Date:	Wed, 23 Oct 1996 15:14:59 -0300
Message-Id:	<1.5.4.16.19961023131121.379f5d18@dmeasc.rc.ipt.br>
Mime-Version:	1.0
To:	Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>, Simon Oke <simon AT loony DOT demon DOT co DOT uk>
From:	Cesar Scarpini Rabak <csrabak AT dce03 DOT ipt DOT br>
Subject:	Re: Drive Help
Cc:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com

At 10:09 23/10/96 +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>
>On Mon, 21 Oct 1996, Simon Oke wrote:
>
>> c:\>a:
>> Drive not ready--close door
>> R(etry), I(gnore), F(ail), or A(bort)? f
>> Invalid drive "A:"
>> 
>> So, the hard disk is C:, the (non-existent) floppy is A:.
>> DOS still has the support loaded for it, even though the
>> drive is not there. Like I said, it still boots fine.
>
>Well, that's exactly what I meant.  This thread was started by somebody
>who wanted to know about all the drives DOS knows about, even if they
>aren't ready (or otherwise cannot be accessed), like when the floppy drive
>is empty.  To that I replied, that if there is C:, then DOS always thinks
>that A: and B: are there, because it allocates the block devices in a
>linear consecutive array of structures.  So if there is C:, you don't need
>to do anything to check if A: and B: are known to DOS; they always are. 
>Your case just confirms what I thought. 
>
SO IMHO we are back to the initial question? What other tricks should we use
to know if there is in fact a physical drive for the floppy? 

The way we used a time ago was to trap int 24h and try to stat the 'nul'
file in A:\ (if there is any disk there, them this file exists due MS-DOG
way of working.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cesar Scarpini Rabak                      E-mail: csrabak AT ipt DOT br
DME/ASC                                   Phone: 55-11-268-35221Ext.350
IPT - Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnologicas Fax:   55-11-268-5996
Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, 532.  Sao Paulo - SP 05508-901 BRAZIL
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