I had a long chat to Bob at the show, and here's what the hard drive is going to be like:
He has a "team" (doubtful) working on changing the basic ROM -- he's going to rip out the network code and replace it with an options screen (ala multiROM???? Methinks so) to boot from disc (f7), hard- drive (f8) or network (f9) (how, if he's ripping out the network code?) The Hard Drive will occupy ports 234-235 (ARGH! they're LPT2!!!) and apparently the "design group" are having problems getting enough drives smaller than 40Mb to work with -- ie I think we're talking stupid file system that can't handle more than 40Mb HD's here folks... Oh, and he wants to change how the dos works -- apparently putting the device in the filename is a no-no, so he's putting down these standards: CAT instead of DIR must be used (although you can do it the other way, in programs it will be changed back) <<"Because you CAT a directory, you don't DIR a directory">> LOAD d1"filename" instead of LOAD "D1:filename" (although, again, you should be able to use the other, but it's not "preferred") <<"the device shouldn't be part of the filename as it causes all sorts of problems">> LOAD p<number> instead of LOAD <number> He wants it all to be very G+DOS compatible. I say hit him over the head with a cleaver -- the dimwit wants to keep it at Spectrum levels. Needless to say in the next issue of SAM Prime, we'll be printing the PD hard-drive design, now that we've seen the crap he's coming up with. What I'd like to know is how the hell are you supposed to be able to change drives. If you want a program to use either drive easily on the SAM currently, you can do: LOAD drive$+filename$ How the **** do you do it if you're forced to use LOAD d1"filename" ????????????????? Anyway, let's get discussing this :) Si COoke
