Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!HNYKUN11.BITNET!U211344 From: U211344@HNYKUN11.BITNET (Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: MSH Message-ID: <9003050934.AA17890@jade.berkeley.edu> Date: 3 Mar 90 14:00:11 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 239 I have been on a holiday for a week, starting when all the discussion about MSH: broke loose. Sorry for the delay; I will now attempt to clarify all problems that I have seen posted about so far at the same time. Some problems have been answered already; in that case you can see this article as a summary. From: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) Message-ID: <23012@usc.edu> Date: 22 Feb 90 02:34:56 GMT >Has anybody been able to format a MessyDOS disk with the format utility >provided? I installed the whole deal, as MS2: (driver df2:) and when I >run format (responding with the defaults to all questions) the light goes >up, it says cyl 0 side 0 and nothing happends. The light stays on, but >the cyl and side no. won't advance and nothing gets formatted. Some suggestions for problems like this one are: - Check that you specify the correct Unit in the Mountlist. For MS2: you should specify Unit = 2. - Make sure you answer the question 'Format whole disk (enter 1)' with 1 (or any nonzero value for that matter). - Someone suggested a hardware problem, since similar symptoms were exhibited by other programs on his Amiga. This is outside my competention; MSH is probably the closest to actual hardware I ever want to be. From: hammock@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Randy Hammock) Message-ID: <2898@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> Date: 22 Feb 90 09:25:10 GMT >So far, I have not been able to mount MS1: (renamed MSH:). I just get >a message -- reserved not assigned. I have no idea what it is >complaining about. I am runnning a straight WB 1.3, KS 1.2 A2000. It seems that the Commodore and Arp Mount commands use different criteria in what parameters you must supply, and which ones you may leave out. That is why I explicitely mentioned in the msh.man file that the Mountlist works with the Arp version of Mount. If any other version of Mount complains about missing parameters, feel free to specify them as 0 since they will not be used if I left them out of my example. From: rosenber@ra.abo.fi (Robin Rosenberg INF) Message-ID: Date: 22 Feb 90 13:57:59 GMT >I have also noted a few other bugs. MSh seems to set the DirEntry type to an >illgal value (zero ?) so list and dir lists files on a disk as DIR even though >they are plain files. Most file requesters report them correctly though. I set the fib_DirEntryType to either -1 or +1. According to the AmigaDOS manual (which I don't have right here), and/or the include file libraries/dos.h or libraries/dosextens.h, it only matters if the value is positive or negative. As someone else already mentioned, it seems that the Commodore versions of DIR and LIST check for specific values to be present. If so, this is a bug Commodore has to fix (shame on Commodore for not following their own documentation). As a stopgap you could find out which specific values the normal file system uses, change FILE_FILE and FILE_DIR, and recompile. The Arp versions of dir and list (which I use), and also other dir/list replacement programs, work fine. >Bug#2: Volume labels longer than eight characters are handled incorrectly, i.e >they are broken into 8+"."+3 character which causes problems. Yes, when you Examine a lock on the root directory this happens. This is wrong. It will be fixed. From: waggoner@dtg.nsc.com (Mark Waggoner) Message-ID: <388@icebox.nsc.com> Date: 22 Feb 90 17:45:37 GMT >However, even after mounting with the arp command, all I can get when >I try to access MSH: is an 'insufficient free store' error message. >I've got plenty of ram available, so something is clearly confused. Yes, and I am confused too. Could you try some more and give me more information (like configuration and such)? Are there other people with identical problems? From: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) Message-ID: <23046@usc.edu> Date: 23 Feb 90 07:21:31 GMT >I've been able to read/write stuff on IBM 720K disks AND read stuff >off IBM 2Meg disks (the ones with the HD label on the plastic). I am >assuming I'll only be able to read up to 720K though given the current >mountlist. Does anybody know the number of cylinders for these disks? No matter what Mountlist you use, you will not be able to use these 2Meg disks at their full capacity. The transfer rate is different from normal disks which the hardware is unable to handle. But if you manage to hack your trackdisk hardware to do the HD speeds, just change MS_SPT_MAX to 18 and recompile. It should work then.... From: UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) Message-ID: <90054.115113UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> Date: 23 Feb 90 16:51:13 GMT >When you try the msdos format command, you follow standard Amiga command >line syntax, which results in MSH reformatting your systems boot disk. [...] After you entered 42, of course. Maybe I should add a verification message which tells you exactly _which_ floppy you will be formatting. >Hmmmm. It occurs to me that I might be flaming. Sorry. I guess I am just >reacting to the statement that MSH will crush Cross-Dos. I hope not. >Two is better than one. Of course I was just trying to attract everybodies