System 5.0.4: How to make the smallest system disk possible
By Cameron Brawn
Copyright (c) 1991 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
With the coming of the latest system software for the GS, it is becoming harder and harder to run "Finder" off a 800k disk. There are many files that make up the system disk, not all of them are needed.
I will explain how to make the smallest system disk possible for a GS to operate. You will loose a few "niceties", but you will probably have to do less disk swapping.
Keep in mind that this "bare minimum" is exactly that. Some software may not run correctly under this configuration.
If you have a hard disk, you should use the installer to install any system software. If you only have one or two "floppies", try the following.
Copy onto a blank disk the following files:
(SD = System.Disk)
/SD/ProDOS
/SD/System/CDEVS/RAM
/SD/System/Desk.Accs/CtlPanel.NDA
/SD/System/Drivers/AppleDisk3.5
/SD/System/Drivers/Console.Driver
/SD/System/Error.Msg
/SD/System/Expressload
/SD/System/Fonts/Fastfont
/SD/System/Fonts/Font.List
/SD/System/FSTs/Char.FST
/SD/System/FSTs/Pro.FST
/SD/System/GS.OS
/SD/System/GS.OS.Dev
/SD/System/Start
/SD/System/Start.GS.OS
/SD/System/System.Setup/CDev.Init
/SD/System/System.Setup/Resource.Mgr
/SD/System/System.Setup/Sys.Resources
/SD/System/System.Setup/Tool.Setup
/SD/System/System.Setup/TS2 (only if you have a ROM 01 GS)
/SD/System/System.Setup/TS3 (only if you have a ROM 03 GS)
/SD/System/Tools/Tool014
/SD/System/Tools/Tool015
/SD/System/Tools/Tool016
/SD/System/Tools/Tool018
/SD/System/Tools/Tool019
/SD/System/Tools/Tool020
/SD/System/Tools/Tool021
/SD/System/Tools/Tool022
/SD/System/Tools/Tool023
/SD/System/Tools/Tool027
/SD/System/Tools/Tool028
/SD/System/Tools/Tool034
/SD/Icons/Finder.Icons
/SD/Icons/Finder.Icons.X
/SD/Icons/Ftype.Main
/SD/Icons/Ftype.Aux
This will give you a bootable system disk, with 229k available on disk for Programs or data. If you have a specific program that you wish to boot into, you can replace /SD/System/Start with your application. This would give you a total of 333k for the Application.
This is an absolute minimum. If you have a bit more space available, add the following files:
/SD/System/Drivers/Appledisk5.25 (If you want to use 5.25" disk drives)
/SD/System/Drivers/Imagewriter (Imagewriter printer driver - only if you have an Imagewriter (I or II))
/SD/System/Drivers/Printer.Setup (Goes with Imagewriter driver)
/SD/System/Drivers/Printer (If you run your Imagewriter from the Printer port)
/SD/System/Drivers/Modem (If you run your Imagewriter from the Modem port)
/SD/System/Fonts/Courier.10
/SD/System/Fonts/Courier.12
/SD/System/Fonts/Geneva.10
/SD/System/Fonts/Geneva.12
/SD/System/Fonts/Helvetica.10
/SD/System/Fonts/Helvetica.12
/SD/System/Fonts/Shaston.16
/SD/System/Fonts/Times.10
/SD/System/Fonts/Times.12
/SD/System/Fonts/Venice.14
/SD/System/P8
/SD/System/Tools/Tool.025
/SD/System/Tools/Tool.026
/SD/BASIC.System
/SD/BASIC.Launcher
The addition of these files will make your system disk much more robust, but will only leave you with 116k free. Still room for data or your favourite Desk Accessories.
There are more files on the System Tools disk that you might need, but the number of combinations possible are endless. If your application does not run, you may have to resort to having a system disk created with the installer. If you have a hard disk, sacrifice the small amount of disk space the System requires and have a "proper" system directory.

THIS CONTENT COPYRIGHT © 2007, APPLE MACINTOSH USERS' GROUP, SYDNEY
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PLEASE CREDIT THE AUTHOR AND THE SOURCE: Applecations, publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia

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