Re: DOS Disk

[phoenyx <quazar@dcnet2000.com>]

Jon Bettencourt wrote:

> I did put the files on the DOS disk and run them from there. The thing is,
> the emulator won't let me select any disk images. I was thinking that it
> might want to get it's disk images from the C drive. The only problem with
> that is, MS-DOS doesn't want to access the C drive.
>

The problem is different file systems. There is very little you can do without
changing your system.  I will try to present some different possibilities.


* One option would be to add another hard drive which is formatted for
MsDos. With this setup, you could boot the floppy and have access to
disk images stored on the hard drive. Tha advantage, reduced risk to
current hard drive.


* Or, You could adjust the partitions on your current hard drive. Then add a
new partition for MsDos files. You could use your boot floppy to access this
disk also. There is a DOS program called FIPS which can help you with this.
If you only need DOS to run ApplePC this method may be what you need.

NOTES: This procedure is dangerous unless you know what you are doing.

                FIPS is freeware and can be found at many Linux sites or on
Linux
                distribution CD's

* You could try a DOS or PC emulator system. For instance, VMWARE offers
a personal usage PC emulator which runs under NT for $99. With this system
you can create a small HD image for your Apple stuff. It also has networking
options so you can access the file system on your NT drive. This option works
through software and does not require an actual network. There is also a
Linux version.

I'm assuming you want to keep the NT system you have so we'll ignore the
option of changing operating systems. If you need more help with any of
these, e-mail me.

> I looked in the AUTOEXEC.NT file and found the MSCDEXNT.EXE program being
> loaded there. I was thinking that maybe that program let the Virtual DOS
> Machine windows access the extra drives (i.e. C drive and D drive).
>
> Also, I did click on "Compress C Drive" in the Properties window. I later
> decompressed the folder with ApplePC in it. Could the compression be a
> problem (when I was compressing it, it said it couldn't compress NTLDR
> because it would render the system unoperable)?
>
> Two lines in the AUTOEXEC.NT file:
>   REM Load CD-ROM extensions:
>   lh MSCDEXNT.EXE
>
> Running MSCDEX.EXE in MS-DOS says this:
>   usage: MSCDEX [D: driver] [L: letter]
>

Ok, the compression should not have hurt anything. It won't help either
unless you are short on disk space. You didn't mention the size of the
hard drive. I'm assuming it's under 500 megs considering the age of
the PC. Older PC's present more of a challenge due to hardware
limitations.

I will try and explain the Mscdex program. Normally, CD's have their
own format. For PC's it's ISO9660. They also require a low level driver
for accessing them. Besides the driver, they also need a driver to handle
the file system. This is where MSCDEX comes into play. Under MsDos
the Mscdex program translates the ISO9660 filesystem into FAT16 file
system on the fly. Unfortunately, it won't help you with hard drive access.
If you look at your example above, the [D:driver] tells Mscdex what CDrom
driver it should hook into and [L:letter] is the drive letter to use for this
particular CD. Note, this is a simplistic explanation the actual details of
execution are more involved.

If you have enough space, I suggest the FIPS method. It is reasonably safe
and has been used by a lot of people who needed to make space for installing
Linux, myself included. You don't need to install DOS on the partition if
you already have a boot floppy. This way you can access your default NT
system by booting the hard drive or the MSDos system by booting the
floppy.


Phoenyx