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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!ames!ptsfa!ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!bobmon
From: bobmon@iuvax.UUCP (Che' Flamingo)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Strange DOS behavior
Message-ID: <4203@iuvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 9-May-87 15:10:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: iuvax.4203
Posted: Sat May  9 15:10:07 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 10-May-87 06:02:58 EDT
References: <1293@ur-tut.UUCP>
Reply-To: bobmon@iuvax.UUCP (Che' Flamingo)
Organization: Camo Flamingo Liberation Affront
Lines: 24
Keywords: DOS

akk2@ur-tut.UUCP (Atul Kacker) writes:
>I just tried the following on my PC running DOS 3.2.
>
>Inserted a floppy in drive A, which had a write protect tab
>on it. Changed the default drive to A> from C>. Then
>typed     
>
>A>  TYPE filename.ext | MORE
>
>and I got an error message  
>
>Write protect error writing drive A:
>	[...]

MSDOS isn't Unix -- the pipe merely creates a temporary diskfile for the output
of the first program, collects ALL output there, then runs the second program
using the temporary file for input.  (Unix uses a memory buffer, and blocks/
unblocks each program as the buffer fills and empties.)  Thus an MSDOS pipe will
fail if the temporary file can't be written, or if you run out of diskspace.

My v3.1 documentation claims that the temp. files go on the current directory of
the default disk.  Either you aren't using Zenith's MSDOSv3.1, or the doc. is
wrong (did you boot from the A drive?), or there's an explanation I haven't
thought of.