text:
Canadian Refugee Procedure/Canada's international obligations and the interpretation of the Rules

International standards
One of the most significant obligations owed by States is non-refoulement, which prohibits them from returning refugees, and certain migrants, directly or indirectly to a country where they would be at risk of persecution or of particular, predefined, harms. A consequence of a State’s non-refoulement obligation is a ‘duty of independent inquiry’. Such a duty requires States to identify individuals in need of protection before returning or transferring them to a third country.

The UNHCR Handbook is considered highly influential in how refugee adjudication should be approached, even if its clauses are not, in and of themselves, law in Canada. The following comment about how the task of refugee status determination should be approached is instructive: "Since the examiner’s conclusion on the facts of the case and his personal impression of the applicant will lead to a decision that affects human lives, he must apply the criteria in a spirit of justice and understanding and his judgement should not, of course, be influenced by the personal consideration that the applicant may be an “undeserving case”."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
User:Atlas.Spheres/sandbox/Arizona Uplands and Plains of Sonora

=Arizona Uplands and Plains of Sonora=


text:
User:Atlas.Spheres/sandbox/Lower Colorado River Valley

=Lower Colorado River Valley=


text:
User:Vtrigueros

Working on class project.

title: User:Vtrigueros


text:
User:Mcb117

Mackenzie Browning

title: User:Mcb117


text:
User:Lee yun betty/sandbox/Biodiversity

Habitat
* Mostly seen looking out of a hole in a Saguaro cactus * Mountains reaching elevations of up to about 6000ft * deserts * Migrates to Mexico when it gets too cold because insects will not come out in the cold * The map to the right shows its habitat through at the year, yellow: summer, blue: winter, purple: year round ->

Diet
* Feeds on insects and other arthropods * In summer. Feeds on moths, beetles and crickets * Also feeds on scorpions and spiders * Rarely eats lizards and other small vertebrates

Life Span
* Lives 3-6 years * With care and special protection, can live up to 6-10 years

Facts and Physique
* The smallest Owls in the World * Less than six inches tall * Weights one to one and a half ounces * When captured by a pray of sorts, the Elf Owl plays dead until all danger has cleared * Not aggressive

Jaguar (Panthera onca)
Panthera onca otherwise known as the jaguar is a type of cat that is found across the Americas: Southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, south to Paraguay, and northern Argentina. The jaguar belongs to family Felidae, mammal, in the order Carnivora, carnivorous with teeth adapted for flesh-eating. The jaguar is the third-largest cat in the world surpassed by the lion and the tiger. The jaguar is classified as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which suggests that the jaguar may be threatened with extinction soon. It doesn't quite qualify for threatened species since the population has not yet decreased dramatically in a short period. Although, the jaguar's population is constantly decreasing due to various factors.

"El Jefe"
Due to the deterioration of their habitat caused by hunting, buildings, and conservation of livestock. There is only one known jaguar in the United States. This jaguar is known as "El Jefe", he resides in the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson Arizona. "El Jefe" was first recorded in November 2011, by cameras for the Jaguar Survey and Monitoring Project by the University of Arizona. El Jefe has made constant appearances throughout the years up until 2018. It is believed that he has traveled back to Mexico in search of a mate.

Habitat
The jaguar lives throughout the Americas in a wide variety of habitats. They prefer dense, tropical forests and rainforest which provide a large amount of coverage. Jaguars are also found in scrubland, reed thickets, coastal forest, swamps, thickets, pampas grasslands, and mountain scrub areas. In northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, jaguars are found in oak woodlands, mesquite thickets, and riparian woodlands. Jaguar's habitats require three main characteristics to support their diet and lifestyle: water, dense coverage, and prey.

Diet
Jaguars are known carnivores they have a wide variety of prey: birds, mammals, reptiles, fish. One of their main prey consists of large animals and livestock, they tend to eat the heart, liver, and spleen first; they don't ingest the intestines. Their daily consumption is around 1.2-1.5 kilograms per day. They usually hunt at night and mostly on the ground. There are times when it climbs up trees in order to hide from their prey and attack from above. Their large teeth and powerful jaws allow them to instantly kill their prey and drag them to a secluded spot where they can eat. In this area, El Jefe has been known to eat prey common in the Santa Rita Mountains: white-tailed deer, skunks (except for their ends), and other small, slow animals that allow them to prey on.

Facts

 * Size: 5 to 7 feet
 * Live 12 to 15 years
 * Weight: 100 to 250 pounds
 * They are cats, but not afraid of water
 * They see six times better than humans in dar conditions
 * Hunted to extinction in the United States during the 1940s

Threats
The jaguar is classified under "Near Threatened" species internationally. In the United States under the Endangered Species Act, it is classified as endangered. The last verified jaguar in this area was killed by a hunter in 1963. Jaguars face many threats either directly or towards their habitat, disrupting their life and ability to maintain alive. The main threat to jaguars is humans. Humans have hunted these mammals for a long time and various reasons: trophies, fur, and protection of livestock. Jaguar habitats have also been harmed by burning their homeland in order to place buildings. El Jefes habitat is currently endangered due to Trump's border wall and the copper mine.

Coyote
The Coyote (Canis latrans) is a canine that lives in North America, roaming the plains, deserts, mountains, and forests. Coyotes are primarily carnivorous, they prey on rabbits, birds, deer, reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and amphibians. Occasionally, they eat fruits and vegetables. Humans are considered to be the biggest threat to coyotes, followed by gray wolves and cougars. The average male weighs 8 to 20 kg and the average females weigh 7 to 18 kg. The hair of this animal varies depending on where they are geographically located. The predominant color of their hair is fulvous or grey and red.

Habitat
Coyotes live in North America where they roam the mountains, plains, forests, and deserts of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Although coyotes are known to easily adapt to different habitats, they typically prefer to live in open areas like deserts and prairies. As humans take more and more land, coyotes can also be found living around large cities, where they are beginning to adapt.

Diet
Although they are thought to be only meat eaters, coyotes are actually omnivores--eating vegetation and meat. Generally, coyotes are scavengers and are predators of small prey, but occasionally, they shift to large prey. Coyotes will prey on birds, rabbits, reptiles, fish, deer, invertebrates, and amphibians. Some fruits and grains they feed on include, berries, apples, peaches, watermelon, carrots, beans, wheat, and corn. Most of the time coyotes hunt alone, but when hunting for large prey such as deer, they will hunt in packs. For those that live in large cities, coyotes will normally kill pets and livestock, eat pet food, or garbage.

Life Span
The average lifespan of a coyote is six to eight years in the wild, while those in captivity can live twice as long ranging from thirteen to fifteen years. They are affected by a variety of diseases and parasites which include, intestinal worms, heartworms, fleas, and ticks. They may also be affected by the parvovirus, canine distemper, and mange. However, humans are considered to be the greatest threat to humans. In rural areas, the major cause of death is due to trapping and hunting, while in urban areas, the cause of death is primarily automobiles. There has been an average of automobile collisions from 40 to 70 percent each year.
 * 1) REDIRECT []

Importance
Coyotes play an important ecological role in the environment by helping maintain healthy ecosystems and boosting biodiveristy. As they are the top carnivores in some ecosystems, they regulate mesocarnivore populations, which include, foxes, skunks, opossums, and raccoons.

Facts

 * Coyotes can run up to 40 miles an hour.
 * Coyote pups are born blind.
 * Coyotes are nocturnal.
 * Coyotes are monogamous and only have one mate for the rest of their life.
 * Coyotes have few natural predators. They include mountain lions, wolves, and bears.

Facts

 * Subspecies of the Pronghorn
 * Endangered
 * Lifespan of 10-12 years
 * Can reach speeds up to 60mph
 * Great eyesight

Habitat
The Sonoran Pronghorn is endemic to the Sonoran Desert favoring its broad valleys. Before it became endangered the Sonoran Pronghorn was primarily found in Southwest Arizona and Northern parts of Sonora, Mexico like Hermosillo. It wasn't until 2012 that the Sonoran Pronghorn was reintroduced into the flatlands of Southwest Arizona and Mexico.

Diet
The diet of the the Sonoran Pronghorn consists of herbs, cacti, and desert grasses. Their rudiment stomachs allow them to digest rough textured foods, like the ones listed before. Along with the ability to digest these foods, their stomachs allow for better water retention.

Threats
Elements that contribute to the Sonoran Pronghorns being an endangered subspecies are predators, climate and human disturbance. Some predators of Pronghorns include cougars, wolves, coyotes, and bobcats. Climate and climate change can take part in threatening the Sonoran Pronghorn population with long lasting droughts. Human disturbances such as roads, fences, water developments, mining disturbances and other human interactions also play a part in the disappearance of the Sonoran Pronghorn.

Variable Sandsnake (Chilomeniscus stramineus)
http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Graphics/Snakes/herp-c-cinctus-ath-mrcp.jpg

The Variable Sandsnake is a small stout-bodied snake with dark brown/black stripes on an orange body and a pale cream belly with no markings. The orange dorsal (body) coloration fades into a cream on the lower sides. The black stripes do not cross the venter on the body but they completely encircle the tail. The Variable Sandsnake's snout is white or light gray and it has a broad, black mask crossing the top of the head and covers the eyes. The Variable Sandsnake has mildly toxic saliva. Adaptations for burrowing in fine gravel and sand include small eyes, valves in the nasal passages, a flat and wedge-like snout, a concaved belly, and a deeply inset jaw. The head is not distinct from the thick neck. The pupils are round and the scales are smooth and shiny. The often similar looking Groundsnake has a dark spot on the anterior edge of each lateral scale. The black saddles are in contact with orange-red dorsal coloration distinguishing this snake from the similar looking Western Shovel-nosed Snake.

Habitat
This snake is found across most of south-central Arizona. The Variable Sandsnake is found primarily in the Arizona Upland subdivision of the Sonoran Desertscrub community. It is usually encountered above the flats in or near drainages and canyons with loose gravel or sand substrates.

Behavior
This primarily nocturnal and crepuscular (active primarily during twilight) ground-dweller is good burrower. It spends the majority of its time under loose gravel or surface cover on the banks of washes and drainages. It hibernates during the cold months of late fall and winter.

Diet
The Variable Sandsnake feeds on a variety of insects including
 * roaches
 * grasshoppers
 * centipedes

Reproduction
Mating takes place in spring. A clutch of up to 4 eggs is laid in the summer.

