4 ms·
So the theory is that MSDOS tried to detect if a bootsector contained executable 68k code, because if it did, the BPB was valid and could be used to locate the
by 08-15 6y ago
So the theory is that MSDOS tried to detect if a bootsector contained executable 68k code, because if it did, the BPB was valid and could be used to locate the FAT(s) and the master directory?
That's triply dumb, because of the typo noted in the article, and also because executable Atari ST bootsectors had a checksum that should be computed instead of silly heuristics, but most importantly because most Atari ST disks had no executable bootsector, but the entries concerning disk layout were still valid.
It sounds exactly like the fractal of incompetence Microsoft would implement, and it would explain why we Atarians had to use disks formatted on a PC for data transfer, even though the formats were nominally the same. Funny to read about that, because back in the day, I thought the ST somehow formatted disks "wrong".
- cmrdporcupine 6y agoThe reason they had to be formatted on a PC to be used by both was only due to endian-ness issues: TOS was tolerant of both big and little endian FAT While MSDOS tolerated only little-endian. However the GEM desktop's formatting utility formatted big-endian only. So to get a floppy readable on both you formatted under MSDOS. Or used a better formatting utility on your Atari that let you choose little endian mode.