[port[[,irq[[,dma]]][[[[,]drive_type]
-
-----
-
-
-Using a zero for irq or dma means that they are not
-used. The allowable values for drive_type are
-noisp16, Sanyo, Panasonic, Sony, and Mitsumi.
-Using noisp16 disables the driver altogether.
-
-
-
-
-!!9.6 The Mitsumi Standard Interface (`mcd=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this CD-ROM interface is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-mcd=iobase,[[irq[[,wait_value]]
-
-----
-
-
-The wait_value is used as an internal timeout value
-for people who are having problems with their drive, and
-may or may not be implemented depending on a compile time
-DEFINE.
-
-
-
-
-!!9.7 The Mitsumi XA/!MultiSession Interface (`mcdx=')
-
-
-
-At present this `experimental' driver has a setup function,
-but no parameters are implemented yet (as of 1.3.15).
-This is for the same hardware as above, but the driver
-has extended features.
-
-
-
-
-!!9.8 The Optics Storage Interface (`optcd=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this type of card is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-optcd=iobase
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!9.9 The Phillips CM206 Interface (`cm206=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this type of card is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-cm206=[[iobase][[,irq]
-
-----
-
-
-The driver assumes numbers between 3 and 11 are IRQ values,
-and numbers between 0x300 and 0x370 are I/O ports,
-so you can specify one, or both numbers, in any order.
-It also accepts `cm206=auto' to enable autoprobing.
-
-
-
-
-!!9.10 The Sanyo Interface (`sjcd=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this type of card is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-sjcd=iobase[[,irq[[,dma_channel]]
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!9.11 The !SoundBlaster Pro Interface (`sbpcd=')
-
-
-
-The syntax for this type of card is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-sbpcd=iobase,type
-
-----
-
-
-where type is one of the following (case sensitive)
-strings: `!SoundBlaster', `!LaserMate', or `SPEA'.
-The I/O base is that of the CD-ROM interface, and ''not''
-that of the sound portion of the card.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!10. Serial and ISDN Drivers
-
-!!10.1 The ICN ISDN driver (`icn=')
-
-
-
-This ISDN driver expects a boot argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-icn=iobase,membase,icn_id1,icn_id2
-
-----
-
-
-where iobase is the i/o port address of the card, membase
-is the shared memory base address of the card, and the two
-icn_id are unique ASCII string identifiers. You only need
-the second identifier when using a 4B double card.
-
-
-
-
-!!10.2 The PCBIT ISDN driver (`pcbit=')
-
-
-
-This boot argument takes integer pair arguments of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-pcbit=membase1,irq1[[,membase2,irq2]
-
-----
-
-
-where membaseN is the shared memory base of the N'th card,
-and irqN is the interrupt setting of the N'th card. The
-default is IRQ 5 and membase 0xD0000.
-
-
-
-
-!!10.3 The Teles ISDN driver (`teles=')
-
-
-
-This ISDN driver expects a boot argument of the form:
-
-
-
-----
-
-teles=iobase,irq,membase,protocol,teles_id
-
-----
-
-
-where iobase is the i/o port address of the card, membase
-is the shared memory base address of the card, irq is the
-interrupt channel the card uses, and teles_id is the
-unique ASCII string identifier.
-
-
-
-
-!!10.4 The !DigiBoard Driver (`digi=')
-
-
-
-The !DigiBoard driver accepts a string of six comma separated
-identifiers or integers. The 6 values in order are:
-
-
-
-
-Enable/Disable this card
-Type of card: PC/Xi(), PC/Xe(1), PC/Xeve(2), PC/Xem(3)
-Enable/Disable alternate pin arrangement
-Number of ports on this card
-I/O Port where card is configured (in HEX if using string identifiers)
-Base of memory window (in HEX if using string identifiers)
-
-
-
-An example of a correct boot prompt argument (in both
-identifier and integer form) is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-digi=E,PC/Xi,D,16,200,D0000
-digi=1,,,16,512,851968
-
-----
-
-
-Note that the driver defaults to an i/o of 0x200 and
-a shared memory base of 0xD0000
-in the absence of a digi= boot argument. There is no
-autoprobing performed. More details can be found in the file
-linux/Documentation/digiboard.txt.
