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35 lines
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>boot</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../B.html" title="B"/><link rel="previous" href="book-titles.html" title="book titles"/><link rel="next" href="Borg.html" title="Borg"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">boot</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="book-titles.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">B</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="Borg.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="boot"/><dt xmlns="" id="boot"><b>boot</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">v.,n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [techspeak; from ‘by one's bootstraps’] To load and
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initialize the operating system on a machine. This usage is no longer
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jargon (having passed into techspeak) but has given rise to some
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derivatives that are still jargon.</p><p>The derivative <span class="firstterm">reboot</span> implies
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that the machine hasn't been down for long, or that the boot is a
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<a href="bounce.html"><i class="glossterm">bounce</i></a> (sense 4) intended to clear some state of
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<a href="../W/wedgitude.html"><i class="glossterm">wedgitude</i></a>. This is sometimes used of human thought
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processes, as in the following exchange: “<span class="quote">You've lost me.</span>”
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“<span class="quote">OK, reboot. Here's the theory....</span>”</p><p>This term is also found in the variants <span class="firstterm">cold boot</span> (from power-off condition) and
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<span class="firstterm">warm boot</span> (with the CPU and all
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devices already powered up, as after a hardware reset or software
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crash).</p><p>Another variant: <span class="firstterm">soft boot</span>,
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reinitialization of only part of a system, under control of other software
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still running: “<span class="quote">If you're running the <a href="../M/mess-dos.html"><i class="glossterm">mess-dos</i></a>
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emulator, control-alt-insert will cause a soft-boot of the emulator, while
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leaving the rest of the system running.</span>”</p><p>Opposed to this there is <span class="firstterm">hard
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boot</span>, which connotes hostility towards or frustration with the
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machine being booted: “<span class="quote">I'll have to hard-boot this losing
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Sun.</span>” “<span class="quote">I recommend booting it hard.</span>” One often
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hard-boots by performing a <a href="../P/power-cycle.html"><i class="glossterm">power cycle</i></a>.</p></dd><dd><p>Historical note: this term derives from <span class="firstterm">bootstrap loader</span>, a short program that was read
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in from cards or paper tape, or toggled in from the front panel switches.
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This program was always very short (great efforts were expended on making
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it short in order to minimize the labor and chance of error involved in
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toggling it in), but was just smart enough to read in a slightly more
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complex program (usually from a card or paper tape reader), to which it
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handed control; this program in turn was smart enough to read the
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application or operating system from a magnetic tape drive or disk drive.
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Thus, in successive steps, the computer ‘pulled itself up by its
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bootstraps’ to a useful operating state. Nowadays the bootstrap is
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usually found in ROM or EPROM, and reads the first stage in from a fixed
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location on the disk, called the ‘boot block’. When this
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program gains control, it is powerful enough to load the actual OS and hand
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control over to it.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="book-titles.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../B.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="Borg.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">book titles </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Borg</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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