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From: boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Reading TOS/DOS formatted disk on a SparcStation
Message-ID: <1991Jun8.222437.21673@mailer.cc.fsu.edu>
Date: 8 Jun 91 22:24:37 GMT
References: <1991Jun04.154053.11570@lut.ac.uk> <1372@zinn.MV.COM> <5807@wucc.waseda.ac.jp>
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In article <5807@wucc.waseda.ac.jp>, ytsuji@wucc.waseda.ac.jp (Y.Tsuji) writes:
>I am going to have a sun3/60 with its OS 4.0.3 in two day's time, giving up 
>buying a more PC compatible 3/80 with 4.1.1 (I didn't know these were much
>cheaper than MEGA ST's). If yours does not support floppy
>drives, you must 'ftp' the driver ('mtool' or something). If yours
>is already equipped with the driver and the floppy drives, you should
>be able to format the diskettes! When you have formatted the floppy,
>if you write SunOs info onto the first blocks by 'mkfs', you will have
>a SunOs floppy, and if you write IBM-PC info, you will have an IBM-PC
>floppy. If you haven't got the PC format program on your system,
>I can send you the appropriate data format of the first blocks of PC
>diskettes.

The Mtools package is not just a driver for the floppy drive.  It is a 
collection of MS-DOS style utilities which allow you to read, write, make 
directoried, cd, change attributes, etc.  It is much easier to use than 
the canned stuff Sun provides.  Also, the Sun stuff is incredibly picky 
about formatting floppies.  If it gets just one error, it totally aborts.
I would advise formatting on a PC or your ST, and if you can compile Mtools
use it.  It is really nice.
--
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             Mickey R. Boyd          |  "Kirk to Enterprise.  All clear 
          FSU Computer Science       |      down here.  Beam down    
        Technical Support Group      |      yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ."
      email:  boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu  |               
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