[rozwado1]

Is there a website/listing of all the different possible startup commands possible in OS X?
I would like to know each one and what it does.
I would search Google, but I don't know the correct terminology for these commands.

[Art Vandelay]

Here are the ones I know:

Command-Option-p-r = Zap PRAM
Command-Option-o-f = Enter Open Firmware
x = boot into OS X
Option = Display bootable volumes
Command-v = Boot OS X in verbose mode
Command-s = Boot OS X in single-user mode
C = Boot from CD/DVD
Z = Boot from internal Zip drive
D = Boot from internal hard drive
Shift = Boot OS X in Safe mode or Extensions off in OS 9
Space = Load Extension Manager in OS 9 before booting completely
N = NetBoot
T = Target Disk Mode
Command-Option-Shift-Delete = Boot from any other device other than the default device
Command-Option-Shift-Delete-[0-7] = Boot from device on specified SCSI ID
Hold mouse button = eject CD/DVD or floppy

[rozwado1]

Thanks, but what is the purpose of booting into open firmware, verbose, single user, and safe mode? I've booted into OF and safe, but I have no idea what they do (or don't do).

Terminal Stuff

[Mr. Blur]

booting into single user mode can be useful if you are having trouble getting os x to boot properly into "normal" mode. you can run the fsck (file system check) utility in single user mode which may help getting x up and running again. also handy if something you've installed causes a kernel panic on boot...you can boot into single user and move opr delete the offending item. (thats just a couple uses for single user....)

(note - the graphic in your sig is kinda big....to quote the rules: "Images may be no larger than 140 pixels wide and 40 pixels tall.
Images are required to also be under 10KB, not animated, and non-offensive."

[rw]

Here's Apple's listing of keyboard shortcuts (startup and otherwise). Not much info on what they do, though.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

[Angus_D]

Basically, if you don't know what they do, you don't need them

There are some technotes (1 2 3) about Open Firmware around. The only times you'll really need to deal with it are if you are a PCI card developer or if you need to fiddle with the NVRAM settings (such as boot-device), which you might encounter if you play with Linux or similar.

The PRAM (Parameter RAM) is a small bit of the NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM). The PRAM contains a few user settings (most importantly date/time), the NVRAM contains some settings used to boot like the boot device and flags, and I think also the DVD region on some systems. I've never actually needed to zap the PRAM as far as I can remember, despite the fact it was the universal "cure-all" professed by many Mac "experts" in the mid-90s. I have had to reset the NVRAM once or twice, which involves opening computer and taking out the clock battery, then leaving for some time.

Verbose mode is useful to see startup messages. Single-user mode just gets you basically up and running into a basic shell without starting any unnecessary system services, useful occasionally for troubleshooting and maintenance. Other than that, they should be pretty self explanatory.

[rozwado1]

Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it.

I'm working on my sig pic still - Photoshop keeps freezing.

[sgrup]

open-firmware has a number of uses - but the one you might need every now and then is when you cannot eject a CD in any other manner - boot in open-firmware and type 'eject cd' (lowercase) - easy and always works

warning: having said this - be careful with OF, don't mess around with it if you don't know what you're doing

s