Universal DOS file management

[Ray Gillman]

So if I wanted to run a "Universal Menu" to access all the disk formats and retrieve and copy files from one format to another would SpartaDos X be the way to go here or is there a better way to approach this?  I am primarily concerned with MyDos 4.53 format ATR files (with foldered subdirectories with the : colon) and SpartaDos ATR files (also with foldered subdirectories with the > greater than)

 

To give more info, I find subtle differences like I have to rename MENU.COM to MYMENU.COM to be able to run it under SpartaDosX because it has a built in MENU when you type MENU it doesn't load the MENU.COM from disk.  It looks like it can read most MyDos disks so I am optimistic this is the best one to use so far.  Your opinions?

Photo just for effect 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Ray Gillman

[flashjazzcat]

9 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

MENU.COM to MYMENU.COM to be able to run it under SpartaDosX

You could just type (assuming MENU.COM is on D1:) 'A:>MENU.COM' and the disk-based menu will run instead of MENU.COM on the CAR: volume.

9 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

because it has a built in MENU when you type MENU it doesn't load the MENU.COM from disk

In fact MENU.COM is loaded from disk, but it's from the CAR: disk (i.e. the ROM disk). 'CAR:' is the first entry in the system path variable.

9 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

It looks like it can read most MyDos disks so I am optimistic this is the best one to use so far.

It's the underlying file system drivers (not the MENU application) which dictate whether DOS can or cannot make sense of a given disk format; since SDX includes an AtariDOS filesystem driver, SDX can read DOS 2.x formatted disks. Recent improvements to the driver have resulted in improved compatibility with MYDOS formatted volumes too. Here's the built-in SDX MENU application displaying a MYDOS formatted hard disk partition:

I think the newer MENU program is generally preferable to the older version, but that's probably a matter of taste. SDX allows either path delimiter (colon or wedge) in order to maintain compatibility with MYDOS, but you don't need to use the colon delimiter just because a volume is MYDOS formatted (just as you may use the colon delimiter with SDX volumes if you wanted to).

 

[Ray Gillman]

First I heard of this CAR: volume - wonders what all the MAN files are but AHA it makes sense now.  Volume is in the "cartridge ramdisk" effectively.  Brilliant.

448sdx does read MyDos disks just fine looks like but can't find any version of Ostrowski's TurboBasic that will run with it.  Which basic is best for use with this SDX ideally one with a compiler?  Thanks for sharing your expertise flashjazzcat!

[flashjazzcat]

1 hour ago, Ray Gillman said:

448sdx does read MyDos disks just fine looks like but can't find any version of Ostrowski's TurboBasic that will run with it.  Which basic is best for use with this SDX ideally one with a compiler? 

Precede the names of the TBXL tools you want to launch with 'X', i.e.:

 

X TURBOBAS.COM

X COMPILER.COM

 

[Ray Gillman]

38 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

Precede the names of the TBXL tools you want to launch with 'X', i.e.:

 

X TURBOBAS.COM

X COMPILER.COM

 

AHH the X.COM on the CAR - just learned I can also ED the manuals MAN files like ED CAR:X.MAN fun stuff.  Thank you again 

[+Stephen]

2 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

AHH the X.COM on the CAR - just learned I can also ED the manuals MAN files like ED CAR:X.MAN fun stuff.  Thank you again 

Also, if this is something you regularly use, you can add an entry to your config.sys and use "COMEXE".  Then, any COM file that needs prefaced with X to load, simply rename it to EXE and the DOS will do this for you.

 

Example:

PRG1.COM loads normally

PRG2.EXE will automatically perform X PRG2.EXE so you don't have to remember to do this.

 

Another tip - I set my PAGER variable to use LESS.  That way, and time I load a MAN file, it pipes the output to LESS which lets you scroll forward and backwards a line or page at a time.  Very handy!

 

[Ray Gillman]

22 hours ago, Stephen said:

Also, if this is something you regularly use, you can add an entry to your config.sys and use "COMEXE".  Then, any COM file that needs prefaced with X to load, simply rename it to EXE and the DOS will do this for you.

