Re: stopping floppy drive seeks & what is happening

["John" <joki@eskimo.com>]

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  Thanks Rubywand - I think I'll put some disks in there.

  Game was a lot of fun, brought back some old memories from the TRS-80
days.
   This version is much nicer. I thought it would be fun to roll out after a
party, too.

"Rubywand" <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote in message
4048CA18.DA00B724@swbell.net">news:4048CA18.DA00B724@swbell.net...
> John writes ...
> >
> > On a IIgs when certain programs start the loading process pauses while
> > the IIgs seeks (drives make that loud "ratcheting buzz") on a pair of
> > 5.25" drives (about 3 cycles).
> >
> >   It happens with several programs. I think all of these are Prodos
> > programs (not GSOS).
> >
> >   For example, I copied all the files on the Santa Paravia disk to a
> > folder on the HD. I go to that folder using the 6.01 finder, click on
> > the basic1.system (?) file (I also tried clicking on the Prodos file
> > in the folder) and get the Prodos blue screen as things load. Soon,
> > the 5.25 floppies start seeking, and after 3 cycles they give up and
> > the program loads and runs fine.
> >
> >   I pretty much did the same thing (file copy to folder) on a Platinum
> > 2e and don't seek this drive seek behavior when starting Santa
> > Paravia.
> >
> >   What is going on and how do I fix it or what should I check?
> >
>  ....
>
>      Probably, there's nothing broken. The IIgs disk seek behavior is a
> pet peeve. Like, you'd think if a drive is checked and it's empty or
> the file is not there, that would be that. Instead, you may have to wait
> for several cycles of drive checking.
>
>      Did a few tests starting the new version of Santa Paravia (2003
> "Tournament Edition") from hard disk folders. Also tried several other
> ProDOS programs.
>
>      It looks like there is practically always some scanning of
> floppies-- like one or both 3.5" drives may turn on briefly. Whether it's
> one or both seems to depend upon the Slot locations of the volumes
> involved. Evidently, the Finder is looking through the drives for the
> volume name which has the program. If some other file, like BASIC.SYSTEM,
> also needs to be launched and it is on a different volume, then, that
> requires another scan.
>
>      Don't know why your 5.25" drives get involved and the 5.25" drives
> on our IIgs do not. Maybe you have a lot more volumes on line; or, you
> don't have 3.5" floppy drives connected?
>
>      Something that will greatly reduce the hassle from scanning the
> 5.25" drives is to make sure they always have a ProDOS diskette inserted.
> It takes a lot less time to find a ProDOS volume in those drives than it
> does to decide there's no diskette present; and, you get a lot less
> clatter.
>
>      Also, if you haven't already, you may want to uncheck the
> Finder Preferences option to "Check 5.25" drives on Finder start".
>
>
>
> Rubywand



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