On my Ampro Little Board (the original one) on which I have a small hard disk, though this is by no means limited to the hard disk, software loads VERY fast as well. It's no coincidence, I believe, that this one has the Kaypro format as an optional diskette format. The difference, I belive is the way data is stored on the diskette. If you have the right combination of sector skew and data block size, tansfers to/from diskette are quite fast. What's more, since CP/M systems didn't normally attempt to do all the crazy stuff that DOS attempts to do with its BIST/POST firmware, there's less to wait for. I think one will be disappointed with the real performance of the typical 4 MHz Z-80 if it's evaluated in an I/O-independent way, since we've become accustomed to much faster processors. Nonetheless, turning the machine on and having the prompt waiting for you by the time the monitor is warmed up enough to show the image is quite a treat. With one of those 1.25" tall 3-1/2" drives, my Ampro boots up CP/M in a second or two. It's amazing! Dick -----Original Message----- From: Phil Clayton <musicman38(a)mindspring.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, September 02, 1999 7:44 AM Subject: Why is CP/M faster than DOS CP/M