 

Example:

PRG1.COM loads normally

PRG2.EXE will automatically perform X PRG2.EXE so you don't have to remember to do this.

 

Another tip - I set my PAGER variable to use LESS.  That way, and time I load a MAN file, it pipes the output to LESS which lets you scroll forward and backwards a line or page at a time.  Very handy!

 

 

I have some newb-ish questions if you can offer any much appreciated help thank you in advance.  Where is this PAGER variable?  Environment variables?  How do I access the files on the CAR: volume?  Every time I try to do anything like edit or read or copy the files on CAR: to D1: it always errors with 161 too many channels open?  Weird.  It seems to want you to not touch the files on the CAR just run them? 

 

Interesting that changing default current path to CAR: results in DCAR1: odd device name.  Final question which version of SDX448 should I work with, there are three in the package maxflash8, maxflash1 and sdx128?  I am using an emulated 8 bit so my preference is the 576K or 1088K biggest ram space (why not right).
 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Ray Gillman

[Ray Gillman]

22 hours ago, Stephen said:

Also, if this is something you regularly use, you can add an entry to your config.sys and use "COMEXE".  Then, any COM file that needs prefaced with X to load, simply rename it to EXE and the DOS will do this for you.

 

Example:

PRG1.COM loads normally

PRG2.EXE will automatically perform X PRG2.EXE so you don't have to remember to do this.

 

Another tip - I set my PAGER variable to use LESS.  That way, and time I load a MAN file, it pipes the output to LESS which lets you scroll forward and backwards a line or page at a time.  Very handy!

 

 

I have some newb-ish questions if you can offer any much appreciated help thank you in advance.  Where is this PAGER variable?  Environment variables?  How do I access the files on the CAR: volume?  Every time I try to do anything like edit or read or copy the files on CAR: to D1: it always errors with 161 too many channels open?  Weird.  It seems to want you to not touch the files on the CAR just run them? 

 

Interesting that changing default current path to CAR: results in DCAR1: odd device name.  Final question which version of SDX448 should I work with, there are three in the package maxflash8, maxflash1 and sdx128?  I am using an emulated 8 bit so my preference is the 576K or 1088K biggest ram space (why not right).
 

 

I think I found a thread which answers part of this the CONFIG.SYS must be on a Sparta volume.  My guess is this is where the environment vars must be stored and partly why it's not easy to work with.  The Cartridge SDX seems unfriendly with random disks in D1: ??

 

reference to matching 2011 thread 

 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Ray Gillman

[flashjazzcat]

2 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

Where is this PAGER variable?  Environment variables?

Type 'SET' to list environment variables. Type SET <varname>=<value> to create or change one. Have a close read through the SDX User Manual (it has a table of contents and an index, so you can jump directly to topics of interest).

2 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

How do I access the files on the CAR: volume?

Files on the CAR: volume are read-only, since they're in ROM. 

2 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

Every time I try to do anything like edit or read or copy the files on CAR: to D1: it always errors with 161 too many channels open?  Weird.

Not weird; there is a reason for this, and it's explained in the SDX User Manual as the definition of the very error message you saw on the screen:

2 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

Final question which version of SDX448 should I work with, there are three in the package maxflash8, maxflash1 and sdx128?

I would suggest working with SDX449 since that's the latest version. As to which build: whatever suits the hardware you are emulating.

2 hours ago, Ray Gillman said:

I think I found a thread which answers part of this the CONFIG.SYS must be on a Sparta volume.  My guess is this is where the environment vars must be stored and partly why it's not easy to work with.  The Cartridge SDX seems unfriendly with random disks in D1: ??

I urge you to consult the manual. CONFIG.SYS must be on a Sparta formatted volume; if a non-Sparta disk is on D1: (or if CONFIG.SYS does not exist on a Sparta formatted disk on D1: or whichever is the boot volume), the default CONFIG.SYS on CAR: will be used. Thus the user-defined CONFIG.SYS - when it exists - takes precedence over the default.