attention. And I didn't use the word 'crush'... :-) From: ssd@sugar.hackercorp.com (Scott Denham) Message-ID: <5209@sugar.hackercorp.com> Date: 26 Feb 90 20:17:12 GMT > All in all I'd like to >thank the authors for a great contribution to the Amiga community; I've >felt such a product has been needed in the PD for a long time, and even >had hopes of writing such a critter myself, before becomeing hopelessly >lost in the TD_RAW... errors in trackdisk and convincing myself that my >hardware didn't work!...... That is exactly why I wrote it, and why I didn't use TD_RAW... commands, in that order. From: crs@cpsc6a.att.com (Chris "I'm Outta Here!" Seaman) Message-ID: <2414@cpsc6a.att.com> Date: 23 Feb 90 18:36:04 GMT >The only repeatable problem I've had so far is that, since MS-DOS disks >don't have a unique time stamp on them (at least through DOS 3.3), if you >have to disks with the same name (or no name), you will only get one WB >icon. This is really a "non-problem", I suppose, since there is no point >to using MS-DOS disks from WB (although you CAN give your MS-DOS disks >a disk icon). This is not only a problem with WB; MSH itself is not able to distinguish such disks. Fortunately the manual warns about this effect. The best workaround is to give each disk a different name. In my opinion this should be done all the time, not only with MSH:. >I also found a rather interesting side-effect. If you change the mountlist >entry, and add "Mount = 1", all goes well until you try to kill that >copy of the handler with the supplied 'die' program. Intuition gets >*VERY* confused... Actually, I think the Workbench gets confused. It must be one of those programs that expect MSH 'to remain present even while there are no open or locked files'. (as per msh.man.) From: rosenber@ra.abo.fi (Robin Rosenberg INF) Message-ID: <219@ra.abo.fi> Date: 25 Feb 90 09:34:25 GMT >Also, it would be nice if someone could tell me what the compiler options >for Manx means so I could try to fix the misfeatures myself if nobody else >has. +c large code +d large data +b no startup code +r compiler may use A4 as register variable (so you must also have +cd) +x3,5 deferred stack cleanup and inline strlen/strcpy. +Ifile use precompiled header file (I use all non-Manx include files) -Dsymbol #define symbol -W leave label names in executable (for debugging). From: lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) Message-ID: <1163@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> Date: 24 Feb 90 21:32:02 GMT >I just thought I might add that since the filesystem and device are implemented >as a standard Amiga handler and device, it is also possible to read any block >using the DoIO call, as does Sectorama or DEdit, or my disk scanning program. >Neat stuff. Now if I only had a use for it. :-) Of course. That is why I went through the trouble of making a separate device and file system. In its early days, MSH was a standalone program called MS. Then I made it a real handler, and it became MSH. Even later, I separated the sector I/O into the messydisk.device. This makes it much easier to use it with other programs or file systems. Try one of those mixed entries from the Mountlist (MF1:, DS1:). Useless, but fun. From: d5kwedb@dtek.chalmers.se. (Kristian Wedberg) Message-ID: <719@vice2utc.chalmers.se> Date: 26 Feb 90 22:34:01 GMT >When inserting a PC-disk, AmigaDOS gronks the drive a couple of time, and then >leaves it alone, as it should. When inserting an Amiga-disk, MSH gronks for >some time, and then puts up an "Unreadable disk!"-requester. Not a BIG problem, >just bothersome. I have thought a long time what should be done with read problems when you insert a disk: to tell the user, or not to tell the user. I decided to tell the user, since it was easier to program ;-). Better too many warnings, than too few. >My other problem is I too sometimes get 'hidden' files with MSH. These files >show up with ARPs Dir or the filerequester, but not with list. Turning of >the hidden-flag didn't make any difference. If the file has the HIDDEN attribute on the messy disk, then Examine() will have the hidden bit set. If the file is then really hidden, is of course a decision the directory listing program should make. Of course turning off the hidden flag should always make the file visible. I'll look into this, although I tested it with the Arp List command and the hidden bit seemed to turn on and off correctly. From: sheffler@sheltie.CS.CMU.EDU (Thomas Sheffler) Subject: MSH: 'die' and 'ignore' Message-ID: Date: 28 Feb 90 18:13:10 GMT >Anyway: after I'm done using MSH: I thought I could use the "die" >program to terminate the handler and remove it from memory. >What's the proper incantation? die msh: (or whatever you use instead of the name msh) >And, is there some way to make MSH stop putting up an alert every >time an AMIGADOS disk goes in the df1: drive. (It reports a >messydos read error of some sort). Does the "ignore" program >have something to do with this? (see above). The Ignore program allows you to ignore CRC errors. This means that there must be valid sectors on the disk, but that they are not checked to see if the contents of the sectors is correct. Freely_Distributable=Greetings(Not_For_Any_Commercial_Purpose)-> Olaf.Seibert; Astounding News! By Express Via Norfolk! OS+2 is a trademark of The Atlantic Crossed in Three Days! Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert [E.A. Poe, 1844] U211344@hnykun11.bitnet