Re: MS-DOS FST

[spector@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article lkhaider@mail.sstar.com writes...
>
>Was an MS-DOS FST (file system translator) ever developed/released for
>the Apple IIgs?  I remember there was quite a bit of active discussion
>about this some years ago, but I've been away from my trusty IIgs for
>a while.  Now that I've been using the IIgs more and more, the greater
>I find my need is for transferring files between MS-DOS and GS/OS.  If
>an FST is available, please inform me of how I may get a copy.

	An MSDOS.FST has been available for three years now, it was 
included as part of the System 6.0.1 update released May 1993.
Unfortuntely it was only half-way completed, it can only work in
one direction being a _read only_ FST. Apple had plans to complete
it in a future System Software update, but at this point it seems
highly unlikely one will ever surface. 

	Until a read/write FST is written (Apple or 3rd party) there
is Peter Watson's "MS-DOS Utilities" program, a collection of shell
applications that use DOS-like commands for writing to MS-DOS media.
It works, but it seems rather slow when writing and of course makes
copying to MS-DOS a pain because of the obscure DOS-like CLI commands 
required (I should also mention there are no wildcards available! :/). 

	One other important thing to mention about the MSDOS.FST,
you _must_ have an MFM capable device to use it (examples are:
Apple SuperDrive & Apple 3.5 "FDHD" Controller, floptical & SCSI 
card, PC floppy drives & BlueDisk card or PC-Transporter card).

>------------------------------------------
>Laer Haider       lkhaider@mail.sstar.com

Mitchell Spector
spector@vax2.concordia.ca