-
-
-
-
-!!10.5 The RISCom/8 Multiport Serial Driver (`riscom8=')
-
-
-
-Up to four boards can be supported by supplying four
-unique i/o port values for each individual board installed.
-Other details can be found in the file
-linux/Documentation/riscom8.txt.
-
-
-
-
-!!10.6 The Baycom Serial/Parallel Radio Modem (`baycom=')
-
-
-
-The format of the boot argument for these devices is:
-
-
-
-----
-
-baycom=modem,io,irq,options[[,modem,io,irq,options]
-
-----
-
-
-Using modem=1 means you have the ser12 device, modem=2 means
-you have the par96 device. Using options=0 means use hardware DCD,
-and options=1 means use software DCD. The io and irq
-are the i/o port base and interrupt settings as usual.
-There is more details in the file README.baycom which
-is currently in the /linux/drivers/char/ directory.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!11. Other Hardware Devices
-
-
-Any other devices that didn't fit into any of the above categories
-got lumped together here.
-
-
-
-
-!!11.1 Ethernet Devices (`ether=', `netdev=')
-
-
-
-Different drivers make use of different parameters, but they all
-at least share having an IRQ, an I/O port base value, and
-a name. In its most generic form, it looks something like this:
-
-
-
-----
-
-ether=irq,iobase[[,param_1[[,param_2,...param_8]]],name
-
-----
-
-
-The first non-numeric argument is taken as the name.
-The param_n values (if applicable) usually have
-different meanings for each different card/driver.
-Typical param_n values are used to specify things
-like shared memory address, interface selection, DMA
-channel and the like.
-
-
-The most common use of this parameter is to force probing
-for a second ethercard, as the default is to only probe
-for one. This can be accomplished with a simple:
-
-
-
-----
-
-ether=,,eth1
-
-----
-
-
-Note that the values of zero for the IRQ and I/O base in the
-above example tell the driver(s) to autoprobe.
-
-
-IMPORTANT NOTE TO MODULE USERS: The above will ''not'' force a
-probe for a second card if you are using the driver(s) as run time
-loadable modules (instead of having them complied into the kernel).
-Most Linux distributions use a bare bones kernel combined with a
-large selection of modular drivers. The ether= only applies
-to drivers compiled directly into the kernel.
-
-
-The Ethernet-!HowTo has complete and extensive
-documentation on using multiple cards and on the card/driver
-specific implementation of the param_n values where used.
-Interested readers should refer to the section in that document
-on their particular card for more complete information.
-Ethernet-!HowTo
-
-
-
-!!11.2 The Floppy Disk Driver (`floppy=')
-
-
-
-There are many floppy driver options, and they are all listed in
-README.fd in linux/drivers/block. There are too
-many options in that file to list here. Instead, only those
-options that may be required to get a Linux install to proceed
-on less than normal hardware are reprinted here.
-
-
-floppy=,daring
-Tells the floppy driver that your floppy controller should be used
-with caution (disables all daring operations).
-
-
-floppy=thinkpad
-Tells the floppy driver that you have a Thinkpad. Thinkpads use an
-inverted convention for the disk change line.
-
-
-floppy=nodma
-Tells the floppy driver not to use DMA for data transfers.
-This is needed on HP Omnibooks, which don't have a workable
-DMA channel for the floppy driver. This option is also useful
-if you frequently get `Unable to allocate DMA memory' messages.
-Use of `nodma' is not recommended if
-you have a FDC without a FIFO (8272A or 82072). 82072A and
-later are OK). The FDC model is reported at boot.
-You also need at least a 486 to use nodma.
-
-
-floppy=nofifo
-Disables the FIFO entirely. This is needed if you get `Bus
-master arbitration error' messages from your Ethernet card (or
-from other devices) while accessing the floppy.
-
-
-floppy=broken_dcl
-Don't use the disk change line, but assume that the disk was
-changed whenever the device node is reopened. Needed on some
-boxes where the disk change line is broken or unsupported.
