Re: > 1 meg bzImage
H. Peter Anvin (hpa@transmeta.com)
7 Aug 1999 21:23:38 GMT
Followup to: <199908071931.PAA32282@smarty.smart.net>
By author: Rick Hohensee <humbubba@smarty.smart.net>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
>
> Can a 1.3meg bzImage boot off floppy? Or do you mean boot code including
> that in a bzImage itself?
>
> There's something vaguely related to open source issues here, although not
> directly pertinent.. How come floppy drives aren't bigger these days? I
> took apart a 2.88 meg floppy drive the other day. The head positioning
> stuff is rather simple. The 2.88 meg drive was probably built around 1991
> or 2. A 20 meg floppy drive would be a good open hardware project. 20 meg
> is a lot of linux/GNU/unix. Most of what I use fits in 12 meg.
>
Why bother, since there are 120 MB floppy drives (LS-120) on the
market? The hard part isn't the drive, but the media, which needs to
handle the densities, and 120 MB media are readily available.
Unfortunately, the incompatible zipdrive has been quite successful in
marginalizing the LS-120; this is unfortunate since it has succeeded
in extending the life of the 1.44 MB floppy rather than establishing a
new standard.
-hpa
--
<hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private!
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