HPCBOOT(8)

📦 version 11.0, in nixpkgs unstable

🎀 hpcboot(8) — System Manager's Manual page, but make it cute 🎀

hey bestie, this is HPCBOOT(8) from the System Manager's Manual, and it's literally the page for hpcboot — the Windows CE program that loads and boots a NetBSD kernel. It's giving "tiny bootloader energy, big main character vibes" 💅✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

hpcboot — load and boot kernel from Windows CE. That's the whole name vibe, no cap.

🚀 SYNOPSIS 🚀

hpcboot.exe

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

hpcboot is a program that runs on Windows CE. It loads and executes the specified NetBSD kernel. hpcboot supports hpcarm, hpcmips, and hpcsh ports.

Click on the “Boot” button to start the boot process with selected options. Click on the “Cancel” button to exit hpcboot.

🧚 Kernel Tab 🧚

On this tab you can select the kernel to boot and options to pass to the kernel.

  • Directory — in this combobox you specify the “current” directory. The kernel and miniroot image pathnames are taken to be relative to this directory.
    • hpcboot can load kernel and miniroot from FAT and UFS filesystems, and via HTTP. Obsessed with the range, honestly 🦋
  • Kernel — in this text field you specify the name of the kernel to load. Kernels compressed with gzip(1) are supported.
  • Model — select your H/PC model in this combobox.
  • Root File System — this group of controls lets you specify the desired root file system type. You can select wd(4), sd(4), md(4), and NFS root.
    • If you select md(4) memory disk root file system, you should specify the path name of the file system image in the text field below. Miniroot images compressed with gzip(1) are supported.
  • Kernel Boot Flags — this group of controls is used to pass boot flags to the kernel.

🎀 Option Tab 🎀

On this tab you can specify miscellaneous options that mostly control the hpcboot program itself.

  • Auto Boot — if this option is selected hpcboot will automatically boot NetBSD after the specified timeout.
  • Reverse Video — tells kernel if it should use the framebuffer in reverse video mode.
  • Pause Before Boot — if selected, a warning dialog will be presented before anything is done, right after the “Boot” button is pressed.
  • Load Debug Info — this option currently does nothing. Yeah, it's lowkey just sitting there looking pretty 🙈
  • Safety Message — if selected, a warning dialog will be presented after the kernel has been loaded and prepared to be started. This will be your last chance to cancel the boot.
  • Extra Kernel Options — in this text field you can specify additional options to pass to the kernel.

🦋 Console Tab 🦋

This tab gets its name from the big text area that hpcboot uses as the “console” to report its progress.

  • Save To File — if checked, the progress log will be sent to the specified file instead.
  • “Checkboxes Anonymous” — the row of 8 checkboxes controls debugging options for hpcboot itself. They control the bits of an internal variable, the leftmost checkbox being the 7th bit.
  • “Buttons Anonymous” — the buttons “a” to “d” control 4 “hooks” a developer might want to use during hpcboot development.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

kloader(4), boot(8)

🕰️ HISTORY 🕰️

The hpcboot utility first appeared in NetBSD 1.6.

💀 BUGS 💀

hpcboot reads the entire kernel image at once, and requires enough free area on the main memory. So yeah, memory check first, bestie 😭

okay that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 source/version: Debian, date: April 3, 2004. Now go forth and boot something iconic 👑💖

📦 where this page comes from