Date:	Tue, 29 Apr 1997 11:47:31 +1200 (NZST)
From:	Jonathan Purvis <jap5 AT waikato DOT ac DOT nz>
To:	"Alaric B. Williams" <alaric AT abwillms DOT demon DOT co DOT uk>
cc:	grendel AT hoth DOT amu DOT edu DOT pl, alaric AT abwillms DOT demon DOT co DOT uk,
	opendos-developer AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: File Systems (was Re: Usage of directory entries
In-Reply-To:	<862258398.1011862.0@abwillms.demon.co.uk>
Message-ID:	<Pine.LNX.3.91.970429114422.2709A-100000@lab5-31.cs.waikato.ac.nz>
MIME-Version:	1.0

On Mon, 28 Apr 1997, Alaric B. Williams wrote:

> The mounting is done invisibly. Typing a: is just a change directory;
> we don't have to type "a:" when a new disk is inserted, we just type 
> DIR again, or whatever we want from the disk. There is no operation that
> has to be taken to inform the system of disk changes because it knows,
> all on it's own!

Well, on an XT, there is no disk change sensor, so DOS has to re-mount
the disk everytime it accesses it.  On an AT, there is a disk change line,
so it can keep a copy of the FAT and directories in memory.  This is how
things like Norton Backup can automagically know when a disk is put in.


Later...

	Jon

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