Threats
There are no major threats that have been identified, though some local populations have declined, for example as a result of urbanization in the Phoenix area.

Facts
* often called ‘greasewood’ * It produces small

Habitat
* found mostly in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts.

Shelter for:
* Desert tortoises dig their shelters under creosotebush where its roots stabilize the soil. * Banner-tailed kangaroo rats frequently use creosotebush for cover. * Merriam's kangaroo rats often make their dens under creosotebush. * Some subspecies of kit fox rest and den in creosotebush flats.

Importance
* Creosote bush is an antimicrobial * Used by Native American as medicine * Sexually transmitted diseases * Tuberculosis * Chicken pox * Dysmenorrhea * Snakebite * cancer * When Larrea Tridentata is called chaparral when used a herbal remedy

Arizona Poppy (Kallstroemia grandiflora)
The Kallstroiemia grandiflora most commonly referred to as the Arizona Poppy is an annual herb found in the southwestern deserts. This flower is found in many places throughout the Chihuahuan and the Sonoran Desert, most specifically in the Arizona Uplands region of the Sonoran Desert. It is a native plant of this area belonging to the family Zygophyllaceae which includes plants found in dry habitats. This flower is known to survive harsh, dry climates due to the unique structure of its' seed allowing it to survive up to various years.

Habitat
The Arizona Poppy blooms mainly in July to October which coincides with summer rainfalls. It grows abundantly in flat, sandy grasslands throughout Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. This flower prefers open plains and mesas from sea level to 6000 feet. A state park that has an abundance of the Arizona Poppy is Picacho Peak State Park located between Casa Grande and Tucson, Arizona.

Importance
The Arizona Poppy is widely known for its vibrant colors and enhancing the scenery of wide-open plains, but it provides benefits to animals. These flowers deplete scent, but they are essential to forty-six species: bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies. They are used for pollen and nectar as well as food for dove and quails.

Facts

 * Under six inches tall
 * Consist of five petals
 * Seeds remain dormant for up to three years until there is enough precipitation

Fish-hook Barrel Cactus
The Fish-hook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wisilizeni) also called the Arizona barrel cactus is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae. The fish-hook cactus is characterized by its two-foot diameter, long hooked spines, and barrel body shape. On the cactus, yellow/red flowers and yellow fruit grow at the superior surface. This species of barrel cactus can be found in Northern Sonoran, Mexico and in South-Central Arizona. The fish-hook barrel cactus has a life span of about 50-100 years. The conservation status of this plant is vulnerable and the population is decreasing.

Habitat
The fishhook barrel cactus is found throughout South-Central Arizona and Northern Sonoran, Mexico. It grows primarily in grasslands and desert shrubs, but it can also grow in deserts often on rocky, gritty, or sandy soils on the hillsides from 300 to 1,600 m elevation. The fishhook barrel cactus does not need much water to survive as it can tolerate dry soil moisture, but it does require lots of sunlight. This heat-tolerant plant contains "fishhook" spines along the cactus body to protect it from herbivores. At the top of the cactus, the plant grows yellow/red flowers and yellow/red fruit.

Importance
The fishhook barrel cactus is important not only because it enhances the beauty of the desert landscape, but it provides fruit to animals and birds. Javelina, birds, and deer eat the fruit; the birds especially like the seeds. The fruit can also be used to make candies and jellies.

Facts

 * The fishhook barrel cactus is often called the "Compass Barrel" because most of the larger plants lean towards the southwest.
 * The cactus does contain water, but if it is ingested it can cause diarrhea due to the oxalic acid it contains.
 * The lifespan is 50-100 years.
 * It commonly grows 2-4 feet tall but can grow up to 6-10 feet tall in some cases.

Facts

 * Bloom time: May-October
 * Duration: Perennial
 * High drought tolerance

Habitat
The Velvetpod Mimosa resides in arroyos, washes, and brushy hillsides. It is native to Arizona, Texas, and Mexico but can also be found in New Mexico. Growing conditions that are favorable to the Velvetpod Mimosa are dry and rocky soils, lots of sunlight, and some but not much water, given that the plant has a high drought tolerance.

Importance
Many small mammals in the Velvetpod Mimosa's habitat rely on the shrub for food, and cover. Seeds from the plant provide food for Scaled Quail or other birds that live underground. Livestock can feed on the leaves of the plant. It is also an excellent source for nectar. The dense thickets of the Velvetpod Mimosa provide cover value for ground birds, quails, and small rodents.

Foothill paloverde (Parkinsonia microphylla)

The Foothill paloverde is also known as the yellow paloverde or the little-leaved palo verde because of the size of the leaves and the bright yellow colored flowers on the paloverde that blossom. The Foothill paloverde a bristling, upright-branching tree that is slow growing and ranges from 15 feet to 30 feet. Palo Verde is Spanish for green stick referring to the tree's green bark. It is considered a large shrub or a small tree standing.

The leaves are yellowish green, and during extensively dry and hot periods the tree will shed them. It has the characteristic of performing photosynthesis in its bark (hence the green color), and this is what allows it to survive leafless in hotter periods. The flowers are found on the end of a branch, small, pale yellow and occur in late spring. The tree may not flower every year, depending on the amount rainfall. If there is enough rainfall, seeds will also appear in 4–8 cm long, soft pods which dip in between each seed. They ripen in July and stick to the branches. Habitat.

Habitat
It is native to the Southwestern United States in southeastern California and southern Arizona; and to northwest Mexico in the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, and Baja California. The plant is mostly found on slopes and is one of the most common trees of the Sonoran Desert. The Foothill paloverde can withstand more heat and because of this, it is found in the upland areas of the desert where the soil is coarser.

Ecology
The Foothill paloverde is a honey plant, and its twigs is browsed by wildlife, such as the jackrabbit. In times of scarcity, it may be gnawed by livestock. Rodents will often carry and store the seeds underground, where some of them will germinate after a rainy season.

Facts

 * These trees can live to be more than 100 years old, possibly as old as 400 years.
 * The palo verde is the primary nurse plant for young saguaro cactus
 * Humans have used the seeds of the palo verde for hundreds of years
 * Seri Indians eat the seeds fresh, toasted, or ground as flour
 * The Tohono O'odham prefer to eat the seeds fresh from the pods

Importance
The Foothill Paloverde tree is an iconic tree of the desert. One of its roles is to act as a “nurse plant” to young saguaro cacti by protecting them from the cold in the winter and from the intense sun in the summer. The Foothill Paloverde serves as beautiful specimen trees where their green trunks, branch structure, and flowers serve as an attractive focal point in the landscape. They are drought tolerant, once established and provide lovely filtered shade year-round.

Threats
Buffelgrass is an exotic species of grass native to Africa, first introduced into the Sonoran Desert for livestock grazing, which spreads very quickly and can often kill seedlings by using available water, which could be a threat in the future. The palo verde root borer is one insect pest that poses a threat to the palo verde tree. These particular pests can cause severe diseases to infect palo verde trees. Another insect pest that poses a threat to the palo verde tree is the palo verde gall mite. These mites are quite tiny, and so are not easy to spot. However, the damage these little pests cause is quickly very visible. When these mites infest a palo verde tree they cause witches’ broom. This is when small, dense clusters of branches that tend to be a darker green color than normal branches develop on the outer parts of the tree, rising from an outer branch or the tip of a branch.

title: User:Lee yun betty/sandbox/Biodiversity


text:
User:Mcb117/sandbox

Introduction

This tour will take you on a visual journey through two regions of the fascinating Sonoran Desert, the Arizona Uplands and the Plains of Sonora. Throughout this tour we go through the biodiversity and life found in these regions, the geological and climate aspects of the two regions, the use of land and water, and some opportunities and threats found within the regions. The locations have been chosen for their popularity, and how well known they are as well as what they provide for the Arizona Uplands and Plains of Sonora. Each location we have chosen will capture a fraction of these aspects. Please enjoy this tour of the beautiful and magnificent Arizona Uplands and Plains of Sonora.

Variable Sandsnake (Chilomeniscus stramineus)
http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Graphics/Snakes/herp-c-cinctus-ath-mrcp.jpg

Physical characteristics
(Brennan, T. C.)
 * small in length, approximately 11"
 * a small stout-bodied with dark brown/black stripes (the stripes do not cross the abdomen of the body but they completely encircle the tail)
 * an orange body which fades into a pale cream belly with no markings
 * a broad white or light gray snout
 * a black mask crossing the top of the head and covers the eyes
 * scales are smooth and shiny
 * a thick neck (the head is not distinct from the neck)

Adaptations
for burrowing in fine gravel and sand include (Brennan, T. C.)
 * small eyes (round pupils)
 * valves in the nasal passages
 * a flat and wedge-like snout
 * a concaved belly
 * a deeply inset jaw

The black stripes are in contact with orange-red body coloration distinguishing this snake from the similar-looking Western Shovel-nosed Snake. The Variable Sandsnake has mildly toxic saliva (Brennan, T. C.).

Habitat
This snake is found across most of south-central Arizona. The Variable Sandsnake is found primarily in the Arizona Upland subdivision of the Sonoran Desert scrub community. It is usually encountered above the flats in or near drainages and canyons with loose gravel or sand substrates (Brennan, T. C.).

Behavior
(Brennan, T. C.)
 * primarily nocturnal and crepuscular (active primarily during twilight)
 * spends most time under loose gravel or surface cover on the banks of washes and drainages
 * hibernates during the cold months of late fall and winter

Diet
The Variable Sandsnake feeds on a variety of insects including (Brennan, T. C.)
 * roaches
 * grasshoppers
 * centipedes

Reproduction
Mating takes place in spring. A group of up to 4 eggs is laid in the summer (Brennan, T. C.).

Threats
There are no major threats that have been identified, though some local populations have declined, for example as a result of urbanization in the Phoenix area (The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2007).

Foothill paloverde (Parkinsonia microphylla)

The Foothill paloverde (also known as the yellow paloverde or the little-leaved palo verde) is a bristling, upright-branching tree that is slow growing and ranges from 15 to 30 feet tall. Palo Verde is Spanish for 'green stick' referring to the tree's green bark. It is considered a large shrub or a small tree standing. It has very little leaves and when in blossoms in late spring the flowers are bright yellow (Foothills Palo Verde Fact Sheet). The leaves are yellowish green, and during extensively dry and hot periods the tree will shed them. The Foothill paloverde can survive leafless in hotter periods because it performs photosynthesis in its bark (hence the green color). The tree may not flower every year, depending on the amount rainfall (Parkinsonia microphylla, 2020).

