Re: Autoloader for GSOS

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <499s1g$hit@styx.uwa.edu.au>,
Joseph Turner <jturner@tartarus.uwa.edu.au> wrote:
> 
>    Hello, I use System 5.04 on my IIgs and at the moment I have only one 
> 3,5 drive. Now I have 4megs of Ram and I would like to pre-load the 
> system into ram and then boot from the ram. I was wondering if there is 
> anyone who could give me a few hints.

I was doing exactly this with my second IIgs, before I had a hard
drive available for it.  I set up a 1.6 MB /RAM5 volume, and had a
three-disk setup sequence: boot the first disk, which initializes the
RAM disk then prompts me to insert the second and third disks, copying
files to /RAM5 as it goes.  Finally, I change the startup device and
reboot.

The catch: it is based on ORCA/Shell, which I cannot distribute.  If
you already own ORCA/Shell (supplied with ORCA/M, ORCA/C, ORCA/Pascal
and ORCA/Modula-2) then I might be able to help.  Otherwise, a more
generic solution would be required, probably involving a specially
written GS/OS application.

The main part of the solution is a scriptable copy program I wrote for
ORCA/Shell (well, "scriptable" in that it can be given a text file
containing a list of files to copy, with the option of using wildcard
characters).


One possibility would be to set up a GS/OS boot disk including the
Installer, with specially written scripts for doing a specific
installation to the RAM disk.  You would have to manually "erase" the
RAM5 volume before installation, or it would not be bootable.  You
would also have to manually change startup slots.

I'd be happy to assist further, e.g. with the creation of the
Installer script for this.

The main thing I need to know is the list of files you want to include
on the RAM disk (or specify a size and a desired set of capabilities,
and I can work it out from that).
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand