[net.micro.68k] OS-9, System Globals etc.

angela@cernvax.UUCP (angela) (08/14/86)

We have a PEP VME (single-height) development system running
OS-9/68000.  I'm currently developing real-time applications
in C for a future radiation monitoring system we want to
install in future physics experiments.  I have several questions
I hope can be answered by you OS-9 experts.

1.  In an applications program I would like to examine several
    system globals, eg. D_MPUTyp, D_FreRAM etc.  When I use
    the F$SetSys system call, a No Permission error is returned,
    even though I'm logged in as superuser.  Is this likely to
    be a bug or am I missing something?

2.  We will need to install a prototype system out in the field.
    On a system reset all processes need to be loaded into memory,
    data modules created, then go off performing data acquisition
    and other tasks.   Should this be done by changing the boot
    file, or simply adding commands to the startup file or changing
    the Sysgo module?  In the latter case would I need to regenerate
    the bootfile anyway?  I've had problems doing this before, 'cos
    it means reformatting the hard disk and starting from scratch.

3.  When our system is out in the field there will be no user to
    type in the time and date on startup.  Presumably we can use
    a battary-backed up real-time clock to sort out this problem.
    Has anybody got any thoughts on this?

		   Thanks in advance for any suggestions
			  Angela Smith
			  Radiation Protection Group
			  CERN
			  CH-1217 Geneva 23