OK to boot camera with non-ML memory card?

[DarkDust]

Hi folks, in the uninstall instructions at http://www.magiclantern.fm/install.html there's something that irritates me:

Don't just delete the Magic Lantern files from the card! If you do, the camera will freeze at startup and you'll have to take the battery out.

DO NOT use a bootable card without a working autoexec.bin on it! If you do, remove the battery immediately, switching the camera off is not enough !!!

Is that still true? I've booted my EOS 60D with non-ML memory cards a few times since I didn't know I'm not supposed to do that and I didn't experience any problems. What's the technical reason for these warnings? Do they still apply to current ML versions? Is it camera/firmware dependent?

Thanks.

[Audionut]

Is that still true?

Yes.

What's the technical reason for these warnings?

Having the bootflag enabled on the card, tells the camera, "hey, I have some custom code on here, and you should run it!"
When the code isn't present, the camera isn't smart enough to say to itself, "hey, you lied to me, I'll boot my normal code instead!"

There is no technical reason for the warning itself.  Warnings are a developers way of saying, "hey, you shouldn't do this!"

Do they still apply to current ML versions?

Yes.

Is it camera/firmware dependent?

In terms of Canon cameras, for models supported by ML, no.

[DarkDust]

Thanks for the quick answer. Now I get it: the magic word is "bootflag" (I suspect you mean the flag in the partition table?). So booting with a card that does not have the bootflag and does not have ML ("naked") is alright, correct?

[Canon Amateur]

Correct.

I have always two CF cards with me.
One with bootflag and ML code, and one without bootflag and without ML code ("naked").
If I lend the camera to someone else, I switch cards and they have a 'normal' 7D in their hands.

[Datadogie]

If you need an empty card FORMAT it as deleting it still leaves the bootflag which causes the problem.

[Oswald]

Eos M starts properly without ML. Sometimes I use eos M without ML (basic sd card), but is it dangerous? Camera boots up without any problem and works properly.