Habitat
It is native to the Southwestern United States in southeastern California and southern Arizona; and to northwest Mexico in the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, and Baja California. The plant is mostly found on slopes and is one of the most common trees of the Sonoran Desert. The Foothill paloverde can withstand more heat and because of this, it is found in the upland areas of the desert where the soil is coarser (Parkinsonia microphylla, 2020)

Ecology
The Foothill paloverde is a honey plant. In times of scarcity, the twigs may be gnawed by livestock. Rodents will often carry and store the seeds underground, where some of them will germinate after a rainy season (Parkinsonia microphylla, 2020).

Facts
(Foothills Palo Verde Fact Sheet), (Palo Verde, 2017)
 * These trees can live to be more than 100 years old, possibly as old as 400 years.
 * The palo verde is the primary nurse plant for young saguaro cactus
 * Humans have used the seeds of the palo verde for hundreds of years
 * Seri Indians eat the seeds fresh, toasted, or ground as flour
 * The Tohono O'odham prefer to eat the seeds fresh from the pods
 * There are two species of palo verde that are native to the Sonoran Desert, foothills Palo Verde (Cercidium microphyllum) and blue Palo Verde (Cercidium floridum)

Importance
The Foothill Paloverde tree is an iconic tree of the desert. One of its roles is to act as a “nurse plant” to young saguaro cacti by protecting them from the cold in the winter and from the intense sun in the summer. The Foothill Paloverde serves as an attractive focal point in the landscape and they are drought tolerant, once established and provide filtered shade year-round (Foothills Palo Verde Fact Sheet).

Threats
Some threats to the Foothill Paloverde include
 * Buffelgrass, which is an invasive species of grass native to Africa, it was first introduced into the Sonoran Desert for livestock grazing, which spreads very quickly and can often kill seedlings by using available water (Learn about Buffelgrass Biology, History, Identification, and Control)
 * The palo verde root borer is one insect pest that poses a threat to the palo verde tree, it can cause severe diseases to infect palo verde trees (Tennenbaum, C., 2018)
 * The palo verde gall mite are quite tiny and not easy to spot, but their damage is quickly very visible. These mites cause witches’ broom, which is when small, dense clusters of branches tend to be a darker green color than normal branches develop on the outer parts of the tree, rising from an outer branch or the tip of a branch (Tennenbaum, C., 2018)

Hadley Cells
The Hadley Cell is a global scale tropical atmospheric circulation that features air rising near the Equator, flowing poleward at a height of 10 to 15 kilometers above the earth's surface, descending in the subtropics, and then returning equatorward near the surface. This whole process starts out because the equator region receives a higher amount of sun radiation so there is warmer air and lots of evaporation there. The whole region is usually very humid because warm air is capable of holding more moisture than cool air. Warmer air tends to rise and it will do so until it gets to about 10 to 15 kilometers high. As air rises temperature decreases and there is a lot of precipitation event as the air massed rise and and start to hear towards the North and South. Air masses will continue flowing southward and northward but as they do they will get drier and drier because of the rain events and also colder and colder since they are leaving the equator and going towards the poles at around 30° South and 30° North. Air masses tend to descend towards the planet's surface resulting in these regions being dominated by dry air without much precipitation. This creates the perfect environment for deserts to form.

(Where are deserts formed and why?, 2018)
 * around 30° North and South of the Equator
 * interior of continents (this is because they may be farther from the main sources of moist air like oceans)
 * rain shadows of large mountain belts (perfect settings for deserts to form)
 * The Mojave, Black Rock, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts all are in regions which are rain shadowed.

Conclusion
Now you have been through a mere fraction of the Arizona Uplands and Plains of Sonora. We have taken you through the animal and plant life within the region, what the land and air feels and looks like, how the water and land are used, and some future goals and devastations that lie ahead for the Arizona Uplands and Plains of Sonora. We want to thank you for taking the time to go through this tour and learn about this region that we have had the pleasure to research about.

title: User:Mcb117/sandbox


text:
User:Mfcmloks53/sandbox

 Baja California and Gulf of California Animal and Plant Species:

 Animal Species: Vaquita (Phocoena sinus)  This wonderful aquatic creature named Vaquita is under the Porpoises family which is a long group of marine animals that are mammals that are classified as Phocoenidae. Also the Vaquita, is an endemic animal, that is to say relevant of its location that receives its name “ Vaquita” which in Spanish means “little cow." This species appears in the Gulf of Baja California and unfortunately is in danger of extinction.

Cultural Significance: The Vaquita is one of the few species of the porpoise endemic which means that it exists only one place in the planet. Because of this it can bring many tourists in the area for ecotourism which is environmental tourism that sees wildlife in its habitat. But because unfortunately the Vaquita is in danger of extinction it can negatively affect the cultural aspect of the areas surrounding the Gulf of Mexico.

Ecological Trouble: Unfortunately, the Vaquita is in danger to extinction. Because of this there will be fewer animals for both prey and predators many sea creatures will be affected by this in which the balance of the food chain in the Gulf of Mexico will have to change and adapt with the disappearance of this wonderful aquatic creature. Vaquitas usually eat around a dozen different type of small and medium sized fish in which will have one less predator so their numbers can grow and affect the food chain their and also other larger species such as sharks were the Vaquita’s predator in which they will have one less food source again negatively affecting the food chain.

Plant species: Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) This unique plant named the Ocotillo also known as a Fouquieria Splendens is a tall, greyish/greenish spiky plant from the Plantae family. This plant isn't considered a true cactus even though it is covered in thorns and is ingenious to both the Sonoran Desert and the Chihuahuan Desert.

Cultural Significance: The Ocotillo does flower but only when it rains and when the flower dries it can be collected and used for tisanes which is an herbal tea. Also, Native American use to use to cut off the flowers when they blossomed and also cut of parts of the root and collect them for when someone in the tribe use to get cut they would apply either the root or the flower on the open cut which slowed down the bleeding.

Ecological Significance: Both White-Tailed deer and Mule deer have the Ocotillo in their diet, but white-tail deer tends to eat much more Ocotillo than the Mule deer. Because the Ocotillo does flower both hummingbirds and native carpenter bees are able to get nectar from them which also helps the Ocotillo spread its pollen. Also, it can provide some cover or shelter from the hot desert for smaller mammals, birds and reptiles.

The Cultural Use of Minerals in Baja California and the Gulf of California:

Baja California is home to a total of 161 operating mines in the whole Mexican state. A total of 19 different minerals are being mined which are Gold, Tungsten, Copper, Iron, Silver, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Sulfur, Manganese, Lead, Aluminum, Barium-Barite, Graphite, Silica, Zinc, Zirconium, Titanium, Titanium Metal, Molybdenum and Chromium. The mines are spread out through the state of Baja California and are broken into 5 different provinces which is placed depending on its location and what are mined. In the first province deposits of mesothermal sulfates of iron, copper and gold are being mined. The second province corresponds to the gold veins distributed along the whole state. The third province corresponds to deposits of tungsten. The fourth province corresponds to the deposits of manganese sulfites, barite, lead, zinc and silver. The fifth province involves the gold pleasure deposits. Some of the cities in Baja California that have these mines are Tijuana (which has 23 operating mines), Ensenada (which has 13 operating mines) and Mexicali (which has 4 operating mines). More mines are located in other cities and towns throughout the Baja California region.

Water and Land use in Baja California and Gulf of California:

For water usage the water is gathered from the Colorado River in Mexicali Baja California and with a canal system it goes through La Rumorosa which goes to into a reservoir named “El Carrizo” in which Tecate, Rosarito and Tijuana Baja California. In the south most of the water is collected by rainfall in the mountains named “Sierra de las Trincheras” and “El Novillo” in which water is distributed to La Paz and its surrounding towns.

For land usage, unfortunately, there is a lot of trash that is illegally dumped throughout the desert and in the ocean but the trash that is collected, each city in Baja California gathers it and disposes it to its closest landfill in which each large city has their own in their outskirts and the smaller towns around it uses them as well. Landfills are located in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexicali, Tijuana, Ensenada, San Quintin, Rosarito, Santa Rosalia, Loreto and La Paz. Sewage waste is also disposed of in landfills alongside solid waste.

Opportunities and threats of Baja California and the Gulf of California

Many opportunities are found in Baja California because it is in the middle of both the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. Because of this tourism is in every city that is in the shore to either of the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of California. For example, San Felipe is in the shore of the Gulf of California and because of this many people from both the U.S and other parts of Mexico go there to enjoy the beach. Also because of the tourism the beaches bring San Felipe they also host an off-road racing event named San Felipe 250 which happens yearly bringing more people to this city.

The threats from what the Baja California Peninsula and the Gulf of California suffers from are all done by humans. The principal threats are livestock ranching, salt extraction, and hunting. With ranching many acres of space are taken away in which affected both populations of mule deer and bighorn sheep significantly. With hunting because so much deer type animals are being hunted it has affected the population of Pumas in the area due to they no longer have their main source of food available as much as they were having. And with the salt extraction from the see this has negatively affected the breeding and migration of gray whales.

title: User:Mfcmloks53/sandbox


text:
Wikibooks:Reading room/Archives/2020/February

Layout the Quiz template to horizontal mode
In Puzzles/Odd-one-out, I saw the images used for Puzzles are quite good but however I see that the images are laid out vertically. Are there any way I can make the quiz pics to be lined up horizontally ?

Asked by Encik Tekateki (discuss • contribs) 14:54, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Apparently not. According to Help:Quizzes, "Unfortunately there does not yet seem to be a way of putting these into a row or tabularising the layout." Now quiz use mw:Extension:Quiz and there does seem to be some requests connected with this listed at its phabricator board, in particular T172593 "Add new parameter for Style in Quiz ". Unfortunately they don't seem to have got anywhere. -- Jules (Mrjulesd) 18:18, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Ouch, if this can be done,Wikibooks can be more interactive . Thanks !

Encik Tekateki (discuss • contribs) 04:51, 6 February 2020 (UTC)
 * I really want to develop a dialog-based alternative to the quiz extension. (Yeah, yeah, it's taking way longer than it should.) --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 05:12, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

step by step
hello there, I'm a new member here, could you tell me step by step guide for a beginner like me?

