Date   : Tue, 24 Dec 1996 00:29:35 +0000 (GMT)
From   : Tom Seddon <T.W.Seddon@...>
Subject: Archive format expansion

I just thought about this today: should there be some extra information 
in the archive format to cater for different !BOOT option? The next 
version of my emulator will hopefully cater for auto-booting disks: you 
wil be able to insert a disk into a drive, then the emulated Beeb is 
reset with the appropriate startup links so that a normal reset will be 
considered an autoboot. This will make it easier to run games, without 
having to faff around with *MOUNT and all that. However as the archive 
format stands you will have to make your own !BOOT file or, at the very 
least, messs around with the appropriate *OPT4,x settings. Fair enough 
for one or two games, but for large numbers of games this could be a bit 
trcicky.

I have thought of some  possibilities: 

1. An extra file, maybe called !OPTIONS or something, which contains the 
startup option. (Not sure of the best format for this file though)

2. An extra file, maybe called !STARTUP or something, which contains the 
commands to load the game/whatever. This will be added in as !BOOT and 
the startup option will be set to 3 (EXEC). (Seems a bit of a waste 
though since you may as well have a !BOOT file and always assume the 
option is *EXEC)

3. An extra parameter in the !BOOT.INF file, which specifies the option. 
This has the advantage of settings the options only when a !BOOT file is 
present. (This isn't too bad but it seems a bit dodgy sijnce the 
extra parameter will only be present in the !BOOT file, and conversion 
utilities will have to cope with this.)

4. Some kind of marker in the 'startup' file, indicating whether it is a 
machine code or BASIC. The !BOOT file can be built from this information, 
just with an appropriate *RUN or CHAIN"" or maybe renaming this file to 
!BOOT and setting the option to 2 (RUN). This is my personal favourite, 
and doesn't seem to have any major disadvantages.

What does everyone else think?

I also discovered a bug in Xfer -- it wil lnot transfer files which are 
amultiple of 4,000 bytes in length. I tried to e-mail you, Mark, about 
this, but the mail bounced (I sent it to deweger@...) so 
hopefully it will get to you via this route.

Happy Christmas to everyone,

--Tom