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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Having Konqueror/kDesktop displaying media volume label
From:       David Golden <david.golden () oceanfree ! net>
Date:       2002-04-20 22:35:15
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First let me say that  I really don't think that this is a KDE issue, and
is more properly handled with a modification to the way removeable
media are treated by the underlying OS.


Hell, at least we're not using single-letter drive names...

> The ONLY REALLY BIG ISSUE I see exists in any environment, and that is
> simply this:
> 	What do you do with two disks having the same volume label?
> 	How did the Amiga solve this? Anybody know?

As far as I recall, Amiga just used a simple "first disk wins", with the
first disk the system sees getting the name, and the others only accessible
anonymously  through the device names (e.g. df0: cd0:, dh0: ).   There were
occasional problems, where people booted with a disk in-drive called a
particular name that conflicted with some core system name could screw up the
system (not booted from the disk, just with the disk in a drive!) - here's a
bug report from 1996: http://www.ewertb.com/AMUC/9601/LightROM3.html

When you removed the first disk, the next disk did not "get" the name - In
fact, for reasons of data integrity, it was probably best that it didn't.

 It also used straight  string-based matching - if you tried to write to
ram:, and you happened to have made ram: point somewhere silly,
it'd go right ahead anyway.   That's more of a feature than a problem -
I'd much prefer a computer to do what I tell it, even if it's to do something
stupid, and that's the Unix (and Amiga) Way.

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