Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!uwmcsd1!marque!uunet!portal!atari!apratt
From: apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: PC compatible(?) format on the ST
Message-ID: <1152@atari.UUCP>
Date: 1 Sep 88 19:16:57 GMT
References: <3461@druhi.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Atari (US) Corporation, Sunnyvale, California
Lines: 57

In article <3461@druhi.ATT.COM> med@druhi.ATT.COM (Myron Drapal) writes:
> [...]  Allan Pratt claims
> that this is fixed in the new BETA ROMs, [...]

Since you reveal that you have read either my mail or my posting, you
can't claim that you didn't see the (rather restrained I thought)
request that you stop posting comments about unreleased Atari products
to the net. 

I withdraw my recommendation that you not be sued.

This is really unforgivable behavior, and you have demonstrated (over
and over) why we have to be very careful in selecting Beta test sites. 
Apparently we were not careful enough, because either someone talks with
you about the ROMs, or someone allowed you to copy them.  Be that as it
may, I can find no explanation for your continued bad manners, but bad
manners should never be allowed to go unpunished. 

PLEASE STOP POSTING TO THE NET.
PLEASE STOP POSTING TO THE NET.

This is not an attempt to "hush up" deficiencies in the new TOS which
you obviously consider important. 

THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO SHUT YOU UP BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
TALKING ABOUT, to wit:

[MEDIA DESCRIPTOR BYTE] "DOS internal routines use information in the
BIOS parameter block (BPB) to determine the media type of IBM formatted
disks rather than using these values.  THESE MEDIA DESCRIPTOR BYTES CAN
NO LONGER BE GUARANTEED TO INDICATE A UNIQUE MEDIA TYPE." [Emphasis
mine.]

[GETBPB] "The device driver checks the boot sector.  If the boot sector
is for DOS 2.00 to 3.30, the BPB from the boot sector is returned."

	-- pages 2-27 and 2-30, IBM PC-DOS 3.30 Technical Reference

We never promised DOS 1.x compatibility.  The information in the boot
sector includes, among other information, the number of sectors of FAT
on the disk.  The media descriptor never defined that, except in some
nebulous way which IBM/Microsoft never documented. 

I am tired of discrediting you publicly.  If you must report these
things, please MAIL to atari!pts and request feedback.  We will endeavor
to reply, in loving detail, why what you're reporting is not a bug, or,
God forbid, that it is.  And we will thank you for the time you spent
investigating on your own, to be sure it wasn't just a misunderstanding
on your part. 

I hope that the rest of the net is as tired of this as I am, and will
never take you seriously.  That will save me (and Mr.  Good) the trouble
of discrediting you still another time. 

============================================
Opinions expressed above do not necessarily	-- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp.
reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else.	  ...ames!atari!apratt