Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!pacbell!ames!husc6!bbn!rochester!cornell!blandy
From: blandy@marduk.cs.cornell.edu (Jim Blandy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Oh, autobooting...
Summary: comprehensive summary requested
Keywords: hard drives, autobooting
Message-ID: <18614@cornell.UUCP>
Date: 26 Jun 88 19:29:56 GMT
Sender: nobody@cornell.UUCP
Reply-To: blandy@cs.cornell.edu (Jim Blandy)
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY
Lines: 24

Could someone post a comprehensive explanation of exectly what is required
(hardware, software, versions) to autoboot from a hard disk?  Am I correct
in thinking that

1) the drive controller must have a driver rom built in
2) it's impossible for A1000 owners to avoid using a KickStart disk on
   power-up (i.e. you can't put KickStart on your hard drive)
3) all of this is irrelevant until 1.3 comes out - you can't autoboot
   from ANYTHING until you have 1.3

?   I'm not asking about particular brands of drives or controllers -
I want to understand the situation well enough so I can figure out
what to ask;  I don't want the dealers to explain anything to me. I've
been keeping track of the discussions about the different manufacturers,
so I've got that info.

And how does DMA fit into this?  Correct me: the ONLY advantage of DMA
drives over non-DMA drives is that DMA goes faster.

I'm sorry if this seems redundant; I've been trying to pick up bits
here and there, but it's exactly that: bits here and there.  Thanks.
--
Jim Blandy - blandy@crnlcs.bitnet
"insects were insects when man was just a burbling whatsit."  - archie