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Re: "Universal Boot Initializer" ?
Replying to myself.
The best I can see the usage of DOS 3.2 with a 16-sector bootstrap would
be to use 3.5 tracks, rather than 3, thus:
Track usage as seen from DOS 3.3 on the left, 3.2.1 on the right.
# - native sector. % - non-native "sector", shown stretched or squashed by
410/342. (this may be inaccurate)
0123456789ABCDEF 0123456789ABC
0##### %%%%%% ##### %%%%
1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% #############
2%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% #############
3%%%%%%% ######
Basically, a few "common" sectors written on track 0 both in DOS 3.2 style
and in DOS 3.3 style, then 2.5 tracks containing the rest of the DOS
image, probably 3.2.1, reordered and with a different loader. It may even
be possible to have track 0 reread AFTER the base rwts is loaded, and load
up to 4 additional sectors there. Maybe others could be freed up and it
would actually fit in 3 tracks, allowing for no loss of capacity.
Formatting would of course require a separate tool... there's no way in
hell to ram all that code into DOS 3.2.1 space.
-uso.