Editing Booting (section)

====Minicomputers====
The Data General [[Data General Nova#1200 and 800|Nova 1200]] (1970) and [[Data General Nova#1200 and 800|Nova 800]] (1971) had a program load switch that, in combination with options that provided two ROM chips, loaded a program into main memory from those ROM chips and jumped to it.<ref name="how-to-use-the-nova-computers"/>  Digital Equipment Corporation introduced the integrated-circuit-ROM-based BM873 (1974),<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/unibus/DEC-11-H873A-B-D_BM873_Restart_Loader_Apr74.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/unibus/DEC-11-H873A-B-D_BM873_Restart_Loader_Apr74.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=BM873 restart/loader |date=April 1974 |id=DEC-11-H873A-B-D |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]]}}</ref> M9301 (1977),<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/unibus/EK-M9301-TM-001_M9301_Bootstrap_Terminator_Module_Maintenance_and_Operators_Manual_Jun77.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/unibus/EK-M9301-TM-001_M9301_Bootstrap_Terminator_Module_Maintenance_and_Operators_Manual_Jun77.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=M9301 bootstrap/terminator module maintenance and operator's manual |date=June 1977 |id=EK-M9301-TM-OO1 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]]}}</ref> M9312 (1978),<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/unibus/M9312_TechRef.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/unibus/M9312_TechRef.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=M9312 bootstrap/terminator module technical manual |date=March 1981 |id=EK-M9312-TM-OO3 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]]}}</ref> REV11-A and REV11-C,<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/qbus/Digital_Microcomputer_Interfaces_Handbook_1980.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/qbus/Digital_Microcomputer_Interfaces_Handbook_1980.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Microcomputer Interfaces Handbook |page=17 |date=1981 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]]}}</ref> MRV11-C,<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/qbus/Digital_Microcomputer_Products_Handbook_1985.pdf |title=Microcomputer Products Handbook |chapter=10 MRV11-C Read-Only Memory Module |date=1985 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]] |access-date=2022-06-12 |archive-date=2022-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024223027/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/qbus/Digital_Microcomputer_Products_Handbook_1985.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> and MRV11-D<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/qbus/Digital_Microcomputer_Products_Handbook_1985.pdf |title=Microcomputer Products Handbook |chapter=11 MRVll·D Universal Programmable Read.Only Memory |date=1985 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]] |access-date=2022-06-12 |archive-date=2022-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024223027/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/qbus/Digital_Microcomputer_Products_Handbook_1985.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> ROM memories, all usable as bootstrap ROMs. The PDP-11/34 (1976),<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1134/1134_UsersManual.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1134/1134_UsersManual.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=PDP-11/34 system user's manual |pages=1{{hyp}}5,2{{hyp}}1–2{{hyp}}12 |date=July 1977 |id=EK-11034-UG-001 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]]}}</ref> PDP-11/60 (1977),<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1160/EK-11060-OP-003_PDP-1160_installation_and_operation_manual_Feb78.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1160/EK-11060-OP-003_PDP-1160_installation_and_operation_manual_Feb78.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=PDP-11/60 installation and operation manual |pages=1{{hyp}}10,2{{hyp}}29-2{{hyp}}34,3{{hyp}}1-3{{hyp}}6 |date=February 1979 |id=EK-11060-OP-003 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]]}}</ref> PDP-11/24 (1979),<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1124/EK-11024-TM-001_PDP11_24_System_Technical_Manual_Jun81.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1124/EK-11024-TM-001_PDP11_24_System_Technical_Manual_Jun81.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=PDP-11/24 System Technical Manual |page=1{{hyp}}6 |date=June 1981 |id=EK-11024-TM-001 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]]}}</ref> and most later models include boot ROM modules.

An Italian telephone switching computer, called "Gruppi Speciali", patented in 1975 by [[Alberto Ciaramella]], a researcher at [[CSELT]],<ref>[[Alberto Ciaramella|Ciaramella, Alberto]]. {{US patent|4117974|Device for automatically loading the central memory of electronic processors}} U.S. Patent No. 4,117,974. 1978-10-03. (submitted in 1975)</ref> included an (external) ROM. Gruppi Speciali was, starting from 1975, a fully single-button machine booting into the operating system from a ROM memory composed from semiconductors, not from ferrite cores. Although the ROM device was not natively embedded in the computer of Gruppi Speciali, due to the design of the machine, it also allowed the single-button ROM booting in machines not designed for that (therefore, this "bootstrap device" was architecture-independent), e.g. the PDP-11. Storing the state of the machine after the switch-off was also in place, which was another critical feature in the telephone switching contest.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FmIQhgm8pI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/5FmIQhgm8pI |archive-date=2021-11-13 |url-status=live |title=Alberto Ciaramella racconta il brevetto del boostrap dei computer concepito in CSELT |trans-title=Alberto Ciaramella discusses the patent for bootstrapping computers conceived at CSELT |language=it}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Some minicomputers and [[superminicomputer]]s include a separate console processor that bootstraps the main processor.  The PDP-11/44 had an [[Intel 8085]] as a console processor;<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1144/1144_SystemTechMan.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1144/1144_SystemTechMan.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=PDP-11/44 System Technical Manual |page=6{{hyp}}57 |id=EK-KD11Z-TM-001 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]] |date=February 1979}}</ref> the [[VAX-11/780]], the first member of Digital's [[VAX]] line of 32-bit superminicomputers, had an [[LSI-11]]-based console processor,<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/780/EK-11780-UG-001_VAX-11_780_Hardware_Users_Guide_197902.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/780/EK-11780-UG-001_VAX-11_780_Hardware_Users_Guide_197902.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=VAX-11/780 Hardware User's Guide |at=2.3 BOOTSTRAPPING and 3.6.1 Boot Command (B) |id=EK-11780-UG-001 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]] |date=February 1979}}</ref> and the VAX-11/730 had an 8085-based console processor.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/730/EK-KA730-TD-001_VAX-11_730_CPU_Technical_Description_198205.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/730/EK-KA730-TD-001_VAX-11_730_CPU_Technical_Description_198205.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=VAX-11/730 Central Processing Unit Technical Description |page=1{{hyp}}9 |id=EK-KA730-TD-001 |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]] |date=May 1982}}</ref> These console processors could boot the main processor from various storage devices.

Some other superminicomputers, such as the VAX-11/750, implement console functions, including the first stage of booting, in CPU microcode.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/750/AA-K410C-TE_VAX-11_750_Software_Installation_Guide_198212.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/750/AA-K410C-TE_VAX-11_750_Software_Installation_Guide_198212.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=VAX-11/750 Software Installation Guide |pages=1{{hyp}}2-1{{hyp}}4,B{{hyp}}1-B{{hyp}}8,C{{hyp}}1-C{{hyp}}2 |id=AA-K410C-TE |publisher=[[Digital Equipment Corporation]] |date=December 1982}}</ref>