Re: RE: VFAT.XFS versus MagiC

[Petr Stehlik <stehlik@cas3.zlin.vutbr.cz>]

On Mon, 25 Aug 1997, Martin-Eric Racine wrote:

> yes and yes
> 
>  >3) you are afraid of VFAT32 and want to be compatible with it.
> 
> Not affraid at all. I just wanna be able to read/write longnames
> in VFAT on floppies/ZiP drives formatted under Win95, without 
> having to completely change my current hard-disk. 

VFAT32 is for very large partitions only (very large is > 512 MB). So you 
actually don't need the VFAT32 for floppies and ZIP drives.

>  >If you want just the long filenames, an utility for reading&writting them
>  >under TOS/MiNT can be written in a hour or so. It's very easy, believe it
> 
> Actually, given VFAT is just additional data for the long 
> filenames, I suppose it should be easy to implement (though
> I have no idea how to do it myself).

I could use the PARCP3 interface to make the VFAT reader/writer most 
probably. Unfortunately I am quite busy these days. The first sign of 
some free time I can see in October :-/ 

>  >Remember, that without this driver the VFAT or VFAT32 support is useless.
> 
> Nice of someone to finally explain the finer points! ;-)

I am glad you understood :-)

>  >it. Writting XFS for diskettes it's really a wasting of time.
> 
> Not if you constantly recieve VFAT floppies from customers.
> This is something EVERYONE who interracts with people on Win95
> needs, when data is exchanged on floppies.

As I don't know how to write complete .XFS I'll try to write the VFAT 
copier only. Wait for the October, or ask someone else who have more free 
time.

> Hopefully, the trend of ZiP cartriges replacing floppies will
> finally give us a much better way, if ZiP becomes a standard
> device

Yes, the much better way will be that only MagiC/BigDOS can read it. So 
you'll be then lost completely. Remember the ZIP is 96 MB large so you 
need the driver for >32 MB partitions?

Petr
--
    WWW: http://ft3.zlin.vutbr.cz/stehlik/home.htm
 e-mail: stehlik@cas3.zlin.vutbr.cz
netmail: 2:421/36@fidonet.org, 90:1200/2@nest.ftn