patch-2.3.23 linux/Documentation/arm/Setup

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+Kernel initialisation parameters on ARM Linux
+---------------------------------------------
+
+The following document describes the kernel initialisation parameter
+structure, otherwise known as 'struct param_struct' which is used
+for most ARM Linux architectures.
+
+This structure is used to pass initialisation parameters from the
+kernel loader to the Linux kernel proper, and may be short lived
+through the kernel initialisation process.  As a general rule, it
+should not be referenced outside of arch/arm/kernel/setup.c:setup_arch().
+
+There are a lot of parameters listed in there, and they are described
+below:
+
+ page_size
+
+   This parameter must be set to the page size of the machine, and
+   will be checked by the kernel.
+
+ nr_pages
+
+   This is the total number of pages of memory in the system.  If
+   the memory is banked, then this should contain the total number
+   of pages in the system.
+
+   If the system contains separate VRAM, this value should not
+   include this information.
+
+ ramdisk_size
+
+   This is now obsolete, and should not be used.
+
+ flags
+
+   Various kernel flags, including:
+    bit 0 - 1 = mount root read only
+    bit 1 - unused
+    bit 2 - 0 = load ramdisk
+    bit 3 - 0 = prompt for ramdisk
+
+ rootdev
+
+   major/minor number pair of device to mount as the root filesystem.
+
+ video_num_cols
+ video_num_rows
+
+   These two together describe the character size of the dummy console,
+   or VGA console character size.  They should not be used for any other
+   purpose.
+
+   It's generally a good idea to set these to be either standard VGA, or
+   the equivalent character size of your fbcon display.  This then allows
+   all the bootup messages to be displayed correctly.
+
+ video_x
+ video_y
+
+   This describes the character position of cursor on VGA console, and
+   is otherwise unused. (should not used for other console types, and
+   should not be used for other purposes).
+
+ memc_control_reg
+
+   MEMC chip control register for Acorn Archimedes and Acorn A5000
+   based machines.  May be used differently by different architectures.
+
+ sounddefault
+
+   Default sound setting on Acorn machines.  May be used differently by
+   different architectures.
+
+ adfsdrives
+
+   Number of ADFS/MFM disks.  May be used differently by different
+   architectures.
+
+ bytes_per_char_h
+ bytes_per_char_v
+
+   These are now obsolete, and should not be used.
+
+ pages_in_bank[4]
+
+   Number of pages in each bank of the systems memory (used for RiscPC).
+   This is intended to be used on systems where the physical memory
+   is non-contiguous from the processors point of view.
+
+ pages_in_vram
+
+   Number of pages in VRAM (used on Acorn RiscPC).  This value may also
+   be used by loaders if the size of the video RAM can't be obtained
+   from the hardware.
+
+ initrd_start
+ initrd_size
+
+   This describes the kernel virtual start address and size of the
+   inital ramdisk.
+
+ rd_start
+
+   Start address in sectors of the ramdisk image on a floppy disk.
+
+ system_rev
+
+   system revision number.
+
+ system_serial_low
+ system_serial_high
+
+   system 64-bit serial number
+
+ paths[8][128]
+
+   These are now obsolete, and should not be used.
+
+ commandline
+
+   Kernel command line parameters.  Details can be found elsewhere.

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