Mail Archives: opendos/1997/02/11/22:19:47
On Tue, 11 Feb 1997, yeep wrote:
> I was just wondering, ther are a lot of cool ideas of things we want to put
> into OpenDOS, but...
> IS SOMEONE KEEPING TRACK OF THEM?????
I just posted a message to the same effect a second ago before
reading yours. I'm making an unbiased list of requested OpenDOS
features that we'd like to have. Feel free to add to my list
when it comes out.
> I'd hate it if there was some cool idea, but we just 'forgot' about it.
> These are the ideas I can remeber:
>
> 1] Direct screen write (!!!!!!OPTIONAL!!!!!!!!)
For COMMAND.COM *AND* other full screen OD apps. (I believe that
COMMAND.COM might be the only one that doesn't do optional direct
writes though.
> 2] LFN support (with space please, I happen to like them)
You mean VFAT support? Yes, full VFAT support is a must. It
must work EXACTLY like W95 does too, in order to maintain full
compatibility. However, it would be an option, and it wouldn't
interfere with the IFS routines either. The IFS routines
should provide their OWN routines for everything and remain
separate. (VFAT should ALSO be an IFS in addition to being
supported directly like W95 expects IMO).
> 3] IFS support
Yep, with option of building FS's into the kernel, or loading
support at runtime via drivers or modules. Also, transparent
loading would be nice.
> 4] File Descriptions
Both DESCRIPT.ION support in COMMAND.COM *AND* a DESCRIPT.ION
file in each opendos directory describing what everything is.
> 5] Make OD boot from *any* partion or HD
Yes, this will make lots of people happy!
> 6] Compile all drivers in the kernel
*Optionally* compile drivers into the kernel. A nice full screen
menu based program (ala make menuconfig) should do the trick
nicely.
> 7] Make sure OpenDOS doesn't run on DEC Rainbows :-)))
HAHHAHAH!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!! This is an absolute must have!
COMMAND.COM should read the keyboard controller directly and
bypass DOS and the BIOS as well. For speed reasons of course.
:o)
> And a question:
> I read (in the mailing list) that a harddisk can only supprt 4 partitions.
> But is this a hardware limit or a software limit?
Hardware.
> Because I once tried to install OS/2 WARP and I had a bootmanager, which
> Linux saw a /dev/hda5, as in the 5th (fifth!!!) partition (I didn't have a
> /dev/hda3 and a /dev/hda4 though).
That would be a logical drive inside an extended partition. For
example:
My HD has a primary DOS partition (C:, or /dev/hda1) and a DOS
extended partition (/dev/hda2). The extended partition doesn't
show up as a drive letter however, rather it is a "wrapper" for
the logical drives that follow. Since only 4 primary partitions
are possible, logical drive numbers start at "5". So your DOS
logical drive D: will be /dev/hda5, E: will be /dev/hda6, etc.
All of this is assuming that you only have a single physical hard
disk present. If more than one disk is present, then the drive
lettering scheme changes significantly and ends up as this:
C: = first partition on first hard disk
D: = first partition on second hard disk
E: = first logical drive in extended partition on first disk
F: = second logical ...
G: = first logical drive in extended partition on SECOND disk
etc...
Mike A. Harris | http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris
Computer Consultant | My webpage has moved and my address has changed.
My dynamic address: http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris/ip-address.html
mailto:mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca
LINUX: Lost access to your keyboard after a game? Email me for fix.
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