Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!rochester!udel!mmdf
From: laverman@cs.rug.nl (Bert Laverman)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Shoelace... PC only?
Message-ID: <41251@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: 9 Jan 91 16:54:58 GMT
Sender: mmdf@ee.udel.edu
Lines: 45


Hello,

  I'm posting this question, although I think probably C.E. Chew is the
most likely person to answer it. This is the damnedest situation, because
allthough the archives are overflowing with his software (shoelace,
estdio), I can't find his email address. Earl (that is your name isn't
it? sorry if I goof), I hope you can help me.

  The question is simply: how portable do you think is Shoelace?
	(apart from the assembly files offcourse)
  It seems like a wunderfull package to be able to run. Atari harddisks
have partition tables and can be bootable in much the same fashion as
are PC/XT/AT disks. (Haven't heard of anyone ever booting his/her hardisk
on anything else than TOS, but I'm removing TOS from it, so I would
like to try)
  I'm not really interested in the ability to run programs before starting
Minix, but Shoelace does seem to give the system a single-user mode to
fall back to, opening up ways for making a really nice shutdown(1).
Currently I have to switch to TOS if I want to park my disk... :-(
  Like you mention in the Shoelace docs, booting from floppies is cumbersome.
There exists a program called MINIX.PRG, to start from TOS, but using it
damages the reboot vectors, so the only way to stop Minix is by switching
off the power :-(.

Summarizing; If it can be done with PC's, why not with ST's?

Hopefully awaiting responses,

Bert Laverman

    Disclaimer: Don't blame my Boss,
		He doesn't know what I'm saying either.
 _____________________________________________________________________
/								      \
|  "The only problem with parameterization is that		      |
|   you never have enough parameters"	- J.B. Goodenough	      |
|					  at the RMISE Reuse Workshop |
\_____________________________________________________________________/

	Bert Laverman
  Dept. of Computing Science		laverman@cs.rug.nl
  National Univ. of Groningen		bert@arrakis.nl.mugnet.org
  P.O.Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen
  The Netherlands			(+31 50)/(050) 633948