calumw@castle.ed.ac.uk (Calum A. Wilkie ) (04/29/91)
Even if there were ROM routines for recovering lost disk data, whose to
say which devices to support?
The beauty of the apple // is it's versatility (sp) so why spoil that by
putting ROM routines that assume a certain device.
Calum A. Wilkie <-> calumw@castle.ed.ac.uk <-> Edinburgh University
toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (04/30/91)
calumw@castle.ed.ac.uk (Calum A. Wilkie ) writes: >Even if there were ROM routines for recovering lost disk data, whose to >say which devices to support? We are. I'd have it support any device for which an O/S driver is installed, which would automatically include motherboard hardware (floppy, SCSI, network) and devices whose peripheral cards have full O/S drivers in their own ROM. Of course, extensive device specific support could be included for commonly available hardware, but that usually isn't necessary (although it would be a nice touch to have a driver standard for nibble access, for hacking and desperate repairs). >The beauty of the apple // is it's versatility (sp) so why spoil that by >putting ROM routines that assume a certain device. Why does nobody understand that I'm preaching the modern application of that versatility?? Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu
jh4o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jeffrey T. Hutzelman) (05/01/91)
toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes: > calumw@castle.ed.ac.uk (Calum A. Wilkie ) writes: > >The beauty of the apple // is it's versatility (sp) so why spoil that by > >putting ROM routines that assume a certain device. > > Why does nobody understand that I'm preaching the modern application of > that versatility?? > > Todd Whitesel > toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu There are, Todd. It's just that those of us who do understand what you're saying aren't flaming you for saying it. Actually, Apple may be moving toward this idea. The Mac LC has a limited version of Mac System 6.0.6 beta (never released) in ROM, that you can boot from by pressing the correct sequence of keys when it's looking for a disk. If certain INIT's (Suitcase II, INITShare) were placed in ROM and allow to store configuration data to non-volatile memory, you could have something very close to what you described. Complete with the ability to mount network file servers and run applications from them. If this were to continue, it could be very promising. -------------------- Jeffrey Hutzelman America Online: JeffreyH11 Internet: jh4o+@andrew.cmu.edu BITNET: JHUTZ@DRYCAS >> Apple // Forever!!! <<