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- SECTION III - Support Features
-
- CHAPTER 6
-
- Soft-ICE Initialization Options
-
- 6.1 Introduction
- 6.2 Loading from the DOS Prompt
- 6.3 Loading Soft-ICE as a Loadable Device Driver
- 6.3.1 Soft-ICE Loading Switches
- 6.4 The Soft-ICE Initialization File S-ICE.DAT
- 6.4.1 Configuration Options
- 6.4.2 Function Key Assignments
- 6.4.3 Initialization Command Sequence
-
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-
- 6.1 Introduction
-
- The Soft-ICE program file (S-ICE.EXE) can be loaded as a loadable device
- driver in CONFIG.SYS or as a program from the DOS command line. To get the
- full power of Soft-ICE, it must be initially loaded as a device driver in
- CONFIG.SYS. However, there may be circumstances when you might want to run
- Soft-ICE from the DOS prompt or a batch file, such as:
-
- * You do not have extended memory in your system
- Soft-ICE can only load as a loadable device driver
- if you have extended memory.
- * You want to take up ZERO bytes of conventional
- memory. When loaded as a device driver,
- Soft-ICE occupies approximately 2K of
- conventional memory.
- * You only need to use Soft-ICE occasionally and
- there are no other programs using extended
- memory.
-
- In some cases you may need some of the features that require Soft-ICE to
- be loaded in CONFIG.SYS but do not want Soft-ICE to be resident all of the
- time. In this case Soft-ICE can be loaded in CONFIG.SYS to reserve
- extended memory, and then disabled, by using the /UN switch, until Soft-
- ICE is required. See section 6.3.1 for more information about the /UN
- switch.
-
- 6.2 Loading Soft-ICE from the DOS Prompt
-
- You can NOT enable all of Soft-ICE's features when loading from the DOS
- prompt. If you will be using Soft-ICE as a stand-alone debugger, it is
- recommended you load Soft-ICE in the CONFIG.SYS file.
-
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-
- To load Soft-ICE from the DOS prompt type:
-
- S-ICE
-
- In systems with no extended memory present, Soft-ICE loads itself at the
- highest memory location possible. The memory used by Soft-ICE is then
- 'mapped out', making it invisible to DOS programs. Since the total memory
- visible to DOS and its programs is less after Soft-ICE loads, it is
- recommended that you load Soft-ICE before any TSR's control programs.
-
- In systems with extended memory, you should only load Soft-ICE from the
- DOS prompt if you are not using extended memory for anything else (e.g.,
- VDISK, CACHE, HIMEM...). When you initially load Soft-ICE from the command
- line or from a batch file, Soft-ICE will prompt you with a warning
- message. This warning message is just to remind you that Soft-ICE will
- overwrite the highest portion of extended memory when it loads. You can
- suppress this warning prompt with the EXTENDED option in the Soft-ICE
- configuration file S-ICE.DAT. For more information about the EXTENDED
- option, see section 6.4.1.
-
- 6.3 Loading Soft-ICE as a Loadable Device Driver
-
- In order to use all of the Soft-ICE features, you must first load Soft-ICE
- as a loadable device driver in your CONFIG.SYS file. The features this
- makes possible are:
-
- * Coexisting with other software that uses extended
- memory.
- Loading as a device driver allows Soft-ICE to
- manage extended memory so you can run Soft-ICE
- with programs that use extended memory, such
- VDISK, CACHE and HIMEM.
-
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-
- * Symbolic and source level debugging
- Loading as a device driver allows Soft-ICE to
- allocate an extended memory buffer for symbols
- and source information.
- * Back trace ranges and the SNAP command
- Loading as a device driver allows Soft-ICE to
- allocate an extended memory buffer for a back
- trace buffer. This buffer is also used for the
- Soft-ICE SNAP command.
- * Enabling Soft-ICE's EMM 4.0 capability
- * Running Soft-ICE with MagicCV or MagicCVW
-
- Note :
- When loaded as a device driver in CONFIG.SYS, Soft-ICE allocates the
- highest portion of extended memory for itself and its associated
- components, so there can be no memory conflicts. S-ICE.EXE must be loaded
- in CONFIG.SYS before any other driver that allocates extended memory
- loaded (e.g., VDISK.SYS, RAMDRIVE.SYS). Generally Soft-ICE works best if
- it is the first loadable device driver installed in CONFIG.SYS.
