[Coco] f83 for the CoCo, Update and a laundry-list of questions.

[Bruce W. Calkins]

> On 11/9/08, Bill Barnes <da3m0n_slay3r at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> While I won't say that this would be the ideal solution (Im unaware of 
>> the
>> disk change signal being sent back to the disk controllers we are used to 
>> on
>> the CoCo, let alone made available to an OS or user program) but as a
>> typical RSDOS diskette, if memory serves me right, doesn't use all of 
>> track
>> 17, what about one sector being used to hold a "disk ID"... only problem 
>> is
>> the generation of one that is completely unique to a colletion of disks. 
>> I
>> would imagine the overhead for reading one single sector, pulling an ID 
>> code
>> from it and comparing it to one in memory for the "open" disk in that
>> particular drive would be less than keeping multiples of the whole FAT
>> table. This could lead to a "cache"ing of the who directory in the 
>> future.
>>
>> I reserve the right to be in complete error on the above statements in
>> regard to efficiency, overhead, and overall function.
>>
>> -Later!   -WB-    -- BABIC Computer Consulting.

There are a few OS "improvements" that make use of the second sector of 
track 17.  So as often happens in uncharted territory, here there be 
dragons.



Bruce W.