Time: Wed May 14 08:48:08 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id HAA21140 for [address in tool bar]; Tue, 13 May 1997 07:55:41 -0700 (MST) Delivered-To: liberty-and-justice-outgoing@majordomo.pobox.com Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 08:39:19 -0700 To: liberty-and-justice@pobox.com From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: L&J: SLF: FAT16 and Computer Monopolies > At 11:47 PM 5/12/97 -0500, you wrote: >At 10:00 PM 5/12/97 +0000, Paul Andrew Mitchell wrote: >>Dear America, >> >>I am prepared to litigate a challenge to Gates, >>under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, for conspiring >>with all disk drive manufacturers to delay the >>availability of Windows 95, Version 950b, >>with FAT32. This delay caused FAT16 to remain >>the standard for disk I/O, thereby wasting untold >>millions of megabytes in the last cluster allocated >>to any file. Mathematically, 50% of a cluster is >>wasted for EACH FILE stored in any logical disk >>partition (e.g. "C:" being the most common). >> >I keep my extended/logical drives at 250k or less. I also use System >Commander to allow me to set up as many OS as I like. > >Paul I don't see the problem. Expand it a little for me. > >old jim FAT16 ---------------- 0000000000000000 ... 0000000000010101 ---> Cluster 10101 ---> N sectors @ 512 bytes ... 1111111111111111 N varies in direct proportion to the physical size of the drive, since the size of FAT16 is fixed at 65,536 entries (each arrow "--->" is an entry). These arrows are called "pointers" in computer science. Now, if you have a large drive (1 gigabyte or more), the size of N is numerous sectors of 512, all of which get assigned to a given file. In other words, if N is 16, all 16 get assigned to a given file, regardless of how much data is in that file. So, the worst case is that a single character is stored with a word processor. (Run your word processor, enter the letter "a", then save the file by a name like ONECHAR.DOC.) This one letter file will chew up the entire cluster -- all 16 sectors are used up, wasting all that extra space. Statistically, you can expect that the last cluster assigned to any file will be half-full (50% propability), since the number of bytes stored in the last cluster could be any number from 1 to the maximum in any given cluster (16K in our example here). So, if you have a lot of files, as I do, then you will waste one-half cluster for each file you have stored in your DOS partition. The solution is to migrate to FAT32, which does away with this problem completely. But, the migration to FAT32 is not straightforward, because you need to have a BIOS which is compatible with FAT32. Some machines have a flash BIOS, which means that you can update the EPROMs on the fly (EPROM = eraseable programmable read only memory). If you have an old BIOS and it is not a flash BIOS, forget it. Your machine is now officially obsolete. It is simpler to start with a new machine, flash BIOS, and virgin disk. Then load your programs and data onto a new FAT32 system, with ease and comfort (and great expense also). Now do you see how the monopoly enriches itself? FAT16 chews up disk space quite rapidly, and the American People are not well trained enough to know that they are getting the shaft, as a group. /s/ Paul Mitchell http://www.supremelaw.com ======================================================================== Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness email: [address in tool bar] : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU web site: http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this ======================================================================== =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unsub info - send e-mail to majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com, with "unsubscribe liberty-and-justice" in the body (not the subject) Liberty-and-Justice list-owner is Mike Goldman <whig@pobox.com>
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