Intermec 6200 Reference Guide

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The Master Mode boot process also affects the drive B: support provided by the

ROM BIOS.  Since drive B: now refers to the same data as the ROM drive (D:),

drive B: is writeĆprotected by the BIOS.  It is still accessible for a very important

reason.  The ROM drive provided by a Master Mode reboot is limited to 512 KB.

If a larger card is prepared as a Master Mode boot card, only the first 512 KB of

data on that card can be accessed using drive D:.  However, the remainder of

that card can still be accessed using drive B:.

See the Table 7Ć1 listing on page 7Ć10.

The PEN*KEY computer always boots DOS 5 from ROM, (that is, it never loads

IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS from a boot drive).  CONFIG.SYS and

AUTOEXEC.BAT files are read from the default drive whenever the files are

present.  The default drive used to load these startup files is controlled by a

CMOS variable.  The CMOS variable has one bit that indicates whether a

Master Mode boot has been performed and two bits that define the default drive.

If the Master Mode boot bit is set, the other two bits are ignored and the default

drive is drive B:.  If the Master Mode bit is not set, the other two bits are used to

define a drive that could possibly be used as the default drive.
Before a default drive is selected, a driveĆready test is performed.  If media is

present and the drive is ready, it becomes the default drive.  Note that this test

applies only to drives A: and B:, since they are the only drives that are associated

with removable media.  When the default boot drive is not ready, the ROM drive

is selected as the default drive.
To obtain the ROM DOS bootĆup menu, press and release the reset button, then:

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On a 6200 Computer, press hold the [F4] key;

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On a 6300 Computer, hold down the [Next] key.

Use the bootĆup menu to override the CMOS setting by manually selecting the

drive that is to be the default drive.  This menu is available even when Master

Mode booting.  The drive selected at the bootĆup menu is still tested to ensure

that it is ready before that drive is selected as the default drive.  If the selected

drive is not ready, the ROM drive is used instead.

H8 refers to a coprocessor in the PEN*KEY Computer and handles bootĆup.  A

programmable chip, the H8 carries a version number that reflects the software

version burned into it at the factory.
Updated software is downloaded to the H8.  The ability to upgrade the H8/300

coprocessor program allows for enhancements and modifications to the H8 and

system power management functionality.  Updates to the H8 software are

performed by the BIOS extension H8PROG.EXT and are done automatically at

system reset.  This BIOS extension resides permanently in flash and replaces the

previous method of using H8DNL.EXE to download H8APP.BIN.

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