AutoXA V1.00 ------------ +---------+-------------------------------------------------+ | WARNING | AutoXA will reboot your computer the first | | WARNING | time it is run unless you tell it not to do so. | +---------+-------------------------------------------------+ What does AutoXA do? -------------------- It loads a small program into your system that will automatically add the memory that you have installed on a MicroBotics M1230XA card every time you reboot. How is this different from SetXA and AddXAMem? ---------------------------------------------- AutoXA installs a routine in memory that survives reboots. This way it can make the memory available to the system software *much* earlier in the boot-up process. Why is that a good thing? ------------------------- When AutoXA is active, almost all of the system's data will be loaded into much faster XA memory, rather than Chip memory. Your system's graphics and file access routines will run faster. (Exactly how much faster depends on the speeds of your SIMM and your CPU.) It also frees up about 245 kilobytes of Chip memory that graphic or music programs might need. How do I use it? ---------------- Copy the AutoXA program to the System directory of your boot disk. Then, add the line: SYS:System/AutoXA to your Startup-Sequence file on a new line immediately after the line with the SetPatch command in it. Consult your AmigaDOS documentation or a knowledgeable friend if you are unsure about editing text files. A simpler installation would be to copy the program into the WBStartup drawer. This will work fine, but the system does quite a few things before looking for programs there. Since the first time AutoXA gets run (when you have just flipped the power switch) it must reboot the system, these actions are just making your system take longer to boot without any benefit. You said it reboots the computer? --------------------------------- Yes. The first time you run it, the program installs the resident portion, then reboots the computer. This is so the system data gets loaded into Fast ram right away. The second and subsequent times AutoXA runs, it detects the fact that it is already installed and does not reboot. If you are running the program from a Shell window and don't want to reboot right away, you can type: AutoXA NoReboot This will tell AutoXA to install its resident code, add the M1230XA's memory to the system (if it has not been added already), and then quit. The system data will not get moved into Fast ram until you manually reset your machine. How can I get rid of it? ------------------------ If you ever need to remove it from the system you don't need to power off the machine. Just type: AutoXA Remove in a Shell window. That will disconnect the in-memory code. If you have installed the program in your Startup-Sequence file, you will either have to boot from some other Workbench or disable the Startup-Sequence in some other way to prevent the program from being started right back up again when you reboot the machine. Do I still need to run CPU FastROM? ----------------------------------- AutoXA does NOT move the system code--only the data. If your processor has an MMU (Memory Management Unit), and you have enough Fast memory on the M1230XA (4meg or more), you should still use the 'CPU FastROM' command to relocate the system code for the fastest possible system. I've installed the program, but now my virus checker is complaining. What's going on? ---------------------------------------------- To survive system reboots, the AutoXA resident module hooks onto a system structure called the KickTag (or RomTag) list. Because this is one possible way for viruses to survive, your virus checker shows you what is installed on this list. (This is also how the RAD: device survives reboots.) Consult the documentation that comes with your virus checker program. Some have ways of telling them to ignore certain things. If the virus checker you use reports the size of memory in use, it should say 920 bytes ($398 in hexadecimal). If a different number turns up, it's reporting some program other than AutoXA -- possibly a real virus. ============================================================================ The AutoXA program and this documentation are copyright 1992,1993 by MicroBotics, Inc. All rights reserved. This program and documentation were written by Mike Pinson. If you received this program in the form of an archive, you may redistribute the original file 'AutoXA1r0.lha' to other MicroBotics customers only as long as it is not modified in any way, that is: it contains nothing but this doc file, the executable, and their icons. Comments or suggestions? 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