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BootAble – FreeDOS boot testing freeware
To obtain direct, low-level access to a system's mass storage drives, SpinRite runs under a GRC-customized version of FreeDOS which has been modified to add compatibility with all file systems. In order to run SpinRite it must first be possible to boot FreeDOS.
GRC's “BootAble” freeware allows anyone to easily create BIOS-bootable media in order to workout and confirm the details of getting a machine to boot FreeDOS through a BIOS. Once the means of doing that has been determined, the media created by SpinRite can be booted and run in the same way.
The participants here, who have taken the time to share their knowledge and experience, their successes and some frustrations with booting their computers into FreeDOS, have created a valuable knowledgebase which will benefit everyone who follows.
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Three-digit (non-)woes, or, the worry that wasn't worrisome for those willing to break free of base-10 (and other musings)
danlock
Ideas:
- You could switch to another number base for episodes 1000 and beyond. My first thought is Hexadecimal, but anything higher than base 10 might suffice. The existing episodes could be renamed using base 16 and a script could convert those to decimal for display if wanted. It could be done in the background, meaning any reference in previously-recorded episodes would refer to the present decimal system, internally represented in hex. Any search by a user could be converted between number systems in the background for retrieval and delivery of the specified episode number to the person searching for it. The user would then see the decimal equivalent.
- To educate users who know decimal only, it could be done a little more transparently, showing a quick conversion of the decimal into hex (or whatever) and back, if desired.
- You could leave the first 999 episodes as presently numbered and number only episodes after 999 using a new base, referring to the first thousand as THE FIRST CHILIAD.
- You could start "Part 2" or "second sequence" with all following episodes being known as Security Now! S2:001 through S2:999 until it's time for S3:001 (use a P instead of an S if it's a Part 2 rather than a series or sequence).
- The second and subsequent series/sequence(s)/chiliad(s) could be numbered internally using a base which encodes them using three or fewer characters. Security Now! will continue long past the once-imagined passing of Steve Gibson. @Steve and Leo and crew will surely be taking an immortality+anti-aging serum by the time series 4 rolls around...
danlock
Precisely why I separated that option from the potentially-viable (and not so viable but valid) ones and included a LOL emoticon. I was joking! I should have used a few extra hints, since I would probably take myself literally too... sorry about that.
