Bochs User Manual
<<< Previous | Using Bochs | Next >>>

# The configuration interface 'textconfig'

The configuration interface 'textconfig' is the text mode version of the Bochs configuration system. It is a series of menus (using stdin/stdout) that allows you to edit all the settings that control Bochs' behavior. If you do not write a config_interface line, Bochs will choose it as the default for you (unless Bochs is compiled for wxWidgets only).

It consists of these three parts:

- the start menu

- the headerbar buttons

- the runtime configuration

## The start menu

If you start Bochs without the quickstart argument (-q), the Bochs configuration main menu appears:

    ------------------------------
    Bochs Configuration: Main Menu
    ------------------------------

    This is the Bochs Configuration Interface, where you can describe the
    machine that you want to simulate.  Bochs has already searched for a
    configuration file (typically called bochsrc.txt) and loaded it if it
    could be found.  When you are satisfied with the configuration, go
    ahead and start the simulation.

    You can also start bochs with the -q option to skip these menus.

    1. Restore factory default configuration
    2. Read options from...
    3. Edit options
    4. Save options to...
    5. Begin simulation
    6. Quit now

    Please choose one: [5]

Here you can load, edit and save the configuration and finally start the simulation. It is possible to start Bochs without a config file and to edit all the settings using the item "Edit options". Don't forget to save the configuration if you want to use this setup for another Bochs session.

## The Bochs headerbar

The headerbar appears on top of the Bochs simulation window. Here you can control the behavoiur of Bochs at runtime if you click on one of these buttons:

- floppy buttons

  Here you can toggle the status of the floppy media (inserted/ejected). Bochs for win32 presents you a small dialog box for changing the floppy image. You can setup floppy drives using floppya/floppyb option.

- cdrom button

  Here you can toggle the status of the cdrom media (inserted/ejected). CD-ROM drives can be set up using ata(0-3)-master/-slave option.

- mouse button

  Here you can enable the creation of mouse events by the host. Once mouse events are captured, you cannot reach the button anymore, in order to disable capturing again. In this case, use "Ctrl+3rd mouse button" to disable it.

  Support for 2 button mouse to toggle the capture mode not yet complete. Some display libraries still don't support the new feature, but it is already supported on X11, SDL, wxWidgets and Win32.

- user button

  Press this button if you want to send the keyboard shortcut defined with the user_shortcut option to the guest. Depending on the used display_library option, it may even be possible to edit the shortcut before sending it.

- copy button

  The text mode screen text can be exported to the clipboard after pressing this button. The button has no effect in graphics mode.

- paste button

  Text in the clipboard can also be pasted, through Bochs, to the guest OS, as simulated keystrokes. Keyboard mapping must be enabled to make this feature work.

- snapshot button

  Press this button if you want to save a snapshot of the text mode screen. Bochs for win32 presents you a "Save as..." dialog box. All other platforms are using the fixed filename "snapshot.txt".

- config button

  This button stops the Bochs simulation and starts the runtime configuration. (see below).

- reset button

  Press this button to trigger a hardware reset.

- power button

  This button stops the simulation and quits bochs.

Some of this features may not be implemented or work different on your host platform.

## The runtime configuration

If you want to change certain settings at runtime, you have to press the "config" button in the headerbar. The simulation stops and the runtime menu appears on the console window / xterm.

    ---------------------
    Bochs Runtime Options
    ---------------------
    1. Floppy disk 0: /dev/fd0, size=1.44M, inserted
    2. Floppy disk 1: floppyb.img, size=1.44M, inserted
    3. 1st CDROM: (master on ata1) /dev/cdrom, ejected
    4. 2nd CDROM: (slave on ata1) /dev/cdrecorder, ejected
    5. 3rd CDROM: (not present)
    6. 4th CDROM: (not present)
    7. (not implemented)
    8. Log options for all devices
    9. Log options for individual devices
    10. VGA Update Interval: 100000
    11. Mouse: disabled
    12. Keyboard paste delay: 100000
    13. Userbutton shortcut: ctrlaltdel
    14. Instruction tracing: off (doesn't exist yet)
    15. Continue simulation
    16. Quit now

    Please choose one:  [15]

In the runtime configuration you can change the floppy/cdrom image or device, change the log options or adjust some other settings. If you have trouble with a specific device, you can change the log options for this device only to get more information (e.g. report debug messages). This cannot be done in the configuration file yet.

<<< Previous | Home | Next >>>
Search order for the configuration file | Up | Save and restore simulation