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From: apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Hard disk booting
Message-ID: <539@atari.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 23-Jan-87 16:49:23 EST
Article-I.D.: atari.539
Posted: Fri Jan 23 16:49:23 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Jan-87 12:47:55 EST
Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 40
Summary: me and my big mouth

>> [reference to me shooting off my big mouth]
> I assume this means Atari hard disks are now being shipped so that they will
> boot up directly without having to load a driver from floppy - if so the
> dealers around here (Vancouver) don't know about it (I went and talked to a
> couple after seeing the above replay from Allan Pratt) 
> 
> 							 - they also seem to
> think the 40 folder limit has been solved by Atari.  ???????

NO THE LIMIT HAS NOT BEEN FIXED. NO THE LIMIT HAS NOT BEEN FIXED.

We are actively working on it: it is likely that something will come out
of this department REAL SOON (not as far away as a rewrite of GEMDOS)
which pushes the limit out of sight: you will be able to pick a number
between 40 and 400 for your limit, with the understanding that you
sacrifice about 1K of memory per ten folders you choose to allow.

Alas, I spoke too soon about my "boot disk, etc.".  Yes, at Atari we
are all autobooting off the hard disk.  In the real world (or at least
the net), you people are not.  There are long and involved
explanations for this, but suffice it to say that we will soon (please
don't ask when: I don't know, it's not set) release the installer for
booting from your hard disk.

Hard disk owners will have to take some proof of purchase (like their
original SH204 boot disk) to a dealer, who will be able to give them a
copy of the program and documentation.

I am announcing this a little prematurely: DON'T BUG ATARI CUSTOMER RELATIONS
OR YOUR DEALER ABOUT THIS.  They don't know anything about it.  I am telling
you all this because I want to forestall the coming wave of hard-disk booting
programs, which are almost guaranteed to be wrong (probably not the authors'
faults).  This includes the boot code coming from Atari Benelux: I haven't
seen it, but if it comes from people who think they've fixed the 40-folder
limit, they're wrong.

/----------------------------------------------\
| Opinions expressed above do not necessarily  |  -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp.
| reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. |     ...lll-lcc!atari!apratt
\----------------------------------------------/