--PutriAmalia1991 (discuss • contribs) 07:40, 2 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Hello, you can read the book Using Wikibooks online or in PDF. JackPotte (discuss • contribs) 10:35, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

Problem with reviewing
Well I've been doing some reviewing, but I am continually getting an error message when I try to do so:

"There seems to be a problem with your login session; this action has been canceled as a precaution against session hijacking. Please resubmit the form."

I've tried: (a) logging in and out again; (b) clearing all by browser data; (c) updating my browser; but it doesn't seem to help very much. I use Firefox on Windows 7.

Resubmitting a review few times I'm eventually successful, but its a bit of a pain having to do this. Is anyone else having the same problem? -- Jules (Mrjulesd) 13:49, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

 * Historically, I've sometimes gotten that error if I'm editing a page (for real, using an edit box; I never touch that VisualEditor abomination), spend an especially long time on the one display (not requesting a preview or diff), and then directly tell it to save. Several years ago I asked bawolff about it and he said iirc that that error should never happen.  I've gotten that error twice this morning when editing, and I wasn't being slow about it (nor have I done very much editing yet this morning).  So I'm guessing the devs deployed something just recently (perhaps overnight) that wasn't really ready for prime time yet. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 14:22, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
 * thanks for your reply. I don't think its a coincidence that we've both got that message recently, obviously something is up somewhere (!) Anyway it might be a short lived problem, so I'll see how it goes. I have had problems in the past that somehow just seem have gone away. At one point borders around boxes weren't rendering, but strangely it seemed to be device and browser dependent, so was rather strange; but not recently. But anyway I might open a bug at some point, but I'll see how it goes for the time being. -- Jules (Mrjulesd) 20:52, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
 * I just did a review with no problems. Also using Firefox. —Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 21:19, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks Justin I've just tried too without problems. Maybe that's the end of it (for the time being at least). -- Jules (Mrjulesd) 21:30, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

Additional interface for edit conflicts on talk pages
''Sorry, for writing this text in English. If you could help to translate it, it would be appreciated.''

You might know the new interface for edit conflicts (currently a beta feature). Now, Wikimedia Germany is designing an additional interface to solve edit conflicts on talk pages. This interface is shown to you when you write on a discussion page and another person writes a discussion post in the same line and saves it before you do. With this additional editing conflict interface you can adjust the order of the comments and edit your comment. We are inviting everyone to have a look at the planned feature. Let us know what you think on our central feedback page! -- For the Technical Wishes Team: Max Klemm (WMDE) 14:14, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

 * Postings on an English site that start with 'Sorry for writing this text in english' really give an impression of inattention by the poster. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 14:50, 26 February 2020 (UTC)
 * I had given feedback to them on their meta talkpage, they said they will improve next round. This is their 1st MMS, shall we give them some slack?--Camouflaged Mirage (discuss • contribs) 17:18, 27 February 2020 (UTC)
 * 'Twas just an observation. I'm glad to hear you found a more effective place to apply it, though. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 19:52, 27 February 2020 (UTC)

Op Amp actual terms are used wrongly, need to correct the terms used.
Hi admins, kindly move this book from Practical Electronics/Operating amplifiers to Practical Electronics/Operational amplifiers as Op-amps is really referring to Operational Amplifiers : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_amplifier

Encik Tekateki (discuss • contribs) 14:23, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

 * Hi Encik, did you know that this can be done at Special:MovePage/Practical Electronics/Operating amplifiers? -- Jules (Mrjulesd) 15:05, 2 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Ah Mrjulesd, this is first time I seen this special pages, I move it right away! Thanks for your kind guidance Encik Tekateki (discuss • contribs) 15:09, 2 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Sure thing. Btw take a look at WB:MOVE for more guidance. -- Jules (Mrjulesd) 15:10, 2 February 2020 (UTC)


text:
Oberon/BootManager

BOOT MANAGER The Bluebottle Boot Manager and how it relates to similar products - Feb. 13, 2008

  Table of content Brief introduction to the theory of the boot mechanism

Summary of features

Detail of features

Material included in the release delivery

How to create, install and start the boot manager

Competing boot managers

Rationale for developing the Bluebottle boot manager

How to start AOS with a different boot manager * - * - * - * - * - *    Brief introduction to the theory of the boot mechanism Starting an operating system can be seen as a sequence of three processes:

  ▪ A machine-centered process: BIOS locates a bootable volume

When a computer is turned on, the computer's BIOS finds the primary bootable device, as defined by the user in the BIOS setup, and transfers control to the Master Boot Record (MBR), the first sector (512 bytes) of the first track on the boot volume. With the advent of Solid State Devices/Disks competing with conventional hard disks, the more general term "volume" is preferred to "hard disk", "device" or "HDD". DOM (Disk On Module) and flash drives too are mass storage devices linearly organized. With nothing being mechanically driven in a flash drive, the name is a misnomer. Indeed, a partition is sometimes called a "volume" but that seems inappropriate.

A volume is either partitioned or has a single partition. The latter case, where the volume may be called a "superfloppy", is ignored here. The term "block", generally used in Bluebottle (see LBA Logical Block Address), is equivalent to "sector" which relates to the physical shape of a hard disk. A block stores 512 bytes. A partition is either a primary or an extended partition. The latter is a container that can hold one or more logical drives. According to Microsoft, logical drives function like primary partitions except that they cannot be used to start an OS. For the AOS system the term "logical drive" is more appropriately replaced by "logical partition" since the container is transparent.

Remarks

AMI, Asus, Award, Gigabyte, Intel, Phoenix and other BIOSes behave differently and exist in many versions. Various levels of support for USB complicate further. Some PCs can boot from USB while others have USB but can not boot from it. When booting from a USB device fails, either the PC or the device is at fault. Hardware and software exist in an indefinite number of combinations and prediction of boot manager behaviour in a specific environment is difficult or impossible. The remaining text is scattered with examples of special situations encountered with various product brands. In spite of the difficulties, the boot manager has been used successfully with a number of Shuttle, Qbic and ASUS machines and Intel boards.

  ▪ A boot manager-centered process: the user selects a partition to boot into.

The conventional way to start an operating system is by loading and executing the code in the MBR and then the code in partition boot record (PBR) of the "active" partition, as noted in the partition table in the MBR. This notion only applies to a primary partition, not to a logical one, and is ignored by this boot manager. The alternative offered by this boot manager is to load and execute the MBR of another volume just as when BIOS transfers control to the boot volume's MBR.

The MBR contains the Boot Manager Stage 1. Given the small size of the MBR, Stage 1 does little more than to load and transfer control to Stage 2 located in the first volume track, immediately following the MBR (see section 1 below). Stage 1 also verifies, by means of a unique signature, that the loaded Stage 2 is valid.

After Stage 2 receives control, it presents a textual menu of available OSes to boot. Selecting the target OS causes to boot. It is also prepared to automatically start the operating system selected last prior to the restart in progress (see User friendliness).

At system start, only the BIOS drivers are available to access volumes and luckily modern BIOS include P-ATA, S-ATA, ATAPI and USB drivers, enough to start OSes from a variety of volumes. Firewire BIOS support is currently rare and was not explored. The Boot Manager supports Logical Block Address (32-bit LBA) mode when the BIOS supports the extended INT 13h. The CHS mode of the simple INT 13h imposes that a PBR (first block of any partition) resides below the 8.4GB boundary. The 32-bit LBA mode makes it possible to address 2TB of storage. The 48-bit LBA mode is not supported. A BIOS setting controls the addressing mode.

  ▪ An OS-centered process: the PBR transfers control to the OS-specific bootloader which locates and loads the kernel. The OS starts.

For example, the Bluebottle bootloader OBL.Bin, located at the beginning of a partition, locates and loads a kernel matching the characteristics of the boot volume, that is:

        ▪ AosIDE.Bin on a P-ATA/S-ATA mass storage device         ▪ AosIDE.Bin on an ATAPI CD-ROM, for producing a live CD - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_CD         ▪ AosUSB.Bin on a USB mass storage device, for producing a live USB - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiveUSB

Trace is the very first kernel module executed after the bootloader relinquishes control. Until the end of 2007 the first kernel module executed was Machine. Summary of features Non-invasive multiple multi-boot manager designed to control up to 12 primary or logical partitions on each of up to 8 volumes attached, that is, recognized by BIOS on machine start-up.

Can co-exist with other boot managers present on other volumes of a machine. Detects the presence of GAG, GRUB, LILO and Windows in an MBR of a volume.

Installed using Bluebottle, also from a live CD as is used for installing Bluebottle, on various volumes:

        ▪ a bootable CD-ROM can be burned from the BootManager.iso file included         ▪ a bootable floppy diskette can be created from the BootManager.Bin file included         ▪ or directly installed with WMInstaller on the MBR of a volume

Preserves the integrity of the MBR's partition table and the integrity of the disk signature used by Windows Vista in the MBR.

Does not require a dedicated partition.

Can be installed on and run from any volume, internal or external, fixed or removable, including USB-FDD and CD-ROM.

Capable of starting an OS installed in a partition below a boundary of 2TB (32-bit LBA mode).

Combines ease of use in daily routine work and very technical inspection of machine equipment and volume control in connexion with ubiquitous external USB and other storage devices.

Written in assembly language (Nasm syntax) with open source code included in a Bluebottle release.

This documentation details how it relates to, and how it can co-exist with, a few other competing boot managers. Detail of features The Bluebottle boot manager is designed around a legacy MBR, as is found on a majority of machines, offering space for four 16-byte partition table entries in the partition table. One entry may be used by an extended partition to which logical partitions may be chained in any number. A boot manager such as the Ranish Partition Manager with another partition table organization for breaking the limit of 4 was not considered. Also the proposed Intel EFI standard was not considered.

1. Physical location on a given volume It comprises an MBR at LBA=0 and a small number of blocks located in the remaining space of "track 0". The blocks in that range are usually left unused and filled with 0s, unless a third party boot manager is installed. That is, for instance, the case for GRUB and Boot-US. "Track" is related to the physical organization of a volume as it used to exist earlier. Today the number of sectors per track is a logical value. The first partition is normally created and formatted during the installation of an operating system which fixes the first LBA used. In most cases, a factory new volume is formatted and an OS is preinstalled. The first LBA number used varies with the volume geometry, more precisely the number of sectors per track. The following values can be observed as first used LBA number:         ▪ LBA = 2048 on large capacity volume, with Windows Vista installed for example         ▪ LBA = 63 is standard for USB and HD volumes < 100 GB         ▪ LBA = 32 on a CD-ROM FDD emulation (see next section) and on a factory new ZIP 100 volume         ▪ LBA = 16 on a factory new 32MB Disk On Module (DOM)

At present, 13 blocks are occupied by code and data, two blocks are dedicated work areas.

