A Desktop CMOS RAM Manager
Mike Ironmonger

This program allows the non-volatile CMOS RAM to be edited. This contains all of the configuration data that is retained when the machine is switched off. The contents of the CMOS RAM may be saved to a file and reloaded at a later date if, for instance, it is necessary to reset the CMOS RAM for any reason.

When run, the application !CMOS_Edit installs an icon on the icon bar. Clicking on this icon opens the program's window. The lower part of the window shows the hex value of all the 240 bytes of CMOS RAM, with the 'current' byte inverted. The top section of the window gives details about the current byte as follows:

The first icon shows the number of the byte. You can select a new byte either by clicking on it in the lower section, or typing the number of the required byte into this icon and pressing Return. The second icon displays the value of the current byte. If you type a new value in here and press Return the new value will appear in the main window. Note that this doesn't affect the actual value stored in the CMOS RAM. To change the values stored in the RAM you must use the 'Update CMOS' option described below.

The next three icons determine whether the value of the byte is displayed and entered in decimal, hexadecimal, or binary. The current base is inverted and a new base is chosen simply by clicking on a base icon. The final icon spans the width of the window, and gives a brief description of the current byte's use.

Clicking Menu over the window produces a menu with three options. Choosing 'Update CMOS' will write all 240 values displayed in the window into the CMOS RAM. 'Read CMOS' performs the reverse operation and reads the values held in the CMOS RAM and displays them in the window. The final option 'Save' has a submenu which leads to the usual RISC OS 'Save' window. The files are saved as 240 bytes (0-239) and they are given the file type &7FE. The configuration file can be loaded by double clicking on its icon or by dragging its icon to the icon bar icon.

Note that you cannot change the Econet station number in byte 0 using this application.

For full details on CMOS RAM usage, consult the 'Memory Management' chapter in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
