Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!pacbell!pacbell.com!ucsd!usc!apple!mattd
From: mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Copying System 5.0 to /ram5
Message-ID: <44454@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 31 Aug 90 17:18:12 GMT
References: <6432@darkstar.ucsc.edu> <1990Aug31.123449.16156@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 36

In article <1990Aug31.123449.16156@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> dcw@lcs.mit.edu (David C. Whitney) writes:
>
>Digicopy no doubt does not copy the boot blocks as they contain
>disk-specific info (such as the name of the disk, number of blocks,
>etc). When you engage the Ramdisk, it sets aside RAM and turns on a
>driver. It also puts a directory on the "disk." It does not put boot
>blocks on the "disk," however (perhaps it should). At any rate, the
>RAMdisk is not bootable unless you explicitly format it.
>
>--
>Dave Whitney			| I wrote Z-Link and BinSCII. Send me bug
>Computer Science MIT 1990	| reports. I need a job. Send me an offer.
>dcw@goldilocks.lcs.mit.edu	| My opinions, you hear? MINE!
>dcw@athena.mit.edu		| Are you sure you know what you're doing?

Not on this computer.  The boot blocks contain the information necessary
to start the rest of the operating system's load process.  For ProDOS disks,
this is code necessary to load the file PRODOS at $2000 and jump to it.
(ProDOS disks initialized with Apple's FORMATTER routine from software
licensing or with ProDOS 16 also are capable of booting SOS on an Apple ///,
in case this is important.)

The name of the disk, the number of blocks, etc. are not contained in ProDOS
boot blocks.  That's all in the volume directory.  This may be different for
other file systems, but when a program does a disk-to-disk copy it should
copy all the blocks.

(Davex has an option to the "init" command that lets you write boot blocks to
an already formatted volume so it becomes bootable - I use that.)

-- 
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Matt Deatherage, Apple Computer, Inc. | "The opinions represented here are
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