Allow DOS 2.X ACCESS

[walter_J64bit]

Ok has anyone had any luck with getting DOS XE to copy files from DOS 2.X ? The only way I see of doing this is dumping cas file's over to DOS XE who wat to do that?

[Urchlay]

The best "solution" is probably to not run DOS XE in the first place

 

Seriously though... you're trying to copy files from DOS 2.x disks to DOS XE, and not the other way around, right?

[walter_J64bit]

The best "solution" is probably to not run DOS XE in the first place

 

Seriously though... you're trying to copy files from DOS 2.x disks to DOS XE, and not the other way around, right?

It's something I wanted to do just to see if it works.

[Urchlay]

I played around with DOS XE a bit, and I finally got the DOS 2.x support to work!

 

If you're dealing with disk images (ATRs) rather than real disks, you should be able to use an emulator with virtual hard disk (H: device) support. You'd set up a directory as drive H1:, boot DOS 2.0/2.5, copy files from your disk image(s) to the H1: "drive"... then boot DOS XE in the emulator and copy files from the H1: drive to your DOS XE floppy images. Unfortunately this didn't work for me.

 

After messing with DOS XE (on my 1200XL, via SIO2PC cable) and the "Allow DOS 2.x access" command for a while, I finally had to admit I needed to read the f%#^$%& manual...

 

I found the manual (4 floppy images in the Holmes archive)... I was planning to use the H: trick to copy the docs to my hard drive, then post a zip file of them here... but DOS XE crashes in Atari++, and I didn't feel like fighting with Wine to get Atari800Win to run. Instead, I ripped the documentation straight from the ATR images, with some of that old black UNIX magic

 

Here's the result, hastily reformatted for viewing/printing on a PC. There are probably some errors caused by the conversion process, but it might be useful to someone.

 

DOS XE docs: dos_xe_manual.zip

 

The relevant bit of the manual states:

 

The device names used by DOS XE are "D" for normal disks and "A" for

disks in the alternate DOS 2.0/2.5 format. (See ALLOW DOS 2.X ACCESS

in CHAPTER 6.) Other devices may be used such as "P:" (printer) or

"E:" (screen editor).

 

...so I tried listing "A>", "A2>", "A>*.*", "A2>*.*", and finally hit on a variation that works: "A2:*.*" gave me a directory of the DOS disk in drive 2! (as it turns out, so does plain "A2:")

 

I was also able to copy a file from a DOS 2.0 floppy in drive 2 to a DOS XE floppy in drive 1 by giving A2:AUTORUN.SYS as the source and D1:TESTCOPY as the destination.

 

In the process I've decided that DOS XE was a really neat idea... if it had been released at the same time as the 1050 drive (instead of the horrid DOS 3), it really might have caught on.

[walter_J64bit]

Ok, so I you need two disk drivers

Edited May 16, 2007 by walter_J64bit

[walter_J64bit]

LOL, I got it! It's much easier with two drives! Thanks Urchlay!

Edited May 16, 2007 by walter_J64bit

[Urchlay]

Ok, so I you need two disk drivers

 

You know, it never even occurred to me to try it with only one drive...

[dwhyte]

I played around with DOS XE a bit, and I finally got the DOS 2.x support to work!

 

If you're dealing with disk images (ATRs) rather than real disks, you should be able to use an emulator with virtual hard disk (H: device) support. You'd set up a directory as drive H1:, boot DOS 2.0/2.5, copy files from your disk image(s) to the H1: "drive"... then boot DOS XE in the emulator and copy files from the H1: drive to your DOS XE floppy images. Unfortunately this didn't work for me.

 

After messing with DOS XE (on my 1200XL, via SIO2PC cable) and the "Allow DOS 2.x access" command for a while, I finally had to admit I needed to read the f%#^$%& manual...

 

I found the manual (4 floppy images in the Holmes archive)... I was planning to use the H: trick to copy the docs to my hard drive, then post a zip file of them here... but DOS XE crashes in Atari++, and I didn't feel like fighting with Wine to get Atari800Win to run. Instead, I ripped the documentation straight from the ATR images, with some of that old black UNIX magic

 

Here's the result, hastily reformatted for viewing/printing on a PC. There are probably some errors caused by the conversion process, but it might be useful to someone.

 

DOS XE docs: dos_xe_manual.zip

 

The relevant bit of the manual states:

 

The device names used by DOS XE are "D" for normal disks and "A" for

disks in the alternate DOS 2.0/2.5 format. (See ALLOW DOS 2.X ACCESS

in CHAPTER 6.) Other devices may be used such as "P:" (printer) or

"E:" (screen editor).

 

...so I tried listing "A>", "A2>", "A>*.*", "A2>*.*", and finally hit on a variation that works: "A2:*.*" gave me a directory of the DOS disk in drive 2! (as it turns out, so does plain "A2:")

 

I was also able to copy a file from a DOS 2.0 floppy in drive 2 to a DOS XE floppy in drive 1 by giving A2:AUTORUN.SYS as the source and D1:TESTCOPY as the destination.

 

In the process I've decided that DOS XE was a really neat idea... if it had been released at the same time as the 1050 drive (instead of the horrid DOS 3), it really might have caught on.

 

What does the DOS-XE vtoc and directories look like? Should be simple enough to make a converter from there...

[Urchlay]

What does the DOS-XE vtoc and directories look like? Should be simple enough to make a converter from there...

 

It's documented in the manual from my earlier post. Probably the most useful way to write a converter would be to add DOS XE support to one of the existing converters (atr2unix/unix2atr, dir2atr, or whatever people on Windows use that has source available).

[walter_J64bit]

I was just looking to the DOS XE Manual it has "Larger Drives" support up to 16 Megabyes. This is under "DISK UTUILIZTION" Chapter 9