Initial Program Loader (Ipl); Using The Keyboard - Symbol PDT 7500 Series Product Reference Manual

PDT 7500 Series Product Reference Guide for DOS

Initial Program Loader (IPL)

Initial Program Loader (IPL) is a small utility program that is built into each terminal. The
purpose of IPL is to verify the flash contents prior to a cold boot of the system, and to provide
a simple method of updating the flash contents via the serial port or cradle. The images that
IPL can accept are in the form of "hex" files" that contain not only the data to be
downloaded to the terminal, but also sufficient extra information to ensure that each hex file
contains an image for a single partition. Hex files for standard system components such as
the BIOS are provided by Symbol. Hex files for custom components, such as disk images or
custom partition maps are built on a PC using the TCM program. IPL is only capable of
loading whole partitions (it cannot update individual files in a disk image).

Using the Keyboard

Operation of the IPL is controlled by the keyboard. IPL recognizes the following keys:
Cursor Up
!
Cursor Down
!
Enter or Trigger
!
Backlight
!
Lighter
!
Darker
!
The effects of these keys are as follows:
Cursor Up/Down Whenever these keys are pressed in a menu screen, they cause the previous/
next item in the menu to be highlighted. Moving off the end of a menu causes
a wrap to the other end of the menu list. If the menu is longer than the screen
is deep, then screen will automatically scroll up or down to keep the
highlighted item visible on the screen.
Enter or Trigger Whenever this key is pressed in a menu screen, the currently highlighted item
is selected, and IPL advances to the next screen. If the system supports more
than one trigger, then any of the triggers can be used as the Enter key.
Backlight Pressing this key toggles the backlight (if present) between on and off. This
key is always active (even if IPL is not in a menu screen).
Lighter/Darker Each press of these keys adjusts the screen contrast up or down. The keys are
always active (even if IPL is not in a menu screen).
6-14