Message-ID: <33EE0588.CBCBE1C4@ptd.net>
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 14:16:40 -0400
From: Chris Linstid <clinstid AT ptd DOT net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: "Rik!" <rmeber AT maila DOT wm DOT edu>
CC: opendos AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: long filename problems...
References: <3 DOT 0 DOT 2 DOT 32 DOT 19970810124739 DOT 007a3720 AT maila DOT wm DOT edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Precedence: bulk

Rik! wrote:
> 
> i'm trying to keep my OpenDOS and Win95 partitions seperate, but i forgot
> to remove some long filenames from a couple files on the OpenDOS partition.
> now, when i try to delete the directory they used to be in (i deleted them,
> thinking it would eliminate the LFNs as well) i get an error saying the
> directory isn't empty. i've been looking around the web at pages that refer
> to this problem but have yet to find a solution. is there any way to
> totally eradicate all LFNs from my OpenDOS partition, safely?
> 
> ** WARNING!! opinions being presented!! USE CAUTION WHILE READING!! **
> i think that OpenDOS should totally avoid LFNs, at least in the crappy way
> Win95 does. One of my main reasons for hating Win95 is the crappy FAT
> system. as soon as Win98 comes out i'm switching over to FAT32 on that
> partition. OpenDOS should stick with the FAT16 filesystem and ignore
> Win95's horrible extensions. maybe we should create our own filesystem, or
> adopt another one, like NTFS or ext2. at least with ext2 we'd be moving
> closer to Linux, and away from Windows. i would think that most of the
> people here who use OpenDOS do so because they don't like Win95, and i'm
> pretty sure a lot of us also use Linux. besides, isn't Caldera trying to
> position OpenDOS as an OS that will be cooperating and peacefully
> co-existing with Linux machines over networks? adopting ext2 would bring us
> closer to this goal.
> 
> then again, these are just my opinions.
> 
> rik eberhardt.
> optikal studios
You have some good ideas, but one of the problems is that a huge
majority of software which is currently being developed is being "made
for Windows 95"...although this generally sucks, this is the direction
that it will be going in.  According to some sources, I have heard that
Windows 98 won't actually be using FAT32 and it will be a hybrid between
FAT32 and NTFS (just makes our computing lives more of a frustration). 
Anyways, moving to a new file system like ext2 which like you said,
Linux uses, looks good in theory, but the main problem with that would
be compatibility issues and the fact that in order to use OpenDOS, you'd
have to repartition your hard drive.  An idealistic approach would be
that OpenDOS can detect and use almost any type of file system...this
may be next to impossible, but I think it's worth a thought.  Thanks for
listening.

	- Chris Linstid