2. Volumes on which it can be installed

It can be installed on and run from any volume, internal or external, fixed or removable, of a PC. This has been tested with a wide range of media: 3.5" floppy diskette (USB-FDD only), 2.5" and 3.5" HDD (P-ATA, S-ATA), CD-ROM emulating a FDD (burned with Bluebottle,Nero, Magic ISO), USB flash memory (SD, CF), Solid State Disk (e.g. DOM) and USB-ZIP (tested with Iomega ZIP 100MB only). It can be installed on its own, without the need of partitioning a volume or installing an operating system, as can be understood from the listed floppy diskette with an extremely small 1.44MB capacity. When installed on its own on a CD-ROM or USB-FDD it can be used without disturbing the MBR, or boot manager, of the usual boot volume. Installing it on the usual boot volume can be decided at a later time. It is very generic and since it can be installed on multiple volumes of the same machine it qualifies as multi multiboot manager.

Each of volume on which it is installed, provided it is accessible/bootable by the BIOS (see the remarks in the Introduction), can take control of the machine for the purpose of starting a particular operating system. Evidently, the device priority sequence in BIOS setup will have defined which volume to boot first and the order in which they will be accessed.

Volume hosting a Bluebottle partition

Bluebottle has a very small footprint which means that one will either find several Bluebottle partitions, possibly co-existing with other OSes, on a sizeable volume or a single partition on a small size volume - from a minimum of 62MB and up. In the latter case, a USB-HDD flash memory (USB stick) is the ideal storage medium to host the entire OS with its applications. No need to drag an unwieldy personal computer to the office or on business trip. Just plug the stick to a personal computer and start Bluebottle. Given the fast data transfer, high capacity and other technological gains, USB flash drives (UFD) enjoy an increasing popularity. As long as the BIOS and the USB device itself support booting from USB, one can take over the machine without ever accessing (writing!) the machine's internal storage and without committing to a permanent installation on an internal hard drive. If booting from USB is not possible (e.g. an old BIOS could prohibit it), boot from a CD-ROM or a USB-FDD to bootstrap the USB device (see section 5).

A special situation is worth mentioning here: on a volume of very small size, say 64 or 128MB, it is not only unreasonable to envisage more than one partition, also a single working Bluebottle would only just fit leaving no space for user data. In that case, it is preferable to format a single partition without kernel and programs. Such a partition is then exclusively useable as data storage and is never bootable. It will however show up in the partition list.

BIOS volume detection and enumeration While under control of the Boot Manager, USB devices are conditioned by the BIOS which detects and enumerates them. See "Compaq, Intel, Phoenix BIOS Boot Specification 1.1". In this respect, BIOS demonstrate an unfriendly behavior, since the volume enumeration depends on the characteristics of the different volumes: some are recognized others not..

The volumes are listed left to right and two groups are discernible:   ▪ HDDs identified as 80h, 81h, 82h, ... - traditional "fixed" disks and now including removable media devices that support change-line   ▪ FDD identified as 00h - traditional "removable" disk (CD-ROM, USB-FDD, USB-ZIP).

Only one is taken into account: it will be the CD-ROM when it is the boot device or it will be the USB-FDD if it is recognized as such by the BIOS

The boot volume appears always first and its type (HDD or FDD) determines which of the two groups is listed first. A maximum of 8 volumes can be controlled simultaneously. This is an important design consideration in a time where a large number of external USB storage devices, inexpensive and ubiquitous, can be attached to a PC (see section 3).

Booting from CD-ROM (FDD emulated)

The CD-ROM must conform to the El Torito bootable CD format using a file on the CD to emulate a floppy diskette. BIOS identifies the boot volume as 00h, which comes first and alone in its group, followed by ATA HDDs and USB-HDDs. The included BootManager.iso file is the best vehicle for distributing the Bluebottle boot manager.

Booting from USB-FDD

A floppy diskette can only be used when loaded into a USB-FDD. Considering that PCs are nowadays rarely equipped with a legacy FDD, these devices are no longer supported and simply ignored. If an FDD is present it is not even necessary to disable it in the BIOS setup.

Booting from internal P-ATA HDD

BIOS identifies the boot volume as 80h, then come the remaining ATA HDDs, followed by USB-HDDs.

Booting from external USB-HDD or USB-ZIP

BIOS identifies the boot volume as 80h, then come the ATA HDDs and the remaining USB-HDDs come last.

On one machine, the volumes were marked "n.a." for "non-accessible" (no explanation for this odd situation, where BIOS returns a correct volume count but cannot access them).

When a high speed USB 2.0 device is attached to an USB 2.0 hub, this device is supported in USB 1.1 speed - 12MB/s. Only later, when the operating system installs the driver, the high-speed data transfer will be established. The speed difference can be observed on a Disk2go device which signals a 12MB/s speed with a green LED, lit in red at high speed.

BIOS boot volume order controlled by BIOS setup

Depending on the BIOS, the setup is invoked by pressing DEL, PF2 or PF1. The boot volume order can be changed. While modifying the setup, remember to disable the FDDs and if "Plug and play OS" is offered for choice, use "No". Alternatively, the BIOS setup can be left as is and the boot volume can be selected after invoking the BIOS boot menu (usually by pressing ESC or PF8 at system start, depending on the BIOS).

Refer to the User Guide (section BIOS setup) belonging to the machine.

Support for large volume size

The LBA addressing scheme is used with 32 bits reserved in each partition table entry. Given a block size of 512 bytes, a volume of up to 2'048 GB can be addressed. The boot manager can also operate using the CHS addressing scheme by mapping LBAs to their CHS equivalent. Testing for the presence of the extended INT 13h support indicates whether mapping is required or not. The volume size is limited to 8GB when the CHS addressing scheme is used (with a 24-bit address), a rare situation in today's environment.

3. Independent from the host operating system

Provided a PC and the attached USB flash memory can boot from USB, a user plugging a flash memory with an installed Bluebottle will find the best and safest situation for using the hardware without ever using or altering the machine resident operating system or a possible third-party boot manager. The utmost safety is given when the USB volume is configured, necessarily with a AosUSB.Bin kernel, but without access to the IDE volumes. If needed, the IDE driver module can be activated by executing ATADisks.Install ~. After that, any IDE partition can be mounted and accessed at the user's own risk.

All that is possible with a very primitive MBR but the Bluebottle boot manager offers the added value of being able to take full control of the machine volumes and partitions and thus to perform, to some extent, as the host.

When that is not possible, it allows to transfer control to the host MBR manager without otherwise interfering and without a need to reboot. The Bluebottle boot manager is cooperative and non-invasive (see section 5).

Those who might hesitate to install the Bluebottle boot manager, may opt to include Bluebottle in the boot menu of some third party OS such as Windows Vista.

4. User guidance Here is a example menu which can be accessed when BootManager starts.

====================================================== Bluebottle BootManager 28/01/2008 GenuineIntel               Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.0GHz 64-bit processor Family 0Fh Model 04h Cores: 1 Logicals: 2 HT: Y BIOS/MBR 80 detected volumes: >80 117M >81 19G   >82 9G USB          IDE          IDE ^^^^^^ Volume 80 (Mode LBA 5) - MBR: Bluebottle - Vol. signature @ 1B8h: 66 0D 67 0D    Partitions: (those marked in red cannot be accessed) 1 OBERON     4C Enter one of the following:   the number of a partition hosting an OS to start               Set ScrollLock to halt Bluebottle start-up.             Selection will replace current default vol. xx, part. yy         n(ext) or p(revious) volume ^^^^^^         v to toggle graphic VBE info         i to toggle PCI vendor/device info         l to toggle 25/50 lines         s to switch to MBR on selected volume ======================================================

Whenever it is started, the boot manager reports the CPU characteristics:

  ▪ CPU type: Intel, AMD, Via (formally IDT/Centaur) or other         Note: it was tested will a small sample of CPUs only.   ▪ speed   ▪ width (32 or 64-bit)   ▪ hyperthreading or not   ▪ number or cores, logical processors, threads

The next line (highlighted in red) tells from which volume the MBR/Boot Manager was extracted. It is this code which produces the report presented to the user. Most of the time, it is the MBR of the boot volume unless the user requested to switch to the MBR of another volume (see below, response 's').

On a follow up line, all the volumes detected by the BIOS are listed from left to right, starting with the boot volume (section 2). In addition, the partition table, if any, of that volume is inspected and a list of all the residing partitions is displayed. From there, a suitable partition can be selected to start an operating system, provided it is correctly installed. Else, another volume, if any, can be selected and the same process of partition table inspection is repeated for it. The volumes are selected by entering "n" for "next" or "p" for "previous". The volume currently selected is underscored by a string of 6 "^" characters on the next line.

For each volume accessed, the type of Master Boot Record (MBR) is displayed. The presence of a Bluebottle, GRUB, LILO or Windows (indicated by "Foreign") boot manager is detected. It is thus not necessary to install the Bluebottle boot manager on all volumes. Other existing MBRs and boot managers can still be invoked and are fully operational. This is done by responding with "s" to the prompt text, and that applies to the bootmanager itself.

On request it also displays   ▪ a list of VBE VESA modes supported by the graphic controller (enter "v" in response to the prompt). Bluebottle requires the availability of a VESA mode using a linear frame buffer. A list of suitable modes is produced where the modes appear as 3-digit green values. Such a value is an important parameter of the configuration data element "Init=". When Bluebottle is installed, "Init=117" is established as default value, corresponding to a resolution of 1024 x 768 x 16, available on most graphic controllers. The user may want to select a VESA mode with a better resolution in the list for use when Bluebottle is started.

  ▪ a list of the installed PCI devices (enter "i" in response to the prompt)

The text is displayed on 50 80-character lines compared to the default 25-line layout. Entering 'l' toggles the number of lines. The boot manager enforces a 50-line mode against the default 25-line mode. Experience shows that toggling is not really needed, except in the eventuality that the 50-line mode is not supported by the graphic controller (a situation not encountered yet).

