A FEW TIPS ON HOW TO SET UP YOUR HARD DISK WITH EMPHASIS ON THE POWER OF "ASSIGN" ###################################################################### [SUS=Startup-Sequence in this article] This article is an attempt to explain some of the frequent problems encountered when trying to copy programs across to a hard disk, most of which are problems relating to the correct use of the command ASSIGN in the startup-sequence. A faster way of booting up is also described. ###################################################################### Below is the SUS on the Boot disk for the Hard disk system I recently bought, and will serve fine for any basic hard disk boot up procedure, provided that the entry for DH0: in the MOUNTLIST in the DEVS: directory of the boot disk is properly set up (see FASTFILESYSTEM in the 1.3_INFO drawer for a discussion of this). mount dh0: dir >nil: dh0: assign c: dh0:c cd dh0: assign s: dh0:s assign l: dh0:l assign libs: dh0:libs assign fonts: dh0:fonts assign devs: dh0:devs assign sys: dh0: makedir ram:t assign t: ram:t if EXISTS sys:system path sys:system add endif stack 10000 loadwb Then I changed the hard disk over to FFS, and made up my own ASSIGNS (the secret of using hard disks - see below for explanation) and ran a few other BACKGROUND TASKS. Now the SUS on my Boot disk reads like this (without the numbers of course, which are just there for convenience): 1 loadwb 2 mount dh0: 3 cd dh0: 4 execute dh0:s/assign_table 5 endcli which is designed to immediately transfer control of the SUS to the hard disk, in the interests of speed - the commands in sequence: Line 1 Loads the Workbench, but could be put just about anywhere - putting it here at the start means that the boot disk won't be accessed or read later on. 2 Mounts the hard drive called DHO: in the MOUNTLIST in the DEVS: directory of the boot disk. Don't use the ARP 1.1 MOUNT command here (see the end of "ABOUT_ARP" in the INTRO_FILES drawer). 3 This changes directory to the root directory of DH0:, but I believe it's unnecessary if you have an entry in the Mountlist (Mount=1). Under normal circumstances, necessary after a hard disk MOUNT command. 4 This tells the system to continue the SUS by executing the Batch File called "assign_table" in the S directory (where batch files are normally kept) of the hard disk DH0:. The contents of that file are listed below, but note that you could then have EXECUTEd any batch file by any name anywhere if you wanted, depending what you called it and where you put it. 5 Stops the current CLI process - if you want to remove any message from the command you could enter: endcli >nil: which sends any possible output (from any file) into never-never land, ie you don't see it. TYPICAL CONTENTS OF A HARD DISK "ASSIGN_TABLE" : Some of these commands have already been commented in the article "Startup-Sequences2" in this drawer, so read that one first to get more details on anything that may be repeated here. Underneath this listing is a discussion of why and what ASSIGNS need to be made, probably the most confusing issue in setting up hard disks. Anyone who has any other techniques or suggestions about startup-sequences, please send them in so we can put them in an update, I'm sure this SUS could easily be improved on. 1 setpatch >nil: 2 sys:system/fastmemfirst 3 addmem 400000 5fffff 4 assign sys: dh0: 5 assign libs: dh0:libs 6 assign c: dh0:c 7 assign l: dh0:l 8 assign s: dh0:s 9 assign fonts: dh0:fonts 10 assign devs: dh0:devs 11 assign PTEdefs: dh0:PTE/defs 12 assign PTEdir: dh0:PTE 13 assign GPTerm: dh0:Comms 14 assign ppage: dh0:ppage 15 assign ppageutil: dh0:ppage 16 assign c1: dh0:c1 17 path dh0:utilities add 18 path ram: add 19 path dh0:system add 20 path dh0:c1 add 21 path dh0: add 22 runback dh0:c/faccII 23 facction -n 128 24 ff >nil: -0 25 resident cli L:shell-seg system pure add 26 resident execute pure 27 mount newcon: 28 run execute dh0:s/startupII 29 prompt "%N %P > " 30 runback c:machII 31 runback c:wicon -w 32 stack 15000 33 endcli >nil: USING THE COMMAND "ASSIGN" IN STARTUP-SEQUENCES [See also the description of ASSIGN in the MAIN_COMMANDS drawer] This is the key to setting up your customised hard disk. Many people will have had that frustrating requestor appear, along the lines of "Please insert Volume Blah: in any drive". This is basically telling you that you haven't ASSIGNed things correctly, or at all, in your SUS. So say that you've bought the Communications package called GPTERM and copied everything over from the GPTERM disk (excluding all the normal SYSTEM commands and libraries and handlers, etc. - these are already supposedly in the various directories of your hard disk) into its own drawer called COMMS. You may have a couple of other Communications programs there too, it doesn't matter; or you could have been very organised and made specific drawers for the 2 or 3 communications programs, just to keep things separate. Most programs are written to look for the DISK NAME or VOLUME NAME while performing various operations. For example, GPTERM may well need to find a VOLUME called GPTERM: while saving or whatever - if it doesn't find it in a disk drive, it'll pop up a requestor asking you to insert it. That's why the line assign GPTerm: dh0:Comms appears above - it tells the system that instead of looking for a DISK called GPTERM, look instead at a directory on the hard disk DH0: called COMMS (ie, dh0:comms) and all the necessary programs will be found there instead. Some programs are a pain - WORDPERFECT requires that you make a drawer or directory called WP on the hard disk, and a sub-directory called LEARN within it (into which you copy all the contents of the LEARN disk) - then you have to make about 4 different ASSIGN commands, including the main one, saying assign wp: dh0:wp and also assign learn: dh0:wp/learn This second ASSIGN tells the computer to look in the directory DH0:WP/LEARN for the contents of the LEARN disk. On the other hand, there is, for example, a Word Processor called LPDWRITER with antecedents in the world of the 128 computer with serious copy protection - and this means to the user that although he may make the right ASSIGNs, he STILL has to insert the original program disk into DF0: whenever he double-clicks the program icon. I believe they have changed their tune recently because of user outrage. ANOTHER EXAMPLE - the program PROFESSIONAL PAGE comes on 2 disks, one of which is a PROGRAM disk called PPAGE:, the other a UTILTIIES disk, called PPAGEUTIL:. There are a couple of Hard disk installation icons on the disks, which are Batch files which you need to EXECUTE in order to copy across all the necessary files, and ASSIGN correctly. You could do all this without the batch files, but the important ASSIGNS are the one below: assign ppage: dh0:ppage assign ppageutil: dh0:ppage which assume that you've created a drawer or directory called PPAGE on your hard disk (dh0:), and copied the contents of both the disks mentioned above into it. Most well-written programs will have a section in the manual called something like "Hard Disk Installation" describing in detail what you have to do - if it's a good program, follow the instructions, which will be along the lines of these notes here, and you should be fine. DISKSALV 1.3 It's worth knowing, if you have a hard disk, that this public domain program exists - it is an update of a program that already exists, and now handles hard disks, including FFS. It will restore a hard disk (and floppies of course) to floppies, and also Format them if they haven't been formatted already. There's nothing worse than having a hard disk crash, but this program will lessen the pain. ##################### END OF HARDDISK_SUS ############################