Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!pasteur!ames!amdahl!pacbell!varian!zehntel!dave
From: dave@zehntel (Dave Funk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: autobooting kermit from a 1581
Message-ID: <802@zehntel.UUCP>
Date: 24 Mar 89 22:56:07 GMT
Sender: usenet@zehntel.UUCP
Reply-To: dave@zehntel (Dave Funk)
Organization: Zehntel, Inc. Walnut Creek, CA
Lines: 27

After looking through both the C128 Programmers Reference Guide and
the 1581 manual, I came to the following conclusion.

Track 1, sector 0 is the 'autoboot' area (for a C128) on any disk - 1541,
1571, or 1581.  Therefore, I reasoned, I should be able to write
a little basic program that reads track 1, sector 0 on the 1541 Kermit
distribution disk and then writes this data to track 1, sector 0 on the
1581.  That track and sector should then be allocated.

Well, I did that, and it works!  The only thing I haven't quite figured
out is how to also overwrite the first byte in the sector (seems this is
reserved for the sector length).  It is a simple matter to use a disk 
editor to do this, but I would prefer my program to handle it.  I know
it can be done - disk editors do it and Fred Bowen's 'autoboot 128' program
must do it.

It seems to me that one could convert any C128 5.25" autoboot disk to a
1581 autoboot disk this way (as long as nothing is copied protected).
You would just have to make sure to do *this* copy and allocation first,
followed by a copy of all the files on the disk.

Does this seem reasonable or did I just luck out in this particular case?

Dave Funk			 ....!ucbvax!zehntel!dave
Zehntel, Inc.			 ....!decvax!sytek!zehntel!dave
2625 Shadelands Drive		 ...."zehntel!dave"@BERKELEY
Walnut Creek, CA  94598		 (415) 932-6900 x309