[Coco] Multiple HDB-DOS 256 drive partitions Software Wanted

[Kip Koon]

Hi All,
I for one would like to utilize a hard drive for as much as I can.  I have a
plethora of floppies to backup onto the hard drive, so maybe one of you
HDB-DOS and NitrOS-9 Gurus can create a way to have as many NitrOS-9 and
HDB-DOS partitions as the user wants built in to each system.  If you make
it happen, I will definitely use it!  I have always said to never tell a
Coco user they can't do something, because they will prove it is possible to
get our beloved little Coco to do anything we want!
Kip

-----Original Message-----
From: coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] On
Behalf Of Aaron Wolfe
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 3:38 PM
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [Coco] Multiple HDB-DOS 256 drive partitions Software Wanted

On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Boisy Pitre <boisy at tee-boy.com> wrote:
> There hasn't been a partitioning table feature done as far as I know on
the CoCo.
>
> Actually, there is enough unreserved space in RBF's LSN0 to allow for some
limited partitioning, but no one has attempted to commandeer that area for
anything.
>

When I was doing the RBF filesystem stuff in DW, I noticed that you can find
everything you need to know to verify an RBF filesystem exists in LSN0,
including exactly where the filesystem should stop on the underlying disk.

Wouldn't it be a fairly simply hack to make descriptors like /i0 /i1
/i2 /iX etc where upon initialization each one greater than 0 "skips"
X number of RBF filesystems, looking for another valid one starting on the
sector immediately after the end of the previous, until it finds X valid RBF
LSN0's and records its own offset all automagically?  It's pretty easy to
verify a valid RBF filesystem with very little doubt you've found one.
Essentially you don't need a partition table if the RBF partitions are
arranged sequentially on the disk.

$0.02
-Aaron

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