Re: DOS 3.3 on hard disk?

[nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <33153BA2.57A5@swbell.net>,  <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote:
>     There have been a few mod versions of DOS 3.3 which allow using
>disks much larger than the standard 140k 5.25" diskette. One was
>released by Nibble several years ago. Possibly, a DOS 3.3 that can
>handle a 20MB hard disk exists.

   [Tip: press return every 70 characters or so, not 85+. Makes it
much easier to quote]

   Due to the fixed bitfield sizes in the DOS 3.3 track/sector free
list, you can fit a max of 400K per DOS 3.3 volume. You'd have to hack
different volumes (say 253 or so tops) to different sections of the HD
to get at most 98MB utilization out of a HD. At this point, you'd have
pretty much have to rewrite large chunks of the RWTS (read write
trach sector) routines, etc. Most find it easier to bite the bullet
and go with ProDOS on a HD, or stick with 5.25" floppies and DOS 3.3.

>    It is easy enough to talk about a "fully operational DOS 3.3 FST
>for System 6". It will, however, never happen. DOS 3.3 is doable;
>but, its capacity for modification is not. 

   FSTs are only available under GS/OS; the second you try and switch
down to ProDOS 8 (or anything else), you lose your nice FSTs. I don't
think there'd be much of a demand for a 'DOS 8' counterpart to ProDOS
8 anyhow.

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/      <*>
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