jim@hpcvla (06/02/86)
As you have probably heard, IBM PCDOS 3.2 is now available. It was introduced along with the IBM PC Convertible and revised versions of the PCXT and PCAT. Here are some details cribbed from IBM's April 2, 1986 Programming Announcement: o Upwardly compatible from IBM Personal Computer DOS Version 3.1. o Supports IBM PC Convertible (DOS 3.2 3.5-inch version). o Supports IBM Token-Ring Network. o Supports IBM Personal Computer 3.5-inch External Diskette Drive (DOS 3.2 3.5-inch version). o Supports all members of the IBM Personal Computer family. o Provides full support for 720 Kb 3.5-inch diskette drives. o Provides a new command. REPLACE, to replace all occurrences of a file on a disk to facilitate installation of new versions of DOS or application programs. o Provides a new command, XCOPY, to allow copying of files from more than one subdirectory where the source and target drives are of different densities, making complete or periodic backups easier. Options allow prompting for selective copying of files, verify after write, copying of lower level directories even when empty, copying of files modified after a specified data, and copying of archived files only (with or without modifying the archive bit). o Provides logical drive support. Allows a physical drive to be referenced by more than one device letter. Example: A user can copy from one 720Kb 2.5-inch diskette to another 720 Kb 3.5-inch diskette using only one 3.5-inch diskette drive. o Removes default drive capability on FORMAT. When the FORMAT command is executed, the drive letter must be specified, to prevent accidental reformatting of a disk or diskette. o DOS environment area can now be reserved. A new option of the SHELL command allows this area to be expanded to 32Kb. This allows the user to specify more extensive PATH commands, PROMPT commands, and SET commands without running out of environment space. (Note: See the SHELL page (4-34) or the COMMAND page (7-53) in the **DOS 3.2*** manual for a description on how to set the environment size. Please note that the environment size parameter is in BYTES in 3.2, which is a change from PARAGRAPHS in 3.1. If you specify an environment size parameter less than 160 in 3.2, you will get complaints.) o Utilization of the BIOS parameter block: The BIOS parameter block is used to obtain media-type information to remove dependencies on the File Allocation Table ID for the media- type information. o I/O control subfunctions: DOS 3.2 implements subfunctions that enhance device independence. These subfunctions allow querying and changing of device parameters as well as logical device support. These subfunctions are: - Get device parameters - Set device parameters - Read track on logical drive - Write track on logical drive - Format and verify track on logical drive - Verify track on logical drive - Get logical drive number (determine if a device has more than one letter) - Set logical device number (suppress diskette change request messages) ------------------------------------- Jim Andreas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ hplabs ---->\ harpo ----> \ orstcs ----> >--!hp-pcd!jim microsoft ----> / textronix ---->/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (503) 757-2000 x2860 Portable Computer Division Hewlett-Packard 1000 NE Circle Boulevard Corvallis, Oregon 97333
tfra@ur-tut.UUCP (Tom Frauenhofer) (06/10/86)
[Et tu, line-eater?] > > (Referrence to article with above title that talked about PC-Dos 3.2) > MSDOS 3.2 != PCDOS 3.2 - Tom Frauenhofer ...!seismo!rochester!ur-tut!tfra