2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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boot
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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v.,n. [techspeak; from by one's bootstraps ] To load and initialize the
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operating system on a machine. This usage is no longer jargon (having passed
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into techspeak) but has given rise to some derivatives that are still
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jargon. The derivative reboot implies that the machine hasn't been down for
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long, or that the boot is a bounce (sense 4) intended to clear some state of
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wedgitude. This is sometimes used of human thought processes, as in the
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following exchange: You've lost me. OK, reboot. Here's the theory.... This
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term is also found in the variants cold boot (from power-off condition) and
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warm boot (with the CPU and all devices already powered up, as after a
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hardware reset or software crash). Another variant: soft boot ,
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reinitialization of only part of a system, under control of other software
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still running: If you're running the mess-dos emulator, control-alt-insert
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will cause a soft-boot of the emulator, while leaving the rest of the system
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running. Opposed to this there is hard boot , which connotes hostility
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towards or frustration with the machine being booted: I'll have to hard-boot
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this losing Sun. I recommend booting it hard. One often hard-boots by
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performing a power cycle. Historical note: this term derives from bootstrap
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loader , a short program that was read in from cards or paper tape, or
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toggled in from the front panel switches. This program was always very short
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(great efforts were expended on making it short in order to minimize the
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labor and chance of error involved in toggling it in), but was just smart
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enough to read in a slightly more complex program (usually from a card or
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paper tape reader), to which it handed control; this program in turn was
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smart enough to read the application or operating system from a magnetic
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tape drive or disk drive. Thus, in successive steps, the computer pulled
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itself up by its bootstraps to a useful operating state. Nowadays the
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bootstrap is usually found in ROM or EPROM, and reads the first stage in
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from a fixed location on the disk, called the boot block. When this program
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gains control, it is powerful enough to load the actual OS and hand control
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over to it.
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