-
- 6.3.1 Soft-ICE Loading Switches
-
- One or more loading switches can follow S-ICE.EXE in CONFIG.SYS. These
- switches allow you to customize the way extended memory will be reserved
- by Soft-ICE. The switches all must begin with a / character. The loading
- switches are:
-
- * /EXT XXXX -- Informs S-ICE.EXE to reserve
- XXXX Kilobytes of extended memory for other
- DOS programs that use extended memory (e.g.,
- VDISK, CACHE, HIMEM,...). If the /EXT
-
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-
- switch is not present, then any extended memory not used by Soft-ICE and
- its associated components will be left as standard extended memory, but
- the amount can not be guaranteed. The /EXT switch is useful because it is
- sometimes difficult to determine exactly how much memory being used by
- Soft-ICE and its associated components. Using the /EXT switch will
- guarantee a specified amount is available for other programs that use
- extended memory.
-
- * /SYM XXXX -- Informs S-ICE.EXE to reserve
- XXXX Kilobytes of extended memory for symbols
- and source usage. If XXXX is not specified, then
- all remaining extended memory is used for
- symbols. Enough memory must be allocated for
- your .SYM file and all source files. For more
- information about using symbols and source, see
- chapter 7.
- * /TRA XXXX -- Informs S-ICE.EXE to reserve
- XXXX Kilobytes of extended memory for a back
- trace history buffer. This buffer is used for back
- trace ranges and for the SNAP command. If
- XXXX is not specified, then 10K of extended
- memory is automatically reserved for the buffer. If
- you do not want any memory reserved for a back
- trace buffer, use /TRA 0. For more information
- about using back trace ranges, see chapter 9.
- * /MCV XXX -- Informs S-ICE.EXE to reserve
- XXX Kilobytes of extended memory for MagicCV
- or MagicCVW. The minimum amount of extended
- memory you can specify is 280K and the maximum
- is 620K. If XXX is not specified, S-ICE.EXE will
- reserve the remaining memory, between 280K and
- 620K. See chapter 10 for more information about
- running Soft-ICE with MagicCV or MagicCVW.
- */EMM XXXX -- Informs S-ICE.EXE to turn
- XXXX Kilobytes of extended memory into EMM
-
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-
- 4.0 conforming expanded memory. If XXXX is
- specified, then all remaining memory is used as
- expanded. See chapter 8 for more information
- about expanded memory support.
- * /UN -- Informs S-ICE.EXE to enter protected
- mode, reserve any needed extended memory, then
- exit protected mode and unload itself. This switch
- should be used when you are loading S-ICE.EXE
- as a loadable device driver, but you don't want
- your system to remain in protected mode. This
- switch will reserve memory for Soft-ICE, and you
- must execute S-ICE.EXE from the DOS prompt
- when you are ready to use Soft-ICE.
-
- Soft-ICE reserves extended memory in the following order, regardless of
- the order the switches are specified:
-
- Reserve approximately 120K for S-ICE.EXE.
- Reserve memory for the /EXT switch if present.
- Reserve memory for the /SYM switch if present.
- Reserve memory for the /TRA switch if present.
- if it is not present, default to reserve 10K for
- the back trace buffer.
- Reserve memory for the /MCV switch if present.
- Reserve memory for the /EMM switch if present.
-
- If available memory runs out while trying to reserve memory for a switch
- in the above sequence, then S-ICE.EXE does the following:
-
- 1. The remaining extended memory is allocated to
- switch being processed when memory runs out.
- 2. No memory will be reserved for the remaining
- switches.
-
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-
- Note:
- If the /MCV or /EMM switch is present, a additional 64K of extended memory
- is reserved for a DMA holding buffer.
-
- The switches can be placed in any order following DEVICE = S-ICE.EXE.
- example is:
-
- DEVICE = S-ICE.EXE /TRA50 /EMM 500 /SYM 2048
-
- If four megabytes of extended memory are available, this example will
- reserve approximately 120K for Soft-ICE, 2 megabytes for symbols, 50K for
- a back trace history buffer, 500K for expanded memory and leave
- approximately 1.3 megabytes for other extended memory programs. Note that
- Soft-ICE will load into the highest portion of extended memory, leaving
- the remaining memory starting at 100000H (one megabyte mark).
-
- 6.4 The Soft-ICE Initialization File S-ICE.DAT
-
- Soft-ICE has several load options. These options are specified by placing
- special commands in an initialization file named S-ICE.DAT.
