Kegs and HFS

[phoenyx <phoenyx@texas.net>]

Supertimer and I recently had a discussion about
emulators. While it's true they are not the real thing
at least one comes very close. Kegs on a *nix system.

I run Kegs all the time on my Linux PC. The author says
it has problems with sound and Linux. While it does have
some problems, the sound is still usable. The last hurdle
I had was access to an HFS volume.

I knew Linux could handle HFS files since I have set up
access to an HFS volume on a CD. I have been unable to
get Kegs to access the CD by partition as it should. So I
thought it might be something with the format. After some
thinking I decided to try a read/write volume instead. So with
a little trepidation I set out to find the tools I needed. As it
turned out there are utilities for HFS volumes on the net. I
downloaded them and compiled/installed them. After a little
modification of my filesystem setup I was ready to setup the
drive.

I have my drive setup with 8 partitions for my Linux system.
Mainly so I can reinstall with out losing particular software.
(Such as my Kegs setup and my Apple disk images.)
One of these I had dedicated to the /usr/src directory. I changed
the filesystem so this partition was mounted as /hfs and moved
the files back to the /usr/src directory where the belonged. I now
had an empty partition to work with. You may also use a second
hd if you have one, but you will need an empty partition for this
to work right.

I used the program in the utility set there is a shell program
which you use to set up the initial HFS volume. Then you will
have to execute another function to setup the partition table,
I reccommend a single partition using all available blocks to
avoid confusion under Linux. The utilities can mount more
but Linux only sees the first partition. This allows you to access
the volume directly from Linux with HFS support installed. I
have Linux configured with the HFS support as part of the kernel
so I don't have to always load the module. After the volume is
partitioned you need to use the shell program to format it. this
is all fairly quick. I had some problems when I originally set
this up since I had two partitions but later changed them. I fixed
this by formatting the single partition in the emulator.

After the volume is setup edit the fstab file and set the partition
type as hfs or Linux will complain. Reboot the system to mount
the drive correctly. This is neccessary since you changed the
partition type.

Now that you're back from rebooting, edit the disk_conf file
for kegs and use the example for loading a partition which
Kent gives. The partition number on the suggested single
drive setup is 1. Run the emulator and use it to format the new
volume. This step may not be neccessary but you know it is
a IIgs comapatble drive this way.

You now have an HFS volume! My next step is to setup the
latest version of GNO.

The HFS utilities comes with quite a few command line
functions but you will probably want to use the X program
since it is easier for copying files back and forth. I have been
successful with all the files I have tried so far.

So Supertimer, chalk up one for the emulators. <g>

Hope this info helps someone.

Phoenyx