Any invalid input is acknowledged with: "invalid input, retry"'

In summary, it guides a user

  ▪ daily to start the preferred operating system   ▪ daily to select and start an operating system among several, may be different ones, installed   ▪ at times to recover an operating system rendered inaccessible by a volume master boot record damage   ▪ occasionally to inspect the machine equipment and decide if it is apt to run Bluebottle, in particular when contemplating a purchase. Remember to verify that the machine allows booting from USB, a very useful and recommendable capability indeed. See also section 5.

5. OS it can start It can start an operating system located   ▪ on the volume where it is located and   ▪ on another volume.

The TUI allows to choose a volume and to choose which OS to start, irrespective of a boot sequence as is usually defined in other similar systems. The OS is started by accessing the PBR in the same fashion as the BIOS, in cooperation with the MBR, would otherwise do.

A maximum of 12 partitions can be listed per volume selected. Keep in mind that an extended partition cannot be accessed but will appear in red in the list.

Let us assume that a USB-HDD with an installed bootable AOS is plugged into a machine which cannot boot from USB, then it might still possible to boot from a CD-ROM and then to start the AOS on USB. No alteration of the machine is required except the boot sequence.

Compatible with all Windows versions. Compatible with x64 (AMD62/EM64T) and Windows 64-bit (non-GPT).

Last but not least, the boot manager on any volume can be used to start an OS residing on another volume with a different boot manager, e.g. GRUB, or a volume with corrupted MBR but with intact partition table.

6. No special partition required It does neither occupy a partition nor is it placed within a partition (see section 1)

7. User friendliness The Boot Manager will report all it can on the volumes and their partitions which exist on a machine. It does not rely for that on configuration data supplied by the user and must not be configured. However true the report, it will not be all the truth, as in the case of a partition defined but without installed and bootable OS. The Boot Manager cannot cope with such user's responsibilty situations and will abort without fallback or warning.

It gracefully memorizes, in one of its blocks (LBA number 12), the volume and partition finally selected to start the desired OS, except if it is run from a CD-ROM, for an obvious reason, or from a FD, because the FD is considered to be useful only to start an OS and not really bound to any machine.

The next time the machine is started, the same OS is automatically started without user intervention.

However, if, the user wishes to start a different OS, setting ScrollLock, immediately before the MBR takes over control, halts the Boot Manager execution and a prompt text is presented for selecting other options.

When freshly installed, the default volume and partition are undefined and its execution will necessarily halt for interaction with the user.

It will (should!) not damage a foreign boot manager (GRUB, Boot-US) installed on the first track of a volume.

8. No "active" partition concept It allows starting an OS, by a chainloading mechanism, without relying on the detection of an "active" partition (not even a Windows partition). Material included in the release delivery  1. BootManager.Text - this documentation  2. BootManager.Asm - source code in Nasm syntax  3. BootManager.Bin - the assembled BootManager = Stage 1 + Stage2  4. BootManager.iso - ISO file for burning a CD-ROM  5. BootManagerNull.Bin- 512-byte help file for producing BootManager.iso

Stock files BootManager.Bin, BootManagerMBR.Bin and BootManagerTail.Bin are available from the repository, https://svn-dept.inf.ethz.ch/svn/lecturers/a2/trunk/source/. Submit username infsvn.anonymous and password anonymous. Instructions to create these files follow. How to create, install and start the boot manager 1. Write the assembler code using the Network Assembler syntax

Written in Nasm code, to operate in real-mode. Receives control from the BIOS with the following interface:

  ▪ the MBR is loaded at address 7c00h   ▪ the register dl contains the boot volume identifier. It will be either 0 when booting from a CD-ROM or USB-FDD or 80h for a partitioned volume.

When the boot manager is in control, the user is offered the choice to transfer control:

  ▪ either to a PBR of a bootable partition to start an OS, assuming it was correctly installed,   ▪ or to an MBR in another volume (it can even transfer control to itself).

2. Assemble the code 2.1 In Oberon, transform the Oberon text to pure ASCII, in preparation of a Windows/DOS processing, with: Miscellaneous.MakeDOSText name.Asm => name.ASC ~

2.2a In DOS: assemble the source text *.ASC with the Network Assembler

2.2b In Windows: use ansmw.exe in the DOS box. Command parameter details with: nasmw -h

2.3 In Oberon, read the .BIN file with Backup.ReadFiles name.BIN ~

At this point you have BootManager.Bin containing 6656 bytes. That is 13 blocks of 512 bytes each. A BootManager.Bin is available from the repository, https://svn-dept.inf.ethz.ch/svn/lecturers/a2/trunk/source/.

3. Produce the installation data 3.1 For a partitioned volume, BootManager.Bin obtained in step 2 is processed by WMInstaller and split into:

  ▪ one block placed in the MBR and   ▪ 12 blocks placed in the blocks with LBA 1 to 12.

These two sections are also available, ready to use, from the repository as files BootManagerMBR.Bin and BootManagerTail.Bin.

3.2 For a FD, BootManager.Bin obtained in step 2 can be used as is without further ado (go to 4.3).

3.3 ISO image file for burning a bootable CD-ROM The same process as is found in I386.Aos.Tool for creating a new release is used. In Oberon, execute these commands

Configuration.DoCommands OFSTools.Mount SYS RamFS 200000 4096 ~ System.DeleteFiles AOS:BootManager.iso ~ FileDisks.Open SYS:AosCD.Dsk 600 ~ Partitions.Format SYS:AosCD.Dsk#0 AosFS 0 BootManagerNull.Bin ~ (boot file reserve size must be multiple of 4) Partitions.FileToPartition SYS:AosCD.Dsk#0 BootManager.Bin 0 13 FileDisks.Close SYS:AosCD.Dsk ~ Aos.Call \w IsoImages.Make AOS:BootManager.iso SYS:AosCD.Dsk ~ OFSTools.Unmount SYS ~

Note: BootManagerNull.Bin, a 512-byte file filled with 00h, takes the place of AosIDE.Bin or some other kernel.

The image file BootManager.iso included in the release is then used to burn a bootable CD-ROM (see section 4.4).

4. Install the boot manager 4.1 Planning the installation

If a volume already hosts a number of operating systems, one should plan first   ▪ to gather information on the current volume organization: volume size, number of partitions, operating system types, presence of boot manager.

All this is easily done with the Bluebottle Partitions tool: follow Main menu > Files > Partitions or with the Oberon Partitions.Tool: execute Partitions.Show detail ~   ▪ to backup the current volume MBR and when necessary the remaining blocks in track 0 used by some boot manager.

This can be done with the Bluebottle Partitions tool as above, then selecting "ToFile" or with the Oberon Partitions.Tool: execute Partitions.PartitionToFile dev#0 MBRBackup.Bin 0 1 ~ Identifier "dev" must be replaced with a specific device name; "IDE0" for example. More than 1 block may have to be saved. This file can be inspected by executing: Hex.Open MBRBackup.Bin ~ In case of trouble, the MBRBackup.Bin file can be restored by executing: Partitions.WriteMBR dev#0 MBRBackup.Bin ~

4.2 On a partitioned volume execute, in AOS: WMInstaller.Open ~ and follow the instructions.

Alternatively, use these commands in Oberon or in AOS. Partitions.WriteMBR dev#0 BootManagerMBR.Bin ~ Partitions.FileToPartition dev#0 BootManagerTail.Bin 1 12 ~

When Oberon is installed using a hypervisor, the freshly installed system can be booted and BootManager can then be installed as above.

The same result is achieved using dd in Linux. Block size 446 was explained in the mailing list at 2021-07-06. sudo dd if=MY/BootManagerMBR.Bin of=/dev/sdx bs=446 count=1 sudo dd if=MY/BootManagerTail.Bin of=/dev/sdx seek=1 count=12 Identifier "sdx" must be replaced with a specific device name such as "sdf". Caution is advised. If the incorrect device is specified, the data in the host device will become inaccessible and this can immediately disable the host system. Identify the device carefully.

4.3 On a bootable CD-ROM

On the Main menu follow > Files > CDRecorder > Tools > Burn Iso Image

Then browse to locate BootManager.iso and burn a CD-ROM. The CD_ROM so created is not guaranteed to be readable on any machine though. The use of a third-party software such as Nero should be preferred. MagicISO is yet another such software.

4.4 On a floppy diskette

Enabling an FDD might be needed only temporarily to install the boot manager on a floppy diskette for use on a USB-FDD.

Insert a DOS formatted FD in the FDD and execute, in AOS: Diskettes.Install ~

Navigate > Files > Partitions > Select a partition > Partitions > From File >

Filename: BootManager.Bin / Offset: 0 / NumBlocks: 13

or in Oberon: Diskettes.Install ~ Partitions.FileToPartition Diskette0#0 BootManager.Bin 0 13 ~ (13 = 1 MBR + 12 blocks)

5. Start the boot manager Start the PC and direct it (via BIOS setup or boot menu) to boot from the volume where it resides.

To open the BootManager menu, use the ScrollLock key or hold down Ctrl, Alt or Shift as described in the table and footnotes (2a) and (5) under A2 Start-up Sequencing.

6. What happens to a Bluebottle boot manager when a new operating system is installed? If another operating system is installed or re-installed which overwrites/replaces the MBR for its own purpose, the Bluebottle MBR can easily be restored. For example, a Windows install effectively replaces the MBR. Consequently, before re-installing a Bluebottle MBR user handling is required to guarantee the integrity of Windows, or else the Windows install will have failed. If an OS such as Ubuntu suggests to install GRUB, two situations can emerge: GRUB is installed in the MBR an it eventually overwrites a Bluebottle boot manager or it is installed in a partition (possibly a dedicated one) where it does not interfere.

7. How to restore the original MBR of an operating system In Oberon, execute Partitions.WriteMBR dev#0 MBRBackup.Bin ~

8. How to access other volumes when Bluebottle is started Usually, Bluebottle is configured to include the disk driver for the volume it resides on, that is, the kernel used is either AosIDE.Bin or AosUSB.Bin. Thus make sure to install another driver when needed. The commands are   ▪ ATADisks.Install   ▪ UsbHubDriver.Install followed by UsbUhci.Install Competing boot managers

A great variety of boot managers are proposed for controlling a multiboot system. Here is a non-exhaustive enumeration: built-in boot manager of Windows (of all kinds), GRUB, GAG, LILO, BootIt, Boot-US. To choose a good one is not easy but in most cases one, or even two, is part of an OS distribution. A good bet is to delegate the choice and installation of the boot manager to the OS installer procedure. At the time of an installation it might not be much of a concern but the implications should be well understood.

