Re: Flashboot

[rubywand@swbell.net]

James OReilly wrote:
> 
> A friend of mine is having trouble getting Flashboot to work,
> particularly with AppleWorks 5.1 and AppleWorks GS.  Also, she can't
> create an image disk for AppleWorks GS.
> ....
>

     The main idea behind Flashboot is that it lets users without a 
hard disk use the RAM disk to boot a fairly large system without a lot 
of hassle. Typically, at power-up, you are booting from Slot 5 and 
have an image diskette in your 3.5" drive. This (and any other 
diskettes which hold the image) gets auto-loaded onto the RAM disk and 
the RAM disk is booted.

     For example, with RAM disk size set to 1.6MB, you can feed in a 
couple 3.5" diskettes at power-up and have a decent System 6 setup 
plus loading in a number of useful utilities. Since the OS is on RAM 
disk, large programs launched from diskette can use both 3.5" drives 
and disk swapping is greatly reduced or eliminated.

     If your friend is having trouble with Flashboot loading and 
starting Appleworks 5, it may be because she is not including the 
operating system on the image disk. If you want to boot the RAM disk, 
the Flashboot image needs to include an operating system such as 
ProDOS, GSOS 5.04 or System 6. One approach would be to create an 
image disk which includes ProDOS 2.x and Awks 5.

     One problem for new Flashboot users is image creation. Using 
Flashboot.System, the RAM disk boot option should be selected and the 
RAM disk should be "Prepared" before any files are placed on the RAM 
disk. After Preparing the RAM disk, you exit Flashboot and move your 
stuff to RAM disk. In the case larger wares which include an Install 
program, it is usually best to do the Install instead of just moving 
the files to RAM disk. Finally, you go back to Flashboot to create the 
image.    

     Another snag is RAM disk size. The image you create on 
diskette(s) is an image of the RAM disk at the time of creation. When 
the Flashboot image is booted, the RAM disk must be the same size as 
it was when the image was created.

     If ProDOS or GSOS is already active, the image does not have to 
include an OS and be bootable. You can start Flashboot.System and just 
load the Awks 5, Awks-GS, etc. image to RAM disk. The downside of 
using Flashboot this way is that you gain very little in terms of 
convenience or speed as opposed to, say, just unpacking a .SHK file 
containing Awks 5 to RAM disk. In fact, the .SHK file route is a lot 
less bother. If you are running GSOS, you come out much better 
auto-loading and booting a Flashboot image which includes the OS.

     As for Appleworks-GS, if your friend's GS has 4MB of expansion 
RAM, then, the OS plus enough of Awks-GS to be useful may fit onto RAM 
disk with enough RAM left after booting to run the program. Otherwise, 
she will be better off Flashbooting a good OS and running Awks-GS 
stuff from diskette.

     Flashboot is a nifty utility which ends up putting itself out of 
business because it gives the user a good taste of running the GS with 
hard disk. Most likely, your friend will be checking Focus, Q-Drive, 
etc. ads within a couple months.


Rubywand