Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 23:06:44 -0400 (EDT) From: "Mike A. Harris" Reply-To: "Mike A. Harris" To: John Fremlin cc: opendos AT delorie DOT com Subject: Re: A few FS notions In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Organization: Total disorganization. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Precedence: bulk On Mon, 5 May 1997, John Fremlin wrote: > >> > I give my vote for a case sensitive FS though. It would make > >> > things much more flexible. > >> > >> My vote goes to case sensitive too... > >And mine. > > > > Mine does not. If you want your Linux filesystem then get Linux. The Linux filesystem is separate from Linux and has most if not all of the features that many users would like to have in DOS. By making ext2 available in OpenDOS, a lot of users would be able to do things like have LFN's and case sensitive filenames, symbolic links, etc AT THEIR OPTION. As well, other OpenDOS users would continue to use FAT, and wouldn't have to know or to use EXT2 at all. OS/2 can use FAT *OR* HPFS, Windows NT can use FAT *OR* NTFS, so why shouldn't OpenDOS be allowed to use FAT *OR* EXT2? Statements like you just made are not very constructive, and limit free thought. In no way would *MY* using of an EXT2 filesystem under OpenDOS interfere with YOUR using FAT so why should I be PREVENTED from using EXT2 because you don't need it? > Linux is as far as I have heard, a wonderful OS. "As far as I > have heard" because I only have 5 MB free on my harddisk and > a "small" Linux version takes 15 MB. A realistic Linux installation takes 100MB - 200MB but what does that have to do with the EXT2 filesystem whatsoever? Simple, nothing. Since EXT2 is just a filesystem, if OpenDOS takes 10 megs on FAT, then it will take 10megs on EXT2. Having an ext2 partition does NOT mean that you HAVE Linux, nor that you NEED it in ANY way. Currently AFAIK, Linux (and other UNICES) are the only ones that can and do use ext2, but there is nothing to say that DOS, OS/2, Win-95, WinNT and other OS's can't use the EXT2 filesystem. > OpenDos was the only alternative, for me, to MS-DOS 6.21 (yes, > the version without DoubleSpace/DriveSpace). > > I want an OpenDos that is 100% MS-DOS (v6+) compatible, and beyond > that I'm not going to fuss too much. Any added features are useful > but not *absolutely* necessary. Well, then you would install OpenDOS, and when it says: "Your drive is now going to be formatted and you must choose a filesystem for that drive. Please select one of the following filesystems to format the drive with. If you are unsure pick FAT, or else press F1 for help" Format as FAT Format as EXT2 What is the problem with that? This way, you get FAT and a lot of wasted disk space due to cluster lossage, and I get a self defragmenting LFN filesystem that is robust. > As long as I can run all my old programs on OpenDos, without > too many hitches (e.g. EMM386 PIC=ON) then a case sensitive > filesystem would be great (but if it took more than 300 Kb I'd > hunt it down and do my best to delete it). Well, then you would continue to use the FAT filesystem. I on the other hand would use EXT2, and would benefit from its features. As far as a memory footprint for the driver code for the FS, it is not 300k, and would be loaded HIGH as in above 1M anyways so it wouldn't matter. Even if it DID take 300k of conventional, you would have the option of not using it. > Remember MS-DOS compatiblity. Yes, as always. But don't forget that new technology doesn't necessarily BREAK old technology. Don't ASSUME that. Remember, I have to run the same programs as you do too, and they'd damned well run on my ext2 partition under opendos too. BTW, for what it is worth, OpenDOS running under DOSemu in Linux allready works fine with ext2. The filesystem is transparent. LFN's and symlinks are mangled to 8.3 names. Bye for now. TTYL Mike A. Harris | http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris Computer Consultant | Coming soon: dynamic-IP-freedom... My dynamic address: http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris/ip-address.html Email: mharris at blackwidow.saultc.on.ca <-- Spam proof address Want a Windows emulator for Linux? Visit Caldera's website: www.caldera.com