-This should be regarded as a stopgap measure, indeed it makes
-floppy operation less efficient due to unneeded cache
-flushings, and slightly more unreliable. Please verify your
-cable connection and jumper settings if you have any DCL
-problems. However, some older drives, and also some Laptops
-are known not to have a DCL.
-
-
-floppy=debug
-Print (additional) debugging messages.
-
-
-floppy=messages
-Print informational messages for some operations (disk change
-notifications, warnings about over and underruns, and about
-autodetection).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!11.3 The Bus Mouse Driver (`bmouse=')
-
-
-
-The busmouse driver only accepts one parameter, that being
-the hardware IRQ value to be used.
-
-
-
-
-!!11.4 The MS Bus Mouse Driver (`msmouse=')
-
-
-
-The MS mouse driver only accepts one parameter, that being
-the hardware IRQ value to be used.
-
-
-
-
-!!11.5 The Printer Driver (`lp=')
-
-
-
-With this boot argument you can tell the printer driver
-what ports to use and what ports ''not'' to use. The latter comes
-in handy if you don't want the printer driver to claim all available
-parallel ports, so that other drivers (e.g. PLIP, PPA) can use
-them instead.
-
-
-The format of the argument is multiple i/o, IRQ pairs. For example,
-lp=0x3bc,,0x378,7 would use the port at 0x3bc in IRQ-less
-(polling) mode, and use IRQ 7 for the port at 0x378. The port
-at 0x278 (if any) would not be probed, since autoprobing only
-takes place in the absence of a lp= argument. To disable the
-printer driver entirely, one can use lp=.
-
-
-
-
-!!11.6 The Parallel port IP driver (`plip=')
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Using plip=timid will tell the plip driver to avoid
-any ports that appear to be in use by other parallel port
-devices. Otherwise you can use plip=parportN where
-N is a non-zero integer indicating the parallel
-port to use. (Using N=0 will disable the plip driver.)
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!12. Copying, Translations, Closing, etc.
-
-
-Hey, you made it to the end! (Phew...) Now just the legal stuff.
-
-
-
-
-!! 12.1 Copyright and Disclaimer
-
-
-
-This document is Copyright (c) 1995-1999 by Paul Gortmaker.
-Copying and redistribution is allowed under the conditions as
-outlined in the Linux Documentation Project Copyright, available
-from where you obtained this document, OR as outlined in the
-GNU General Public License, version 2 (see linux/COPYING).
-
-
-This document is ''not'' gospel. However, it is probably the most
-up to date info that you will be able to find. Nobody is responsible
-for what happens to your hardware but yourself. If your stuff
-goes up in smoke, or anything else bad happens,
-we take no responsibility. ie. THE AUTHOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE
-FOR ANY DAMAGES INCURRED DUE TO ACTIONS TAKEN BASED ON THE
-INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS DOCUMENT.
-
-
-A hint to people considering doing a translation. First,
-translate the SGML source (available via FTP from the !HowTo
-main site) so that you can then generate other output formats.
-Be sure to keep a copy of the original English SGML source that
-you translated from! When an updated !HowTo is released,
-get the new SGML source for that version, and then a simple
-diff -u old.sgml new.sgml will show you exactly what has
-changed so that you can easily incorporate those changes into
-your translated SMGL source without having to re-read or
-re-translate everything.
-
-
-If you are intending to incorporate this document into a
-published work, please make contact (via e-mail) so that
-you can be supplied with the most up to date information
-available. In the past, out of date versions of the Linux
-!HowTo documents have been published, which caused the developers
-undue grief from being plagued with questions that were already
-answered in the up to date versions.
-
-
-
-
-!!12.2 Closing
-
-
-
-If you have found any glaring typos, or outdated info in this
-document, please let me know. It is easy to overlook stuff,
-as the kernel (and the number of drivers) is huge compared
-to what it was when I started this.
-
-
-Thanks,
-
-
-Paul Gortmaker, p_gortmaker@yahoo
.com
-
-
-
-----
+Describe
[HowToBootPromptHOWTO
] here.
