Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!male!jethro!exodus!appserv!sun!imagen!atari!apratt
From: apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: TOS filing system for MiNT
Keywords: mint, msdos, tos
Message-ID: <2940@atari.UUCP>
Date: 15 May 91 16:51:12 GMT
References: <1991May14.085938.23232@cs.nott.ac.uk>
Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 28

dpg@cs.nott.ac.uk (Dave Gymer) writes:
>I'm about to start work on an MeSsy-DOS filing system for MiNT, and would
>appreciate some advice about the way it should handle filenames.

Before you "start work" please check to see if TOS's and MiNT's own
filesystem isn't what you need.  They *are* MSDOS compatible.  You can
take TOS disks and use them on PC's.

Well, that's not quite true.  They have to be formatted by a program which
does an MS-DOS compatible format.  The difference is a couple of bytes at
the beginning of the boot sector.  Original TOS didn't set that up the way
MSDOS needed.  New TOSes (1.4 and greater) do.  Other people's formatters,
like DoubleClick, let you select this as an option.  There is no difference
at all in the data part of the disk, only a couple of bytes in the first
sector which we ignore and they use.

Sometimes you can format a disk on a PC and use it on an ST.  You can
certainly READ the disk on the ST.  You can't WRITE it unless the disk was
formatted with two FATs.  Some newer MSDOSes think they're doing you a
favor by writing just one FAT.  If you have one of those, use the option to
FORMAT which says, "Put two FATs on the disk."

Aside from these details of formatting (which are not minor), the TOS
and MSDOS filesystems are identical, files, subdirectories, and all.

============================================
Opinions expressed above do not necessarily	-- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp.
reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else.	  ...ames!atari!apratt