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General Description

The CHARON Launcher is used to start CHARON-AXP and install it as a Windows service. It provides a more convenient way to run CHARON-AXP to debug your specific configuration, because it is able to display CHARON-AXP log updates in real time.

To start the CHARON Launcher click on its icon in the "Start" menu:

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Running CHARON-AXP

In the Launcher main interface press the "Browse" button to select a CHARON-AXP configuration:

Select the desired configuration file:

The Launcher will display the CHARON-AXP model specified in the selected configuration file:

Now it is possible to run CHARON-AXP. Press the "Run selected configuration" button.

When CHARON-AXP is executed the Launcher will display CHARON-AXP log file:

Log messages have the following colors:

lightyellow means information
cyan means warning
red means error

It is possible to scroll the log file to analyze possible problems.

Note the Launcher is not able to stop CHARON-AXP execution. To do that use the following methods:

Configuration with no changes to the template configuration file
- Right click on CHARON-AXP icon in the system tray menu, choose "Stop & Exit":
- Using this menu, it is also possible to halt, reset or show the virtual HP Alpha console, if it has been closed.
Configuration file updated to enable "F6" button in configuration file to trigger exit from CHARON:
set OPA0 stop_on = F6
- To exit, press "F6" in the console window
- Use CHARON-AXP icon tray menu as shown above
"power off" command in CHARON-AXP ">>>" console
>>> power off

Before stopping the CHARON-AXP instance, shutdown the operating system running in CHARON-AXP.

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Installation of CHARON-AXP as a service

Load the CHARON-AXP configuration file as it is described above:

Press the "Edit CFG file" button and edit (with a standard "Notepad" program) the chosen configuration file as described previously and make sure the following pre-requisites are met:

Use only absolute paths for the log, toy clock, nvram files and all the other data such as disk images etc. The names of the references files must be unique too, for example
...
set session log="C:\My Services\my_ds20.log"
set toy container="C:\My Services\my_ds20.dat"
set PKA container[0]="C:\My Services\ds20_daemon_boot_disk.vdisk"
...
Make sure the same physical devices are not used by other CHARON-AXP services

Save the configuration file with the "Notepad" save feature and then exit from it.

Run the configuration to confirm it is ready to be installed as a Windows service; stop CHARON-AXP (see above).

Press the "Install / Update service" button in the Launcher:

A special dialog for adding new CHARON-AXP services will appear:

Enter a new service name (in the example above it is "charon-ds20-service") and press the "Install" button. If the service has been installed correctly, a configuration dialog box will appear:

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Modification of CHARON-AXP service

Note that it is not enough just to modify the CHARON-AXP configuration file associated with a given CHARON-AXP service to apply the changes. In advance you need to update the CHARON-AXP service with the "Launcher" utility.

Press the "Install / Update service" button:

The install / update dialog will appear:

Press "Update existing service" button:

Select the service to update with the "Installed services list" drop-down box and press the "Update" button to apply.

Please note that before updating a CHARON-AXP service, it must first be stopped

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Sending problem reports

The CHARON-AXP Launcher allows fragments of the log file to be copied to the clipboard. Select the fragment to be copied and press the "Copy selection to clipboard" button. Then select the folder and filename where it is to be saved:

To collect information for a problem report press the "Send Problem Report" button and save the information for customer support to a specific file. Then send the file along with detailed description of the problem to STROMASYS.

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