At the time DF32s were not that small. They were however fast.
The usual usage was as main store for the OS and working apps
with slower device like DECTAPE or 9track tape for file data or
infrequently used items. The other common usage was since it
was fast (word parallel due to fixed heads and data break (DMA))
as a swap store while the system used a larger disk for other ops.
Allison
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Date: Monday, April 22, 2002 10:30 AM
Subject: Re: Bad Classic Operating Systems (was: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)
>What sort of drives were the intended target of this OS? I had a colleague
>who had a couple of "DF32" drives for his PDP8E (wirewrapped CPU, BTW)
which
>he was never able to utilize, and I've always wondered just how those
drives,
>with their small capacity, fit into the scheme of things.
>
>Dick
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Loboyko Steve" <sloboyko_at_yahoo.com>
>To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
>Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 7:42 AM
>Subject: Re: Bad Classic Operating Systems (was: Micro$oft Biz'droid
Lusers)
>
>
>> I've been playing with my clone PDP-8's OS-8
>> installation, and I would say at first glance that you
>> might think it was awful, but when you consider that
>> it is running in 32K (x 12 bits, but still...) of RAM,
>> has highly "regular" commands, has installable device
>> drivers, and has a large degree of device independence
>> it's really very amazing. I could say the same thing
>> about Flex for the 6800 and 09. Considering their
>> severely limited resources, pretty darned good.
>>
>> --- Hans Franke <Hans.Franke_at_mch20.sbs.de> wrote:
>> >
>> > > Apple's DOS 1 and 2 had no files, or so I hear.
>> >
>> > AFAIR there was never a Apple DOS 1 - the first was
>> > called 2
>> > (like in Apple 2, Disk 2, Dos 2) and was written by
>> > the Woz
>> > himself. Soon to be replaced by DOS 3 (only the low
>> > level and
>> > the RWTS functions taken from DOS 2 _ which barely
>> > was more
>> > than that), which again soon developed into 3.2 (all
>> > over a
>> > period of less than a half year). 3.2 was more or
>> > less the
>> > standard DOS for over a year, and the one commonly
>> > seen as the
>> > first public release. Some time later (1980?) 3.3
>> > came around
>> > and the 16 sector format, picking up a development
>> > done for the
>> > UCSD Pascal System (Well, the P-System required you
>> > to change
>> > the boot PROMs for 16 sector format, and if you
>> > wanted to use
>> > DOS and the P-System, you either had to swap PROM
>> > all the time,
>> > or have at least two controllers, and boot via
>> > monitor (or basic)
>> > command line). Otherwise 3.3 was more or less
>> > unchanged from 3.2.
>> > So the main trick was the conversion from 13 sectors
>> > and 117 K
>> > to 16 sectors and 143 K per disk (side).
>> >
>> > Well, looking back, your're right - at least Apple
>> > DOS 1 never
>> > supported files, because it didn't exist :)
>> >
>> > Gruss
>> > H.
>> >
>> > --
>> > VCF Europa 3.0 am 27./28. April 2002 in Muenchen
>> > http://www.vcfe.org/
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________
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>> Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more
>> http://games.yahoo.com/
>>
>>
>
Received on Mon Apr 22 2002 - 12:41:38 BST