JPH04191927A - Operating system switching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To dispense with the preparation of an operating system switching program for every plural respective operating systems by providing an operating system switching means to switch the plural operating systems and to load to a main storage device in a read only memory. CONSTITUTION:An operating system switching means 20 provided in a read only memory 13 loads an operating system assigned by a command processing means 22 to a main storage device 14 when the judged result of a reset factor register 16 is a reset by the command processing means 22. Accordingly, the switching of the operating system is executed by the operating system switching means 20 in a read only memory 13. Thus, it is unnecessary to provide a program for operating system switching to the plural respective operating systems.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is applicable to multiple operating systems (hereinafter referred to as O
This invention relates to a switching device for use in an electronic computer system equipped with a ○S (referred to as 8).

(Prior Art) Today, some electronic computer systems such as personal computers and terminals at financial institutions can be equipped with multiple OSs. Conventionally, in such electronic computer systems,
-M had multiple ○S switches as shown below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer system using a conventional O8 switching device.

The system shown in the figure includes a CPU (central processing unit) 1, a main storage device 3 connected to the CPU 1 via a bus 2, and a disk device 4.

The main storage device 3 is composed of a RAM (random access memory), and the OS 5 currently in use is stored therein. The OS 5 also includes an O8 switching program 6.

The disk device 4 is divided into a plurality of storage units, and each divided area (logically divided area) has an IPL.
(Initial program loader) and O8 is stored in a bootstrapable format (in the figure, O8
,oSO,...

(denoted as O20).

Next, the switching operation of O8 in such a computer system will be explained.

Note that the currently used OS5 is assumed to be oSO, and the OS to be switched to is assumed to be O20.

(1) The user inputs an O8 switching command using a keyboard (not shown) or the like.

(2) As a result, the OS 5 currently in use starts its O8 switching program 6.

(3) The activated O8 switching program 6 reads the boot program for the O8 to be switched, that is, O8■, from the disk device 4 into the main storage device 3G.

(4) Transfer control of the poison 1j to the loaded oSO boot program, i.e., transfer control of the OS5 currently in use.
Switched to SO.

In this way, conventional O8 switching is
It was executed by the O8 switching program 6 built into the system.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional O8 switching device described above, when n O8s are installed in the disk drive 4, for example, each of the n O8s is
There is a problem in that an O8 switching program must be created for each O8, such as having to provide an O3 switching program 6 for each O8.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an operating system switching device capable of switching a plurality of O8s without creating a switching program.

(Means for Solving the Problems) An operating system switching device of the present invention is an operating system switching device for switching the running operating system of a computer system equipped with a plurality of operating systems. a starting operating system identification data storage register that stores identification data of the operating system specified by the command processing means; a reset switch for resetting the device; a reset factor storage register for determining whether or not the central processing unit has been reset by the command processing means; and operating system switching means for loading the operating system specified by the command processing means into the main storage device when the command processing means performs the switching.

(Operation) In the apparatus of the present invention, when the user inputs an operating system switching command, the command processing means specifies the operating system to be switched.

By specifying this operating system, the startup operating system identification data storage register stores the identification data of the operating system to be switched.
Further, the central processing unit is reset by the reset switch.

On the other hand, the reset cause register determines whether or not the central processing unit has been reset by the command processing means.

If the determination result of the reset cause register is a reset by the command processing means, the automatic verifying system switching means provided in the read-only memory loads the operating system specified by the command processing means into the main storage device. .

Therefore, since the operating system is switched by the operating system switching means in the read-only memory, each of the plurality of operating systems does not need to have a program for operating system switching.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, the operating system switching device of the present invention will be explained in detail using the embodiment shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an operating system switching device of the present invention.

The device in the figure consists of a CPU (central processing unit) 11 and this C
A ROM (read-only memory) 13 connected to the PUII via a bus 12, a main storage device 14, a startup operating system identification data storage register 15, a reset factor storage register 16, a disk device 17, and a reset switch 18. It consists of.

The ROM 13 contains an IPL (Initial Program Loader) program 19 for loading a specified operating system (hereinafter referred to as O8) from the disk device 17 when the power is turned on, and an O8 specified by a command processing means to be described later. O8 switching means 2 for loading from the disk device 17 onto the main storage device 14
0 is stored. Moreover, this oS switching means 20
consists of an O8 switching program.

