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1.1       root        1: 
                      2: Welcome to the OpenBIOS forth core "begin again".
                      3: 
                      4: Find more information about OpenBIOS at http://www.openbios.org/
                      5: 
                      6: This program was written by Patrick Mauritz and Stefan Reinauer in 2003
                      7: For license details on this piece of software, check Documentation/COPYING.
                      8: 
                      9: How OpenBIOS works
                     10: ------------------
                     11: 
                     12:  The OpenBIOS forth core is split into a forth kernel written in C
                     13:  and a forth dictionary which operated on by the kernel.
                     14: 
                     15:  When building the forth core, you get different versions of
                     16:  the forth kernel: 
                     17: 
                     18:  * a "hosted" unix binary. This binary can be used on a unix system 
                     19: 
                     20:    - to execute a forth dictionary from a file. This can be used for
                     21:      testing openbios code in a development environment on a unix host.
                     22: 
                     23:    - to create a dictionary file. Such a dictionary file sets up
                     24:      all of the forth language. Primitives are indexed to save relocations.
                     25: 
                     26:      The default is to create a forth dictionary forth.dict from
                     27:      forth/start.fs. This file includes all of the basic forth language
                     28:      constructs from forth/bootstrap.fs and starts the interpreter.
                     29: 
                     30:      To achieve this, the hosted unix version contains a basic set of
                     31:      forth words coded in C that allow creating a full dictionary.
                     32: 
                     33:  * a varying number of target specific binaries. On x86 you can start 
                     34:    openbios for example from GRUB or LinuxBIOS. They are all based on
                     35:    the same forth engine consisting of a dictionary scheduler, primitive 
                     36:    words needed to build the forth environment, 2 stacks and a simple 
                     37:    set of console functions. These binaries can not be started directly
                     38:    in the unix host environment.
                     39: 
                     40: Requirements
                     41: ------------
                     42:  * gcc
                     43:  * grub or any other multiboot loader to run the standalone
                     44:    binary "openbios.multiboot"
                     45:  
                     46: Building & Usage
                     47: ----------------
                     48: 
                     49:  * make
                     50: 
                     51:    this builds "openbios.multiboot", the standalone image and "unix", 
                     52:    the hosted image. Additionally it creates a forth dictionary
                     53:    file from forth/start.fs. All generated files are written to 
                     54:    the absolute directory held by the variable BUILDDIR, which defaults
                     55:    to obj-[platform]. Some compile time parameters can be tweaked in
                     56:    include/config.h
                     57:    
                     58:  * use "unix" to create a forth dictionary on your own:
                     59:    $ ./unix -Iforth start.fs
                     60:    creates the file forth.dict from forth source forth/start.fs.
                     61: 
                     62:  * use "unix" to run a created dictionary: 
                     63:    $ ./unix forth.dict
                     64:    This is useful for testing
                     65:  
                     66:  * booting openbios
                     67:    You can boot openbios i.e. in grub. Add the following lines to
                     68:    your menu.lst:
                     69: 
                     70:     title openbios
                     71:       kernel (hd0,2)/boot/openbios.multiboot
                     72:       module (hd0,2)/boot/openfirmware.dict
                     73: 
                     74:    Note: change (hd0,2) to the partition you copied openbios and
                     75:    forth.dict to.
                     76: 
                     77:    To boot OpenBIOS from LinuxBIOS/etherboot, you can either use
                     78:    "openbios" or "openbios.full":
                     79: 
                     80:    - openbios is the pure kernel that loads the dictionary from a 
                     81:      hardcoded address in flash memory (0xfffe0000)
                     82: 
                     83:    - openbios.full also includes the dictionary directly so that it
                     84:      can be easily used from etherboot or the LinuxBIOS builtin ELF
                     85:      loader without taking care of the dictionary
                     86: 
                     87: 
                     88: Comments are welcome.
                     89: 
                     90:      OpenBIOS team
                     91: 
                     92: ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     93: tag: README for openbios forth core

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