Re: boot problem

[Keith Arnett <keith_arnett -at- RESTON -dot- OMD -dot- STERLING -dot- COM>]

     As you are writing about a "boot process," which is a particular
     application for booting a PC:

     1. The boot process can reside either on the hard disk or on a floppy
     diskette.  Therefore, IMO, you would boot FROM the hard disk, or FROM
     the floppy.

     2. Numerous boot processes for PCs exist, e.g., the MS-DOS boot
     process, the OS/2 boot process, and so on.  Therefore, you could say,
     "the MS-DOS boot process for Ericka's PC," which (to me) implies that
     the boot process is in hand but not yet installed, e.g., "here is the
     boot process for Ericka's PC."

     Once the boot process is installed on the PC, it seems to me to be
     correct to then refer to it as "the boot process ON Ericka's PC."

     FWIW, the MS Manual of Style recommends avoiding the term "boot" in
     end user documentation, using instead "start," "restart" or "switch
     on."

     Hope this helps.

     Keith Arnett
     Technical Writer
     Sterling Software, Inc./Operations Management Division
     Reston VA USA


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: boot problem
Author:  Patricia Bergsma <bergsma -at- locamation -dot- nl> at INTERNET
Date:    4/24/98 4:45 PM


Hello,

I am writing a help topic about the boot process of our operating system.
Looking at examples from other manuals and dictionaries (on-line and on
books) I encountered the following variations:

to boot FROM a hard disk
to boot OFF a hard disk

a boot process ON a PC
a boot process OF a PC

What is right or most common?



Patricia Bergsma
bergsma -at- locamation -dot- nl
Documentation engineer
Locamation B.V.
Enschede, The Netherlands