What I meant by that, Allison, was that I failed to understand why they (the
makers of controllers capable of handling both single and double density
diskettes of both sizes) weren't ALL bootable from any of those formats
right out of the box, since they could have been.
Have a look below, plz.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: allisonp <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 3:54 PM
Subject: Re: Defining Disk Image Dump Standard
>
> >On Tue, 30 May 2000, Richard Erlacher wrote:
> >
> >> I never understood why the double density CP/M diskettes were not
> bootable,
> >> and why "distribution-standard" diskettes had to be bootable. These
are
> two
> >> different features, and what's important about the "standard" is not
that
> >> it's bootable but that it's defined so as to be universally readable.
>
>
> That was bogus. The list of system that booted off DD tracks both 8"and
> 5.25"
> runs long.
>
> The standard for CP/M was 8" SSSD FYI.
>
> Also AMPROLB, VT180, DECMATEII/III with CP/M APU,
> NS* DD/QD systems, SB180, Visual1050, Later Kaypros to
> name a few with 5.25 DD or QD systems.
>
It's news to me that any of these handle 8" media.
>
> >> The thing that made 5-1/4" "standard" diskettes unachievable back in
the
> >> CP/M days was that people couldn't let go of the notion that every
> diskette
> >> had to be bootable. Frankly, I got fine mileage out of diskettes
which
> >> couldn't be booted, yet I never had a problem booting up.
>
>
> This is bogus as CP/M inferred no difference between bootable system
> disks and non bootble data disks as the format was the same (they could
> also be different if desired). Bootable media was only important to
single
> disk systems Even then there were utilities to sidestep this. Lastly for
> the
> CP/M case there was no specific requirement to boot from disk at all and
> the EPSON PX-8 was a commercial example of that.
>
> Allison
>
The STANDARD does not apply to non-standard systems. By definition, systems
equipped with or capable of only 5-1/4" drives as shipped were NON-standard.
The OS didn't care, but the distribution standard was an important
consideration, since, until the software houses started shipping diskettes
for TRS 80's and Kaypro's, the disk size/format was quite a consideration.
Eventually, the Kaypro became a de-facto standard in the 5-1/4" world, to
wit, the "phantom" drive on the AMPRO LB, in its very first incarnation,
which is the only one of which I have examples, already accomodated KAYPRO
format as their default "phantom" format. Radio Shack was, of course, stuck
with FM until their second generation.
Received on Tue May 30 2000 - 18:54:49 BST