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Comments: Authenticated sender is <grendel AT ananke DOT amu DOT edu DOT pl>
From: "Mark Habersack" <grendel AT ananke DOT amu DOT edu DOT pl>
Organization: What? (Poznan, Poland)
To: "Jim Lefavour" <jamesl AT mail DOT albany DOT net>
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 20:39:41 +0100
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Subject: Re: [opendos] OpenDOS + Win95 w/FAT32? 
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Once upon a time (on  1 Feb 97 at 23:15) Jim Lefavour said:

> > All true, but OpenDOS will *have to* stay compatible with FAT, and
> > if we want it to be *the best*, then we have to support FAT32 as
> > well.
> 
> Yes, we need to be in the competition with the other "DOS" systems, 
> which of course includes WINDoze 95.  So, unfortunately, we need to 
> support FAT32.  I am only an intermediate programmer, so can it be 
> made so that the Linux Ext2FS is used with a "transparent" 
> translation for programs expecting FAT32?  That perhaps we could have 
Sure, should be no problem with that. It just requires a good definition of 
an independent API for dealing with *all* existing and future file systems 
(maybe with an exception of VMS FS which is *really* weird).

> (eventually) an FS that supports DOS programs, WINDOZE programs, and 
> WIN95 programs simultaneously?  With a User-customizable GUI...  
Can be made the same way it is done on Linux: you just 'mount' the partition 
with another file system on some directory (or rather, in DOS case, as a 
separate drive - although it is possible to mount the partition as a subdir)
and use it transparently (at least user-wise).

> wait, I am getting ahead of things a bit here, aren't I?
Why? The worst thing is to make the first step: design the API, then it's 
just a matter of implementing and testing it. Of course, it will take some 
time, but with a whole community of users/programmers on the Net, testing and 
improving it is much faster and reliable than inside *any* commercial 
software company IMHO.

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