monitor.doc

MMURTL(tm) Computer Operating System Ver x0.8, source code.

The MMURTL Monitor Program

The Monitor program (which is included in the operating system) is the first program that MMURTL runs.  The monitor performs all the initialization of internal device drivers and also checks to see which hard disk is the active boot disk (where the rest MMURTL system files are located).

The MMURTL SYSTEM DISK

The monitor determines which disk is the "system" disk by looking for a file named SYSTEM in the MMURTL directory of each drive it can access.  The MMURTL directory must be located in the ROOT directory of one of the the logical hard disk drives (C-J).  

You can have a copy of the MMURTL system software on several of your disks, but the first MMURTL directory on a disk with a file named "SYSTEM" is considered the active system directory.  The drives are searched in alphabetical order beginning with drive C. 

INITIAL JOBS

When the active system disk is found, the monitor will look for a file called INITIAL.JOB in the MMURTL directory of the System disk.  This is a text file that contains the names of services or program to be executed at system startup.

The format of INITIAL.JOB is VERY SIMPLE.  Each line contains the full file name (DRIVE:\DIR\RUNFILE) of a program to execute.  The text immediatly following the filename are the parameters to pass to the program being executed (exactly as if you had executed the program using the RUN command in the Command Line Interpreter (CLI).  The CLI can be run as an initial job also, but it should be the last job listed.  The following is an example of a simple INITIAL.JOB file:


	C:\MMURTL\PRNTSRVC.RUN PRINTER1 LPT1
	C:\MMMAIL\MAILSRVC.RUN 
	C:\MMURTL\CLI.RUN  


The ACTIVE Job (Video & keyboard)

When more than one job is running in MMURTL (usually the case), only one job can be displayed or accept keyboard input at a time. 

The Monitor program allows you to select which job you are currently interacting with.  This is done in one of two ways:

	1. By selecting a function key labeled JOBS, and then selecting whhich job number you want to switch to, or

	2. By using the CTRL-ALT-PageDown key to move forward through the active jobs until you see the one you want. 

Even when a Job is not being displayed it is still running unless it is waiting for something such as Keybard input or some form of communications.  If it is displaying video data, it continues to run becuase a job never actually knows if it is displaying data to the real screen or it's own virtual screen.


MONITOR Function Keys

The Monitor also provides other functions such as system resource display, Active Job display/selection, and access to the built-in debugger via function keys located across the bottom of the display.

The function keys

F1  LDCLI (Load a new Command Line Interpreter)
F2  JOBS  (List Jobs)
F3  STATS (Show System Resource Status)
F8  BOOT  (Reboot the system)
F10 DEBUG (Enter Debugger)

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