Message-Id:	<199706262242.SAA00855@delorie.com>
From:	"Warp" <wjackson AT powerup DOT com DOT au>
To:	"OpenDOS" <opendos AT delorie DOT com>, <Matthias DOT Paul AT post DOT rwth-aachen DOT de>
Subject:	Re: nwcdex
Date:	Fri, 27 Jun 1997 08:51:54 +1000
MIME-Version:	1.0

Subst can never be loaded from the config.sys, only from the autoexec.bat.
If there was confusion from what I posted I am sorry but if subst works on
any driver letter from "d" to "z" then nwcdex should also work.  

Try and get a hold of mscdex.exe and try it.

Wayne
 ----
From: Matthias Paul <PAUL-MA AT reze-1 DOT rz DOT rwth-aachen DOT de>
To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
Date: Thursday, June 26, 1997 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: nwcdex

>> Opps.  Marek, this reply was originally intended for the mailing
>> list as as whole...  ;-)   Sorry.  A slightly modified version,
>> now for you all...
>
>On Wed, 25 Jun 1997, Marek Habersack replied to Mark Aitchison:
>
>> > Is there some reason I cannot use INSTALL=C:\DOS\NWCDEX.EXE in
>> > config.sys? It complains about drive letters. Does LASTDRIVE= not
take
>> > effect until the end of config.sys processing in OpenDOS?
>> I have noticed that too: it is impossible to use subst from config.sys
as
>> well.  [...]
>
>Yes, but there's a trick (see below)...
>
>> It seems like the CDS allocation is being left till config.sys is
>> processed in it's entirety and that INSTALL and DEVICE statements are
>> processed before the other, configuring, ones - just as you noticed.
>
>Not exactly, all CONFIG.SYS directives are processed in the order as
>they are parsed by the CONFIG.SYS interpreter, including boot-menus
>and sub-routines.  There's one exeption of the rule: 
>
>The (undocumented) SWITCHES= directive is *also* processed before
>the normal CONFIG.SYS processing starts, resulting in some strange
>behaviour with SWITCHES=/F (tough I have not yet found this pre-
>scanning in the sources, but that's how it works as far as I see it...
>See NWDOSTIP.TXT for details).  That's why it should be given in the
>very first line of CONFIG.SYS.
>
>However, some directives are only recorded and will take effect after
>CONFIG.SYS processing is finished and IBMBIO.COM is about to start
>the command interpreter via SHELL= (normally COMMAND.COM).
>
>> It is apparent that OpenDOS use temporary CDS entries during the
>> boot process
>> leaving the "final" allocation to the pre-autoexec phase. AFAIR,
config.sys is
>> processed in the IBMBIOS code and allocation of internal DOS structures
is
>> performed in IBMDOS which code copies values from temporary structures
created
>> during the BIOS boot phase.
>
>Since Novell DOS the pre-CDS (that is, CDS during CONFIG.SYS) is an
>internal array containing 26 entries located at the upper end of the
>conventional memory, although the lastdrive entries in SYSVARS only
>report a lower value.  LASTDRIVE= is one of those directives taking
>effect only *after* CONFIG.SYS, and the CDS array will be moved to
>it's target position and will be reduced downto the LASTDRIVE= (or
>other minimum) or will be expanded up to 32 entries.
>(Detailed info on DR DOS 3.41, 5.0, 6.0, and Novell DOS/OpenDOS
>pre-CDS and CDS, but also on MS-DOS/PC-DOS and Windows95 pre-CDS
>should become available with one of the next issues of Ralf Brown's
>interrupt lists.  It's been in his queue for months now...
>Unfortunately, all these layouts are rather different, while Win95
>has adapted most of the advanced (internal) features of Novell DOS
>in this area...)
>
>Because NWCDEX does not come with a .SYS block decive header, there
>is no (easy) way to get a free drive slot during CONFIG.SYS.
>
>On my web-page you can find a FreeWare tool named INSTCDEX.ZIP,
>allowing to free already assigned drive slots for NWCDEX and thus
>allows NWCDEX to load in CONFIG.SYS.  However, it will be unlinked
>after CONFIG.SYS, since the CDS-array is moved.  INSTCDEX also
>provides means to save the status of the CDS-entry in CONFIG.SYS and
>relinking NWCDEX to the new CDS in AUTOEXEC.BAT.  (That's also why
>SUBST does not work permanently in CONFIG.SYS - see my SETENV.ZIP
>package for details)  The current version of INSTCDEX comes with a
>(short) English documentation and help screen.  For usage with
>Novell DOS or OpenDOS I recommend using INSTCDEX's advanced
>/LASTDRIVE option, especially designed for these DOS versions.
>
>I'm planning to build INSTCDEX functionality directly into the
>COD kernel some day...
>
>Bye,
>
> Matthias
>
>
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