Boot managers are competing for the space in the first track or, at the minimum, for the MBR. The hard fact is that one boot manager can wipe another out. Some installers take care of mending a damage by integrating existing OSes in the boot menu. That is the case for most Linux distributions offering to install GRUB or LILO (detecting the presence of Windows and other Linux partitions) but is not the case for Windows which ignores all OSes except itself. Windows wipes the MBR out without telling. Unfortunately and understandably, neither GRUB, nor LILO, nor Windows detect the presence of AOS partition(s).

At the time of an OS installation, one may decide to not install a proposed boot manager but that supposes that one knows how to trim the boot menu of an existing boot manager. For those who do not wish to adopt the Bluebottle boot manager, instructions are given how to bind AOS in their preferred boot manager. See "How to start AOS with a different boot manager". By and large, these instructions also apply to other OSes.

Boot managers are installed in many ways summarized here:

  ▪ in the MBR (LBA=0) and the following blocks within the limit of the first track. GRUB is an example thereof and the Bluebottle boot manager is another one. LILO occupies the MBR and no more.   ▪ in a dedicated primary partition, occupying one entry of the 4 possible ones in the partition table of the MBR. GRUB is an example thereof.   ▪ in the partition hosting an OS. Windows Vista and other Windows kinds install their boot manager in that manner. Also GRUB can be installed in a Linux partition, an even on a swap partition. LILO is installed in a Linux partition.

In the end, the boot manager which will prevail, most importantly concerning the MBR, will be determined by the order in which OSes are installed on a volume.

Recommendations Whether the order of installation is decided by the user or dictated by the circumstances, a reasonable strategy for sequencing the installation of OSes is desirable. Windows is often the stumbling stone.

The complexity of the operations involved in the installation of multiple OSes is such that only minimal information is provided here.

The NeoSmart site documents all the steps needed to reach the goal successfully, installing Vista first or after Linux:

  ▪ Adding Linux to the the Vista Bootloader - https://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/linux   ▪ Dual-booting Ubuntu Linux and Windows Vista - https://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Ubuntu   ▪ Dual-booting Fedora Linux and Windows Vista - https://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Fedora

In conclusion, whenever possible install Windows Vista first and other OSes after that.

The Bluebottle boot manager's multi-boot capability is based on the chainloading mechanism: the boot manager hands off the boot process to another (boot manager or bootloader). It asks the Vista boot manager, GRUB, LILO, GAG or whatever to complete the boot process, minimizing configuration requirements and ensuring maximum compatibility with various OSes.

Under these conditions, can start:

  ▪ AOS anywhere   ▪ Windows Vista installed in a primary partition   ▪ Linux with GRUB, LILO, GAG or whatever installed in the Linux partition

During a Linux installation, follow the procedure described in the NeoSmart document:

when prompted to set up the bootloader, make sure to specify to install GRUB, LILO, GAG or whatever, in the partition that Linux is being installed to and not to the MBR of the volume. The bootloader is stored in what Linux calls "Superblock" at the beginning of the partition.

If that is not the case, i.e. the boot loader was placed in the MBR, the Linux partition cannot be started. That partition will show up in the Bluebottle boot menu in red with the mention "no PBR".

To mend the situation proceed as follows:

  1. - boot from a live CD, such as that of Ubuntu or Knoppix   2. - open a terminal   3. - enter: sudo grub   4. - to the prompt reply with: root (hdX, Y) setup (hdX,Y) quit

X is the drive number where the Linux partition resides - drives are recognized by BIOS at boot time and numbered starting from 0

Y is the partition number

setup uses an "install" command in the background to install GRUB into the specified root device.

The Bluebottle boot manager can chainload the partition's PBR. At that instant control is transferred to the resident boot manager which will start an OS either directly or indirectly via a prepared boot menu. One always arrange to avoid the presentation of an intermediate boot menu. Rationale for developing the Bluebottle boot manager One may question the need for developing yet another boot manager given the wide choice of similar ones being proposed. So what makes the Bluebottle Boot Manager different? this is reviewed in the next section.

The boot menu is entirely constructed by extracting the relevant information from the MBR and PBRs of all the volumes detected by the BIOS at boot time.

Now that external volumes are easily plugged to a machine (USB interface for example), one can easily see how unflexible a boot menu as conceived by other boot managers can be.

Other boot managers are controlled by a boot menu, residing somewhere in a file system, constructed by an installation program and later on edited by the user under control of the hosting OS. GRUB for example creates menu.lst and so does LILO.

The major disadvantage of such a boot menu really shows up when partitions are added or removed with a reordering thus forcing to edit the menu(s).

Hence there is nothing to edit, customize or personalize a multiboot system neither in advance nor at boot time and also no notion of superuser (sudo) needed.

A similar editing task arises when a partition is moved: another boot manager cannot find the PBR anymore and must be re-installed. Likewise, editing is required when partitions are renumbered after a partition creation or deletion. The impact of such modification is considerably less time-consuming for a Bluebottle boot manager. A Bluebottle partition may require to modify the BootVol1= value in the configuration data for example.

There are no options to specify in cryptic commands to enter at the time the boot menu appears on the screen. A few sample commands appear in a section entitled GRUB below, but there are plenty more such commands. On the contrary to that the TUI is a simple prompting text in English awaiting a single character reply from the keyboard. Keyboard in any language is suitable, no mouse required.

The sleek, short-lived TUI cannot be decorated with splash graphics.

It operates strictly and only with the BIOS drivers and volume identifiers: 00h, 80h, 81h, ...

A user does not not have to fight with the idiosyncrasies of various OS in relation with the mapping of the devices: [hd0, hd1, hd2, ...] or [sda, sdb, sdc, ...] or other depending on the boot manager.

The loss of a partition hosting the boot menu of a competing boot manager is catastrophic. With the help of a Bluebottle boot manager residing on another volume, most of the other OSes on the same volume can still be booted as long as the partition table is not damaged.

Similarly, the intrusion of a root kit virus in the MBR of a boot volume will be signalled. Here also most of the OSes can still be started until the volume is repaired, possibly with AOS.

None of other boot managers tested offers the possibility to transfer control to another boot manager on a different volume and make it behave as if it was the boot volume. In a way, the BIOS boot menu becomes superfluous. Other boot managers only allow to start an OS on a different volume.

Recovering a damaged MBR can be the source of frustration and headache: what is a repair system or recovery diskette? (at a time when diskettes have practically disappeared) which documentation found on the web is relevant for the OS release which installed the MBR at a much earlier time?

Windows Vista boot manager While under Windows XP it sufficient to edit boot.ini to start another OS, Vista requires much more from a user to persuade its boot manager to cooperate with other OSes. The relatively easily configurable boot.ini file was replaced by a binary file which must be edited using a console application named bcdedit.exe. This might reveal itself as a tedious task preferably performed with an add-on application such EasyBCD. When Bluebottle resides on another volume that is questionable.

The Vista boot manager resides in the Vista partition and has the following quirks (see: http://linux.wordpress.com/2007/02/17/vista-and-solaris-express-dual-boot [expired link]):

  1.- The Vista installer requires that no partition be active (or bootable) on a volume. If an active partition is found, the installer says something like "This volume is not suitable for installing Windows" and refuses to proceed.

  2.- Vista requires that the Windows partition be active in order to boot.

  3.- Vista requires that the disk signature (4 bytes at offset 1b8h used by the installer) be present in the MBR in order to boot else it will refuse to boot saying that winload.exe is corrupt. This is because Vista's boot loader checks for it.

The Bluebootle boot manager and GRUB make sure that the 4-byte disk signature is left untouched when the MBR is written.

More info is available from: http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=55415 [expired link]. Microsoft talks about it in a whitepaper giving some weird reasons: http://www.google.co.in/search?q=OEMBoot_Vista [expired link].

GRUB - Grand Unified Bootloader - Legacy - Version 0.97 - https://www.gnu.org/software/grub GRUB can boot Windows, MS-DOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, GNU Mach and is included in several Linux distributions. It comes in two flavours: with a simple textual user interface or with a graphical interface.

Notes collected from test with Ubuntu 7.10 on a volume

During the installation of GRUB, the user is offered the choice to install GRUB in the MBR of the boot volume or in an Ubuntu Linux partition or in a dedicated small partition.

When installed in the MBR, GRUB competes with the Bluebottle boot manager for the space in the first volume track. When it is installed (as a side effect of installing Ubuntu) it is stored in blocks LBA=0 to 17, thus completely overwriting an existing boot manager. LBA=18 to 63 contain all zeroes. Two areas in the original MBR are preserved, the partition table and a disk signature used by Windows Vista.

GRUB stores the location of the menu file but the file proper is located in the Ubuntu partition. To boot another OS (such as Bluebottle in the above example) GRUB needs to access the Ubuntu partition first to find the chainloader command. If GRUB is damaged and fails to access it, the Bluebottle can not be started anymore. With the Bluebottle Boot Manager it can still be booted without the help of GRUB. Intrestingly, the PBR of the Ubuntu partition has no valid signature and cannot be started. The same holds true for the ancillary swap partition. Indeed, a straigthforward Ubuntu installation places GRUB in the MBR, while leaving free blocks at the beginning of the Linux and swap partition. The user has also the possibility to install GRUB in the Linux or swap partition, during the installation or at a later time. The PBR will then receive a valid signature 55aah and is recognized by the Bluebottle Boot Manager as bootable.

LILO - Linux Loader - lilo.go.dyndns.org LILO able to boot multiple OSes, including Linux, Windows, MS-DOS, etc., is used in some Linux distributions.

Notes collected from test with Mandriva Linux Spring 2007.1 - Mandriva Linux and DSL 2.4.4

During the installation of Mandriva, the user is offered the choice to install:

  ▪ GRUB graphical menu (see GRUB above)   ▪ GRUB text menu (see GRUB above)   ▪ LILO text menu

When installed in the MBR, LILO competes with the Bluebottle boot manager for the space in the MBR and no more. The user is also offered the choice to install it in a Linux partition.

GAG - El Gestor de Arranque Grafico - https://gag.sourceforge.net/ GAG boots up to 9 OSes from either a primary or logical partition. It competes with the Bluebottle boot manager for the space in the first volume track. It is not installed in a partition. When uninstalling GRUB, ONLY the MBR is restored, the rest of the track is left untouched, that is with GRUB code. GAG cannot access USB devices (???).

