AMD Confidential
User Manual September 12th, 2008
Chapter 5: Running the Simulator 39
You can download Linux ISO images from fedora.redhat.com. If you are a
MSDN Subscription member you can also download Windows ISO images from
Microsoft's MSDN Subscription Webpage.
You can assign a physical host DVD-/CD-ROM drive to the simulators IDE
Secondary Master Channel and use your hosts physical DVD-/CD-ROM drive to
install from a CD or DVD media. Section 4, "Disk Images", on page 31 describes
how to assign a physical DVD-/CD-ROM drive
When the OS installation prompts you, eject the current ISO image using "File→Clear
IDE Secondary Master" and insert the next ISO image using "File→Set IDE Secondary
Master". In case you are using a physical DVD/-CD-ROM drive for the OS installation
eject the media and insert the next media.
The disk-images are now assigned to the device that is connected to th e IDE Primary
Master and IDE Secondary Master connector of the hard disk controller, as shown in
Figure 7-22 on page 89.
The IDE controller has two important features:
All disk devices (Primary Master, etc.) by default have the disk journaling feature
turned on, which allows simulations to write to the disk image during normal
operation and not affect the contents of the real disk image. This is useful for
being able to kill a simulation in the middle, for multiple copies of the simulator
running at the same time, etc. Journal contents are saved in BSD checkpoint files
but lost if you don't save a checkpoint before exiting. To change journal settings
or commit journal contents to the hard disk image, go to the Device View Window,
then the AMD-8111™ Southbridge, then the configuration for the hard disk in
question on either the Primary or Secondary IDE controller. Here you can either
commit the contents of the journal to the hard-disk image or turn off journaling
for the hard disk image in question. Turning off journaling is recommended
during the installation process for an operating system.
DVD-ROM support is provided through an option in the BSD platform
checkpoint file. To install a DVD-ROM at any hard disk device location
(Secondary Master, Primary Slave, etc.), turn on the „DVD-ROM‟ checkbox. By
default, the Secondar y Master in all distributed BSDs has „DVD-ROM‟ checked
and is a DVD-ROM device.
Copying files into the simulator corresponds to putting data into some media on the Host
which will be inserted into the simulation. The choices for doing this are:
Create an ISO image with the data inside it then get it into your guest OS. Use the
"File→Set IDE Secondary Master Image" item in the Main Window Menu to
insert it into the DVD-ROM simulation, which is by default on the secondary
master position in all BSDs. Finally, mount it in your guest OS.