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From: asong@pro-nbs.cts.com (Andi Song)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Best hard drive combo
Message-ID: <4774.apple.a2.net@pro-nbs>
Date: 25 Jun 91 20:13:18 GMT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 33

In-Reply-To: message from unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU


        I want to buy a hard drive for my IIgs, but have had no experience
with IIgs hard-driving. I have seen the Macintosh hard drives and have
worked with those, but here is my question.


        On the Macintosh, I guess the computer's ROM tells it to boot into
the hard drive first, right? So when you cold boot it, the CPU actually
waits for the hard drive to warm up, then it boots it.

        For the IIgs, you specify which slot you want to boot first. If you
set it to scan, (assuming your hard drive card is in slot 7) then it will
look for a startup routine in slots 7,6,5, respectively. But this is
instantaneous the moment you turn on your computer. So if your hard drive
doesn't have time to warm up first, then will the RamFAST or Apple DMA SCSI
just skip to slot 6, then 5? And so you will have to wait  and then hit
OA-CTRL-RESET again after everytime you cold-boot? 

        How do you IIgs hard-drivers do it? Is there a way to instruct the
CPU to wait for the hard drive to warm up and come on-line (maybe a few
seconds pause), THEN look in the other slots? How can you make the hard
drive boot up first if your hard drive is a bit slow getting out of bed?

Thanks

Andi
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