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From: scott@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Scott Hazen Mueller)
Newsgroups: unix-pc.general
Subject: Submission for Unix-PC
Message-ID: <8911171432.AA08166@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG>
Date: 17 Nov 89 22:32:35 GMT
Sender: scott@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG
Organization: Unix-PC/Mail Gateway
Lines: 39
To: unix-pc@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG

Subject: Is there better UNIX PC software for using MS-DOS floppies

I have a 3B-1 computer running version 3.51 of the software with FIX #1014
(3.51 fix disk ver 1.0 unix pc) installed.  I do *not* have the board with
80x8x processor which runs MS-DOS.  I wish to use MS-DOS format floppies in
order to exchange files with a friend who has access to a IBM compatible PC.

To access MS-DOS floppies, I have been using the MSDOS format, MSDOS read, and
MSDOS write choices in the Floppydisk menu in the User Agent.  These choices
work marginally, but have very limited functionality.  They do not allow for
things like renaming or deleting files.  The MSDOS write choice will not allow
overwriting of existing files on the floppy; in fact, it will not even allow
writing a file with the same filename, but a different extension, to the floppy.
Also neither MSDOS read nor MSDOS write allow the use of wildcards, making
transfer of multiple files very tedious.

What my questions is, is the underlying software that the Floppydisk menus
invoke accessible via a command line from a shell?  If so, are there command
line options to allow some of the functionality that I discussed above, such
as allowing the overwriting of existing files?  Even if the command line
interface, if one exists, does not support wildcarding (i.e. does not support
multiple file transferred in the same invocation of the program), it would
at least be possible to write a shell script which has multiple invocations
of the command, which would at least make multiple file transfer more
automatic.

If such software is not directly accessible via a command line interface, or
if the added functionality I am looking for is not there, is there other
software, perhaps in the public domain, which does what I am looking for?
Remember this is on a UNIX PC *without* a DOS board.

Please e-mail you responses to me directly as I don't have access to the
unixpc.* newsgroups.

Thanks in advance,

-Michael Aramini
 work:  aramini@apollo.com  -or-  ...!apollo!aramini
 home:  ...!apollo!mja!aramini