- S-ICE.DAT is an ASCII text file that Soft-ICE parses at load time. This
- file can contain function key assignment an auto-start string and various
- configuration options. The file can be created and edited with any DOS
- text editor. When loading Soft-ICE from the command line, S-ICE.DAT must
- be placed in the current directory or in a directory that is accessible
- through your current PATH. When Soft-ICE is loaded as a device driver in
- CONFIG.SYS, S-ICE.DAT must be in the same directory where S-ICE.EXE is
- located.
-
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-
- There are three categories of commands that can be included in the S-
- ICE.DAT initialization file:
-
- * Special configuration options
- * Function key assignments
- * Initialization command sequence
-
- 6.4.1 Special Configuration Options
-
- Any of the following configuration options that are needed should each be
- placed on a separate line in the S-ICE.DAT file.
- * COMPAQ -- Compaq 386 and 386SX computer
- and some Compaq compatible computers
- (including computers containing Micronix
- motherboards) have 384K of non-contiguous
- extended memory. The COMPAQ option is
- necessary if you want Soft-ICE to use this memory.
- Note that the COMPAQ option is the same as the
- /C command line parameter in Soft-ICE 1.X.
- * NOLEDS -- The NOLEDS option tells Soft-ICE
- not to set and clear the keyboard LEDs while the
- Soft-ICE window is up. On some keyboards the
- are timing problems that will cause Soft-ICE to
- lose synchronization with the keyboard. If
- Soft-ICE hangs when you are in the Soft-ICE
- window use this option. Note that the NOLEDS
- option is the same as the /L command line
- parameter in Soft-ICE 1.X.
- * NOTVGA -- The NOTVGA option allows
- Soft-ICE to run on BIOS compatible VGA cards.
- Many VGA cards are not compatible with IBM
- VGA at the hardware level. These cards support
- VGA at the BIOS level only. Use this switch if you
- have one of those video adapters. Note that the
-
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-
- NOTVGA option is the same as the /V command
- line parameter in Soft-ICE 1.X.
- * EXTENDED -- The EXTENDED option causes
- Soft-ICE to load directly into extended memory
- without prompting the user with a warning
- message. It should be used if you are loading
- Soft-ICE initially from the DOS prompt and do
- want to be prompted, and you know nothing else
- using extended memory. Note that the
- EXTENDED option is the same as the /E
- command line parameter in Soft-ICE 1.X.
-
- 6.4.2 Function Key Assignments
-
- One or more Soft-ICE commands can be assigned to any function key at load
- time. See the description of the FKEY command in section 5.8 (Debugger
- Customization Commands) for a description of assigning function keys from
- the Soft-ICE command line.
-
- The syntax for assigning a function key name in S-ICE.DAT is :
-
- function-key-name = "string"
- function-key-name -- F1, F2... F12.
- string -- The string may consist of any valid
- Soft-ICE commands and the special
- characters ^ and ;. A ^ is placed in
- the string to make a command
- invisible. A ; is placed in the string
- denote a carriage return. The string
- must be enclosed in double quotes.
-
- An example function key assignment in S-ICE.DAT is:
- F12 = "D 100;"
-
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-
- This will assign the Soft-ICE dump command to function key 12. When F12 is
- pressed Soft-ICE will dump at offset 100H in the current data segment. The
- semi-colon following the 100 represents the ENTER key.
-
- 6.4.3 Initialization Command Sequence
-
- A sequence of commands can be automatically executed when Soft-ICE loads.
- This is useful for customizing Soft-ICE to meet your needs. For example,
- you might set up windows and change the default hot key sequence.
- The syntax for setting up an initialization command sequence in S-ICE.DAT
- is:
-
- INIT = "assignment-string"
- assignment string -- The string consists of any valid
- Soft-ICE commands and the special
- characters ^ and ;. A ^ is placed in
- the string to make a command
- invisible. A; is placed in the string
- denote a carriage return. The string
- must be enclosed in double quotes.
-
- An example initialization command sequence in S-ICE.DAT is:
-
- INIT = "WIN; WR; WD 1; WC 12; ALTKEY CTRL X;"
-
- This example will put the Soft-ICE window in full screen mode, create a
- register window, create a data window one line long, create a code window
- 12 lines long, and change the hot key sequence to CTRL X.
-
- Sample S-ICE.DAT
-
- A sample S-ICE.DAT initialization file is included on the distribution
- diskette. This sample assigns the function keys
-
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-
- so they are used in a similar manner as the function keys in Microsoft's
- CodeView debugger. This sample S-ICE.DAT should also be used as is for the
- tutorial in chapter 3.
-
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