HELPFUL HINTS FOR OWNERS OF ONE-DRIVE AMIGA SYSTEMS:

By Joel Halbert, CCCC Amiga SIG

     Using the Amiga with only the standard internal drive can 
sometimes be a headache, with all of the disk swapping you have 
to do.  This article is intended to help you maximize your 
efficiency and enjoyment when using only a single drive, 
especially when using the CLI.

     Subjects covered in this article:
       1) Setting up/using the RAM disk.
       2) Specifying disk names to minimize AmigaDOS confusion.
       3) Helping you decide which to buy first - 
          another disk/extra RAM?

* * SETTING UP AND USING THE RAM DISK * *

     How  the  RAMdisk  helps  to  reduce  the amount of disk 
access:
       The Amiga contains a software "device" in RAM (memory), 
which can act like another disk drive.

     The advantages are:
         a) Less disk swapping.  You can copy your most frequently 
used CLI commands to the RAMdisk.  This will greatly reduce the 
number of "System Requests" where the Amiga  asks you to insert the 
Workbench disk.
         b) The RAMdisk operates much faster than the floppy drives.
         c) It uses no moving parts and thus doesn't wear out the 
            disk drives.

     The disadvantages of RAMdisk are:
         a) It loses its memory when the power goes off, so you 
            have to remember to copy any new files back onto a real 
            disk before you quit.
         b) It uses  up some free  memory in the system - this can 
            be a significant problem if you have not purchased 
            extra RAM.

     Here are the CLI commands you need to type (either upper or 
lower case):

   MAKEDIR RAM:C
     (creates a :C directory on RAMDisk)
   COPY WORKBENCH:C RAM:C ALL
     (copies the entire command directory
     to the RAMdisk)

   ASSIGN C: RAM:C
      (Tells the system to look in the
       RAMdisk to find the commands,
       instead of the Workbench disk)

     You now have all the CLI commands in the RAMdisk, and you will 
see a dramatic reduction  in  disk  accesses  when using the CLI 
(also takes  care of a few of the Intuition icon-type operations).
     Alternatively, you can conserve RAM space by loading only the 
commands you think you'll need.  There are many ways to accomplish 
this, but the following method is easiest to explain:

a. With the Workbench disk in the drive, issue the CLI commands:

  MAKEDIR WORKBENCH:QUICKRAM
  COPY WORKBENCH:C WORKBENCH:QUICKRAM ALL
  CD WORKBENCH:QUICKRAM
  DELETE command1 command2 command3 ..
  DELETE command4 command5 command6 ... and so on, where "command1
  command2..." are names of CLI commands that you DON'T think 
  you'll be using.

b. Now, whenever you want to  set up the RAMdisk, issue the commands:
 MAKEDIR RAM:C
 COPY WORKBENCH:QUICKRAM RAM:QUICKRAM ALL
 ASSIGN C: RAM:QUICKRAM

    These are the same commands we talked about before, but you are 
using the new :QUICKRAM directory to load in only the commands you 
want.

    If you want to clear out the RAMdisk and reclaim the memory, 
type:

  ASSIGN C: WORKBENCH:C
followed by either:

  DELETE RAM:C ALL
or:

  DELETE RAM:QUICKRAM ALL
depending on which directory you created in RAM.

     A final note: once you understand how to use command sequence 
files and the CLI "Execute" command, you can reduce the amount of 
typing by having the computer issue all of the commands for you.

* *       SPECIFYING DISK NAMES       * *

     Some users  have asked  why they can't seem to get a directory 
of any disk other than the Workbench.  The symptoms are: You have 
disk (let's say it's your Extras disk) in the drive.  You type 
"DIR" and the system requests that you insert the Workbench disk.  
When you do that, you get the directory of the Workbench disk!

     What is the problem here?

     First of all, the Amiga needed your Workbench disk in order 
to interpret and carry out the DIR command.  Secondly, you forgot 
to specify the disk name as part of the DIR command, so the system 
assumed the default, which was the Workbench disk (the one you 
booted up with).
     If you want the directory of the the Extras disk, you must 
specify it explicitly:

     DIR Extras:
       There is a lot more that can be said about disk names, but 
you'll find that in the AmigaDOS Manual and in the other tutorials 
that we are publishing.

* * WHICH TO BUY FIRST - ANOTHER DISK * *
* *  DRIVE OR ADDITIONAL RAM MEMORY?  * *

     Well, both of these add-ons are going to make your Amiga much 
easier and more pleasant to use.  More RAM allows you to run more 
programs simultaneously, and some programs are too big to fit into 
the 256K that comes standard.  Another disk drive will greatly 
reduce the amount of disk swapping that you have to do, and it 
makes copying from one disk to another infinitely easier.
     You have to decide which is most important to you, but it is 
USUALLY BEST TO BUY THE EXTRA RAM FIRST.  This is because the 
system uses some of the RAM just to manage disk drive operations.  
If you add another disk without adding more RAM, you are 
effectively DECREASING the amount of RAM that is available to you 
for program and file storage.