OSL2000 - https://www.osloader.com OSL2000 competes with the Bluebottle boot manager for the space in the first volume track. OSL2000 comes as a Windows install/uninstall program. During the installation no other choice is given than installing it on the boot volume in blocks LBA=0 to 57, saving whatever overwritten data on a backup diskette for re-use on the occasion of an eventual uninstall, thus restoring the previous situation.

Boot-US - https://www.boot-us.de/ Boot-US, which comes as a Win32 program, can be installed in the MBR (only on the boot volume), in a dedicated small primary partition or on a legacy floppy diskette. When installed in the MBR, it competes with the Bluebottle boot manager for the space in the first volume track. Boot-US replaces the existing MBR by its own and places a copy of it in block with LBA=1. In this manner Boot-US can be removed when necessary. It then behaves just like the Bluebottle boot manager with which it cannot coexist. As from version 2.0.0 it can boot Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 but not Vista.

BootIt NG - Next Generation - https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm BootIt NG installs itself at the beginning of a volume, that is, replaces the MBR by its own and occupies a number of blocks on the first track on the boot volume. It thus behaves just like the Bluebottle boot manager with which it cannot coexist. It may also be installed in a dedicated primary partition, which could become an issue with a maximum of 4. How to start AOS with a different boot manager When a primary or logical partition is created and formatted to host an AOS file system - AosFS, it contains, by construction, at the beginning, a bootloader in charge of locating and loading a kernel and further on the rest of the OS. The presence of the "magic value" 55aah at offset 1feh in the PBR signals that the partition is formatted. Hence, AOS can be started by accessing the PBR and passing control to it. That is precisely the technique used by boot managers to start AOS when instructed as documented below. In Linux jargon, one speaks of chain loading.

Exceptionally, an AOS partition destined to serve exclusively as data repository may be formatted without kernel and programs. Such a partition is not bootable, in spite of the presence of a valid signature 55aah, just by lack of kernel (see Volume hosting Bluebottle). It can only be mounted/unmounted in AOS. A good example is that of a small capacity USB-HDD, say 62MB, or even that of a floppy diskette. In both cases a functional AOS would not fit but either would come handy as data store.

When any of the boot managers cited below is installed on the occasion of installing an OS, one can expect that Windows or Linux partitions will be recognized and that these OSes will be included in a boot menu to be bootable. But none will take action in the presence of AOS and that justifies the details given below for preparing a boot manager to start AOS.

1. GRUB installed on the occasion of installing Ubuntu 7.10 or Google's gOS   ▪ Option to start AOS permanently recorded in the GRUB menu

In Ubuntu, navigate to Applications > Accessories > Terminal to open a terminal, then sign in as supervisor with: sudo -s (at the prompt enter the supervisor password)

Note: In the Ubuntu-based gOS, navigate to Applications > System Tools > UXTerm.

Now enter the command: vi /boot/menu.lst

Place the cursor where to insert new text in the menu, enter 'i' to start inserting these lines in menu.lst title		AOS on hd0,2 chainloader (hd0,2)+1
 * 1) This is for booting AOS residing in hd0,2 = IDE0#3 for example

Enter ':x' to save the updated menu and to quit editing.

In Debian Wheezy append a line such as menuentry "Native Oberon" { chainloader (hd0,msdos7)+1 } to /etc/grub.d/40_custom. Then execute "sudo update-grub" to revise /boot/grub/grub.cfg. "msdos" identifies the partition scheme and "7" is the partition number. The Grub manual has further details.

  ▪ On-the-fly command controlled start of AOS from a GRUB menu

When the GRUB menu appears at start up, enter 'c' for commands. The enter the following commands in succession: chainloader	(hd0,2)+1 boot The boot command is required here but implied when the menu.lst is interpreted.

2. Windows Vista Boot Manager Give the preference to NeoSmart Technologies's [https://neosmart.net] software EasyBCD - current version 1.7.1 - free download. The tool is of easy use: add an OS entry, name it, specify in which partition AOS resides and save the so modified binary file BCD (Boot Configuration Data).

While in Windows XP and earlier versions, it was simple enough to edit boot.ini to instruct the built-in boot manager to start another OS, Vista requires much more from a user to persuade its boot manager to cooperate with other OSes. boot.ini was replaced by the BCD binary file which, in Vista pure, must be edited using a console application named bcdedit.exe. This might reveal itself as a tedious task better performed with a tool such as EasyBCD. More such tools may be around of course.

3. GAG Start GAG from a GAG boot volume, or from a bootable GAG CD-ROM, and follow the GUI instructions:

  1. Press 's' to Set up GAG   2. Press 'a' to add an AOS   3. Press the letter associated with the target AOS among the listed OSes (using the GRUB example 'c' for AOS) or press a digit ('1' .. '8') associated with the target volume where the AOS resides   4. Type a description (up to 15 characters)   5. Type a password or none   6. Press the letter associated with the icon to represent AOS   7. Press 'h' to save in hard disk or 'r' to return to main menu for testing this sequence

External links Boot From Flash Drive - [http://www.usb-flash-drives-now.com/cheaper/Boot-From-Flash-Drive.html] [expired link]

Boot from USB - even when the BIOS does not support it: [https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/index.html]

title: Oberon/BootManager


text:
User:Sgiani

Sgiani (discuss • contribs) 16:50, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

title: User:Sgiani


text:
Fractals/Iterations in the complex plane/Discrete Lagrangian Descriptors

Lagranian descriptor for continoust-time dynamical systems ( Lagrangian way to describe the flow) is a method for analyzing structure of the phase space. Here this method is extended to discrete dynamical systems: open maps in the complex plane.

=Images=

Full source code is on the commons page ( click on the image)

=key words=

complex number
$$ z = x + y i$$

complex map
Map

$$z_{n+1} = f(z_n ) = f^{(n+1)}(z_0) \quad\forall \ n \ \in \mathbb{N} \cup \left\{0\right\}$$

Riemann sphere
Point $$ s $$ of the Riemann sphere

$$ s = (\xi_1, \xi_2, \xi_3 ) $$

inverse stereographic projection

inverse stereographic projection maps point $$ z $$ of complex plane to point $$ s $$  of Riemann sphere :

$$ S^{-1}(z) = \left(\frac{2 x}{1 + x^2 + y^2}, \frac{2 y}{1 + x^2 + y^2}, \frac{x^2 + y^2 - 1}{1 + x^2 + y^2}\right)$$

so

$$ s = S^{-1}(z) = (\xi_1, \xi_2, \xi_3 )$$ and $$ \xi_1 = \frac{2 x}{1 + x^2 + y^2}$$ $$ \xi_2 = \frac{2 y}{1 + x^2 + y^2}$$ $$ \xi_3 = \frac{x^2 + y^2 - 1}{1 + x^2 + y^2}$$

p-norm
The $$p$$-norm (also called $$\ell_p$$-norm) of vector $$\mathbf{x} = (x_1, \ldots, x_n)$$ is $$ \left\| \mathbf{x} \right\| _p :=  \sum_{i=1}^n \left| x_i \right| ^p $$

where
 * number p is a real number $$p \in (0, 1] $$. It is called a power. It affects the steepness of the gradient near singularities (fractal features like a Julia set)

p-norm is used to measure the distance between sequential iterations of the mapping f on the Riemann sphere

Discrete Lagrangian Descriptor = DLD
The simple idea is to compute the p-norm version of Lagrangian descriptors, not for the points on the complex plane, but for their projections on the Riemann sphere in the extended complex plane. ... in the complex mappings that we consider in this work, the functions that define the dynamics are not invertible, and therefore we will only keep the forward part of the definition. DLD:
 * is a scalar value
 * accumulates the p-norm along the orbit (= has information about the history of the orbit) and therefore unveiles the structure of interior and exterior of Julia set

sum
summing is what the original paper does ( pauldelbrot)

$$ D_p( z_0, N) = \sum_{k= 0}^{N - 1} \left\| s_{k+1} - s_k \right\| _p  = \sum_{j = 1}^{3} \sum_{k= 0}^{N - 1} \left | \xi_j^{(k+1)} - \xi_j^{(k)} \right |^p$$

where:
 * N is a fixed number of iterations
 * $$z_0 = x_0 + y_0i\ $$ is any initial condition selected on a bounded subset D of the complex plane
 * $$s$$ is a point of Riemann sphere: $$ s = (\xi_1, \xi_2, \xi_3 ) $$

Averaging
"averaging keeps the coloring stable if maxiters is changed but can lead to low variation over the image" pauldelbrot

$$ \frac{D_p( z_0, N)}{N}$$

=Steps= For each point z of complex plane
 * compute DLD ( scalar value)
 * color is proportional to DLD

Substeps: To compute DLD of z :
 * iterate point z under the map f = compute zn
 * map each point zn from complex plane to the Riemann sphere ( Inverse Stereographic projection)
 * for each zn compute summand
 * ... ( to do )

=Code=

UltraFractal
" Here's the latest version I've been using in UF. It handles escaping points with no-bail formulae via the isInf/isNaN test (puts the Riemann sphere point at the north pole for those), allows averaging or summing (summing is what the original paper does, whereas averaging keeps the coloring stable if maxiters is changed but can lead to low variation over the image), and can use or not use absolute values on the differences being summed." pauldelbrot

Fragmentarium
Code based on the UF code, modified and optimized for GLSL by 3Dickulus

c
= Papers = = www = = references= V. J. García-Garrido. Unveiling the fractal structure of Julia sets with Lagrangian descriptors. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation 91 (2020) 105417.
 * Unveiling the Fractal Structure of Julia Sets with Lagrangian Descriptors by Víctor J. García-Garrido
 * in Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, Volume 91, December 2020, 105417, a single anonymized review but paywalled
 * through arxiv.org, free but not peer-reviewed preprint
 * fractalforums.org : unveiling-the-fractal-structure-of-julia-sets-with-lagrangian-descriptors/3376/msg19803


text:
Dictionary of Laboratory Terms

This book is a guide to the terminology of laboratories, for all users of laboratory instruments in industry and science. It explains terms as they are used in the specialized setting of laboratory technology and related areas.

The Dictionary contains terms from the following fields: fundamentals of the laboratory, application and use of laboratory instruments, international standards, and legal requirement for laboratory instruments.

An index facilitates rapid location of the required term.

Table of Contents
General Index A-Z Density and Refractometry /pH/ Pipetting Thermal analysis /Titration/ UV/VIS Spectrophotometry /Weighing/ /References/

title: Dictionary of Laboratory Terms