The main storage device 14 is composed of RAM (random access memory), and it stores the currently used 0S21 and this ○S2.
1, and a command processing means 22 for processing commands that receive an OS switching instruction from a user. Further, the command processing means 22 is composed of an O8 switching command program.

Startup operating system identification data storage register (hereinafter referred to as startup O8 identification data storage register) 15
is a register whose contents are retained even if the system hardware is reset, and has a function of storing identification data such as the name or number of the next O8 to be activated when O8 is switched.

The reset factor storage register 16 notifies the O8 switching means 20 whether the CPU II has been reset by the command processing means 22 or by some other factor (turning on the power, pressing the reset switch 18 by the user). This is a register that stores data for.

The disk device 17 supports multiple OS (OS
, ○S■, . . . , OS@) are stored in the main storage device 14 in a loadable state.

The reset switch 18 is a switch for resetting the CPU II by the command processing means 22, and also has a function of resetting the CPU II when pressed by the user or when the power is turned on.

Next, the operation of the O8 switching device having the above configuration will be explained.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of O8 switching processing.

First of all, the user of the electronic computer system must
If it is necessary to switch from S to another O8, the name of the O8 (or the number corresponding to the O8) to be switched is specified using an O8 switching command using a keyboard (not shown) or the like (step S1).

This causes the command processing means 22 to switch the oS
Start the name (or number) of ○sl! It is set in the i-specific data storage register 15 (step S2).

In addition, the command processing means 22 sets the computer system to an initial state and transfers control to the program stored in the ROM 13 by using the reset switch 18 to reset the CPU II.
(step S3).

CPU 11 tl:l:J:'), CPU
II starts from the initial state, and control is transferred to the program in the ROM 13 (step 5ll).

From now on, IPL program 19 in ROM 13 and O
8 switching means 20 performs control.

First, the IPL program 19 refers to the reset factor storage register 16 and determines whether the CPtJll was reset by the command processing means 22 or due to other factors such as turning on the power or pressing the reset switch 18 by the user. It is determined whether it is true (step 512).

As a result of this determination, if the command processing means 22 resets the CPLIII using the reset switch 18, the ○S switching means 2o indicates that the name (or number) of O8 set in the data storage register 15 for startup 05w1 corresponds to O8 is loaded from the disk device 17 onto the main storage device 14 (step 513).

If the reset is due to other factors, the IPL program 19 refers to a startup register (not shown) and loads O8 onto the main memory 14 when the power is turned on or the reset switch 18 is pressed (step 514).
). That is, the initial program is loaded and executed.

Thereafter, control is transferred to the O8 program loaded onto the main storage device 14 (step 515), and the O8 switching process is ended.

In the above embodiment, the identification data of O8 set in the startup ○S identification data storage register 15 is the name or number of O8, but it is not limited to this. For example, identification data such as a symbol may also be used. good.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the operating system switching means for loading a plurality of operating systems into the main storage device after switching is provided in the read-only memory. There is no need to create an operating system switching program for each operating system, and it is possible to reduce the size of the operating system and reduce costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an operating step switching device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional operating system switching device, and FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the operating system switching device of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... CPU (central processing unit), 13... Read-only memory, 14... Main storage device, 15... Boot operating system identification data storage register, 16... Reset factor storage register, 17. . . . Disk device, 18 . . . Reset switch, 20 . . . Operating system switching means, 22 . . . Command processing means. Fig. 1. Configuration diagram of conventional singing device Fig. 2

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An operating system switching device for switching the operating system to be executed in a computer system equipped with a plurality of operating systems, comprising: a command processing means for specifying an operating system to be switched according to a command input by a user; and the command processing means. a boot operating system identification data storage register for storing identification data of the operating system specified by the command processing means; a reset switch for resetting the central processing unit when an operating system to be switched is specified by the command processing means; a reset factor storage register for determining whether or not the device has been reset by the command processing means; and a reset factor storage register provided in a read-only memory, which is configured to store the reset factor when the central processing unit is reset by the command processing means. 1. An operating system switching device comprising: operating system switching means for loading an operating system specified by the processing means into a main storage device.