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> When the iserver boots a transputer network with a .btl file, is the
> iserver just sequentially picking up bytes from the file and throwing
> them at the C011? This would imply that the .btl file had all the necessary
> bootstrap code for the whole network inside it, in addition to the
> program code that will eventually run on each processor on the network.

You are right!
Look in the file .../source/iserver/iserver.c from your distribution
(ANSI C Toolset), there you can find a function `Boot' which copies a file
down a link.

Hope this helps,

Roger Butenuth

In <1993Jan22.114632.24686@dcs.warwick.ac.uk> markhill@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (M Hill) writes:

>When the iserver boots a transputer network with a .btl file, is the
>iserver just sequentially picking up bytes from the file and throwing
>them at the C011? This would imply that the .btl file had all the necessary
>bootstrap code for the whole network inside it, in addition to the
>program code that will eventually run on each processor on the network.

Indeed.  The bootable file (.btl for Inmos, .run for PACT) contains the
prebooter, main booter, network booter, system processes, user processes,
network configuration information, and whatever else is needed to start
the program.  It is fully selfcontained - the iserver or pserver merely
dumps the file to the link interface, without any interpretation.

>Mark

Rob

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In article <1993Jan22.114632.24686@dcs.warwick.ac.uk>, 
markhill@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (M Hill) writes:

|> I'm doing a project with transputers, and would like to know the answer
|> to the following question.

|> When the iserver boots a transputer network with a .btl file, is the
|> iserver just sequentially picking up bytes from the file and throwing
|> them at the C011? This would imply that the .btl file had all the necessary
|> bootstrap code for the whole network inside it, in addition to the
|> program code that will eventually run on each processor on the network.

Yes and yes.

(What's the project Mark?)

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|----------------------------------------|     or    raw@inmos.co.uk
| The opinions above are my personal     | Internet: raw@inmos.com
| views and do not reflect Inmos policy. | UUCP:(US) uunet!inmos.com!raw

In <1993Jan22.114632.24686@dcs.warwick.ac.uk> markhill@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (M Hill) writes:

>I'm doing a project with transputers, and would like to know the answer
>to the following question.

>When the iserver boots a transputer network with a .btl file, is the
>iserver just sequentially picking up bytes from the file and throwing
>them at the C011? This would imply that the .btl file had all the necessary
>bootstrap code for the whole network inside it, in addition to the
>program code that will eventually run on each processor on the network.

Yup! thats it!

The bootable file has encoded into it all the configuration and
booting info as well as the executable text. The btl file is an
unstructured binary file from the point of view of iserver. The
iserver just sends the file down the link. The file is structured
into packets (as I understand it) by bootstrap code as it passes
into the network and is fanned out. All control lies with the
code in the bootable. The iserver does not have a clue.

I hope that answers it. If you have any further queries, email me
and I will do my best...

Cheers
	Don

-- 
Don Goodeve|Adaptive Systems|Electronics Dept|University of York
email: don@ohm.york.ac.uk|-------->I speak from my own angle...
 --Disclaimer:--------------------------------------------------
|In the beginning was the word. Man attempted to speak the word |

In article <1993Jan22.114632.24686@dcs.warwick.ac.uk>, markhill@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (M Hill) writes:
|> When the iserver boots a transputer network with a .btl file, is the
|> iserver just sequentially picking up bytes from the file and throwing
|> them at the C011? This would imply that the .btl file had all the necessary
|> bootstrap code for the whole network inside it, in addition to the
|> program code that will eventually run on each processor on the network.

That's right. We wrote a simple server we use instead of the iserver that
simply writes the .btl bootfile down the bootlink of the root processor.
From there the network will be bootet automatically.

If you want to write you own Boostrap loaders you can modify the .btl file
using the flag /B when calling the collector. Therefore see 

	ANSI C toolset
	user manual
	Appendix D: Bootstrap loaders
	Page 467-480

There is also an example for the INMOS Network loader.

-- Knut
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In article <1993Jan26.034907.9697@ohm.york.ac.uk> don@ohm.york.ac.uk (Don Goodeve) writes:

   The bootable file has encoded into it all the configuration and
   booting info as well as the executable text. The btl file is an
   unstructured binary file from the point of view of iserver. The
   iserver just sends the file down the link. The file is structured
   into packets (as I understand it) by bootstrap code as it passes
   into the network and is fanned out. All control lies with the
   code in the bootable. The iserver does not have a clue.

Further, there is a very good reason for doing it this way.  Many
(most?) transputers run in an embedded environment where there is no
Iserver.  Having all the bootstrap code in the .btl file means that the
same .btl file can be loaded into ROM to start such a system.

	-jeremy
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