SAM Coupe Disk Drive Manual 7
WRITE-PROTECT
"I am just a
computer card –
do not spindle,
fold, tear or
mutilate"
(Berkeley
University
graffiti)
THE SYSTEM
DISK
"Build a system
that even a fool
can use, and only a
fool will want to
use it.
(Arthur Bloch -
"Murphy's Law")
In addition pressing F9 causes the system to
'boot'. Boot is computer jargon for: "copy
the Disk Operating System into memory, and
load and run an AUTO file if present."
If you have a particularly important disk,
you can prevent accidental erasure or
formatting. Turn the disk bottom side up. In
the bottom right-hand corner there's a black
switch. Use a finger-nail to press the
switch down, leaving a hole showing in the
disk. This write-protects the disk: you can
only load programs from it - not erase or
format the disk. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR MASTER
SYSTEM DISK IS WRITE PROTECTED BEFORE GOING
ANY FURTHER.
The computer takes control of the disk drive
from a number of different points. SAM BASIC
contains the essential commands. But we also
store some of the control instructions on a
disk - the System Disk - and these are
loaded into the computer's memory at the
beginning of each session with a disk drive.
The advantage of this is that we - or others
- may later want to add new disk drive
facilities. By keeping some of the DOS (the
Disk Operating System) "soft" on a disk, it
means that we will easily be able to offer
upgrades without recalling machines.
Take your System Disk: make sure that it is
write-protected (see previous section). On
one side of it, you'll see an arrow. This
shows you how to insert it into your drive.
Press it fully into drive 1. You'll notice
that the disk eject button pops out of the
drive and the drive light goes on for a
moment. When the drive light switches off
press the eject button and you'll eject the
disk. Now push the System Disk back into the
drive.
Next, press the F9 function key. This sets
your DEVICE as D1 and issues the command
'BOOT' which tells the computer to load the
disk operating system (SAMDOS) into memory.
On the System Disk there is an AUTO file,
and when F9 is pressed this is LOADed and
RUNS giving you a menu of options. After the
list of menu options the number of disk
drives and how much memory you have fitted
is displayed. Your screen will look similar
to this:
Summary of Contents for SAM drive
Page 1: ......
