[geeks] Re: SunPCi Drivers

[Kurt Huhn]

> > There is - but insofar as FAT16 is limited.  I have installed fairly
> > huge volumes on NT by formating the drive with NTFS instead of FAT16.
> 
> Yes, but only after SP3.  The NT Setup program that shipped with NT4 gold
> and all previous versions of NT relies on a FAT16 partition initially.
> Then, it converts the partition to NTFS in a subsequent reboot (how lame
> is that!).  The limit is 4GB, not 2GB, due to NT "cheating" and using
> larger clusters than the FAT16 spec allows.
> 

Yep, you're right.  I forgot all about that.  I almost alwys used a NT
media with SP3 built in to it - so there never was that limitation. 
Very useful for workstations (er, desktop computers)...

> 
> Back to the original debate... I'd be willing to bet that the 2GB upper
> limit is coded into the flash firmware on the SunPCi card, and is totally
> unrelated to which OS is run on it.
> 

More than likely correct.  Since dive sizes are more often than not a
limitation of (a) BIOS, and (b) OS.  Since we've determined aove that NT
does in fact support larger than 2GB disks, it *must* have something to
do with "BIOS", which in this case is possibly a combination of firmware
and drivers for the SunPCi card...

Kurt