DOS-2-DOS V3.0 Release Notes September 7, 1988 Imported by Quartex in © 1988 ! Thank you for purchasing Dos-2-Dos. We encourage you to return the postage-paid Dos-2-Dos registration card to us so that you will be eligible for support and product updates. We will also send you information about other new products for your Amiga as they become available. New Features in DOS-2-DOS Version 3.0 In addition to accessing MS-DOS and Atari ST files via standard Amiga floppy drives, Dos-2-Dos version 3.0 permits access to any MS-DOS volume available via AmigaDOS. This includes MS-DOS partitions on hard disks and MS-DOS volumes on LANs or SCSI networks. Dos-2-Dos also can read a variety of 5.25-inch MS-DOS floppy formats via the new 10.7MB Konica high-density floppy drive, sold by CLtd and Supra, among others. The MS-DOS (Atari) device is now assigned dynamically, and can be ANY AmagaDOS device. If the device is not a floppy disk then the device must have a valid Mountlist entry describing its characteristics. Any MS-DOS volume used on this drive must have a standard MS-DOS boot block, describing its format. Dos-2-Dos uses this information to access files on the device. The DELETE command now accepts wild cards! User beware! MS-DOS files copied to AmigaDOS now retain their original date/time stamp. The directory display (DIR command) now looks the same on the screen for both MS-DOS and AmigaDOS directories. 80-track Disk Drives Skip this section unless you use special 80-track 5.25-inch floppy disk drives on your Amiga. Some Amiga hackers have adapted 80-track 5.25-inch disk drives to the Amiga. Such drives are designed to appear to AmigaDOS as 3.5-inch 880KB drives, and can be read and written directly by AmigaDOS. These drives can also be used by Dos-2-Dos to read and write 80-track or 40-track 5.25-inch diskettes. In order for these drives to work correctly with 40-track diskettes, Dos-2-Dos must issue double-step commands to the drive. This conflicts with 3.5-inch drives reading 360KB 3.5-inch floppy disks, such as those produced by Transformer and some lap portable computers. Dos-2-Dos cannot tell the difference between an 80-track 5.25-inch drive and a normal 80-track 3.5-inch drive. For this reason, we have placed two different versions of Dos-2-Dos on the distribution disk. The normal version is named Dos-2-Dos and also D2D. It NEVER double-steps ANY drive. The special 80-track version, called D2D80, double-steps an 80-track drive if the diskette boot block indicates 40-track media. If you wish to format a 5.25-inch diskette using 80-track drives, D2D80 automatically formats the disk to 720KB (80 tracks). If you wish to format a normal 40-track DSDD (360KB) diskette, you must use this new format option: FORMAT /40 This format option forces Dos-2-Dos to limit the number of tracks to 40 tracks (360KB). Dos-2-Dos automatically adjusts its track counting and stepping according to the unique disk format code contained in the boot block of the disk. This means that there is no need to notify Dos-2-Dos of the type of disk to be used in these drives. Accelerator boards Older versions of Dos-2-Dos used instruction loops to accomplish critical timing. Such loops executed too fast with most accelerator boards, causing problems. Dos-2-Dos no longer uses instruction loops for timing, and should work fine with all accelerator boards. Problems with "shell" programs We have found that Dos-2-Dos may crash when used with "shell" programs, such as the Metacomco Shell or the Mat Dillon public domain shell. We do not as yet know why this occurs. Until we find a better solution, we recommend that you disable such shell programs before you use Dos-2-Dos. 'MS-DOS Drive Not Ready' error message Dos-2-Dos uses certain hardware features of Amiga floppy disk drives which AmigaDOS does not use. This is necessary because of the different way that data is stored on MS-DOS and Atari ST diskettes. One such feature is an index interrupt which occurs when the index hole in the spinning diskette passes the index sensor in the disk drive. The Amiga hardware ties this diskette signal to a totally unrelated signal from the serial port. Under normal circumstances this causes no problems. However, we have found that some non-standard Amiga serial cables can cause problems for Dos-2-Dos by interfering with the index hole signal. Usually this problem appears as an erroneous "MS-DOS drive not ready" error message. The solution in this case is to disconnect the cable on the serial port while using Dos-2-Dos. All 3.5-inch floppy disk drives are designed to produce the index pulse. However, since AmigaDOS does NOT utilize this pulse, your disk drive MAY NOT PRODUCE THIS PULSE because of an undetected hardware failure. This can explain why Dos-2-Dos may report 'MS-DOS Drive Not Ready' when, in fact, there is a diskette in the drive, and the drive works fine with AmigaDOS. In this case you may have to use a different drive or repair or replace the faulty disk drive. Using Dos-2-Dos to access an MS-DOS hard disk Amiga 2000 users who have a hard disk on the MS-DOS side of the bridgeboard may wish to access their MS-DOS files on that drive using Dos-2-Dos. Here is the way to do this: 1. Use the FDISK program (on MS-DOS) to determine the size of the MS-DOS partition. In particular, the high and low cylinders must be determined. 2. Using your favorite editor, edit the Mountlist to include a new device, using any convenient name (MSDOS: is a good choice), and using the partition information from step 1. Be sure to specify the proper device driver (use the same device name as for JH0). 3. Type: MOUNT MSDOS: 4. Run Dos-2-Dos. Enter MSDOS: as the device. 5. Use Dos-2-Dos as you normally would. Remember that any time you wish to access this partition, you must type MOUNT MSDOS: before you run Dos-2-Dos. As an alternative, you can add this mount command to your STARTUP-SEQUENCE in the DEVS: subdirectory. If you attempt to access this new device from AmigaDOS you will get many errors. Don't do it! This is a 'phony' device for Dos-2-Dos access only! Good luck in using Dos-2-Dos. If you have problems, don't hesitate to call us. We'll do our best to help you. Sincerely, George and Liz Chamberlain Central Coast Software 268 Bowie Drive Los Osos, California 93402 (805) 528-4906 All imports were done by the all mighty QUARTEX in © 1988!