[comp.sys.atari.st] Reading TOS/DOS formatted disk on a SparcStation

M.A.Rahin@lut.ac.uk (Mohammad A. Rahin) (06/04/91)

There must have been some discussions on the above subject. But, as I was not
in need, did not keep it then. I need it now, quite desperartely. Could some
kind soul please send me detail information (including directions for programs 
for reading/writing TOS/DOS disks on the SparcStation) directly via e-mail ?

Thanks in advance.

- Rahin
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M.A.Rahin@uk.ac.lut	-> from within UK
M.A.Rahin@lut.ac.uk	-> from outside UK

kgg@zinn.MV.COM (Kenn Goutal) (06/07/91)

In article <1991Jun04.154053.11570@lut.ac.uk> M.A.Rahin@lut.ac.uk
(Mohammad A. Rahin) writes that he needs to know how to format,
read, and write TOS floppies on a Sparcstation.

I too would benefit from this information.
-- Kenn Goutal

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boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd) (06/09/91)

In article <5807@wucc.waseda.ac.jp>, ytsuji@wucc.waseda.ac.jp (Y.Tsuji) writes:
>I am going to have a sun3/60 with its OS 4.0.3 in two day's time, giving up 
>buying a more PC compatible 3/80 with 4.1.1 (I didn't know these were much
>cheaper than MEGA ST's). If yours does not support floppy
>drives, you must 'ftp' the driver ('mtool' or something). If yours
>is already equipped with the driver and the floppy drives, you should
>be able to format the diskettes! When you have formatted the floppy,
>if you write SunOs info onto the first blocks by 'mkfs', you will have
>a SunOs floppy, and if you write IBM-PC info, you will have an IBM-PC
>floppy. If you haven't got the PC format program on your system,
>I can send you the appropriate data format of the first blocks of PC
>diskettes.

The Mtools package is not just a driver for the floppy drive.  It is a 
collection of MS-DOS style utilities which allow you to read, write, make 
directoried, cd, change attributes, etc.  It is much easier to use than 
the canned stuff Sun provides.  Also, the Sun stuff is incredibly picky 
about formatting floppies.  If it gets just one error, it totally aborts.
I would advise formatting on a PC or your ST, and if you can compile Mtools
use it.  It is really nice.
--
    ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
             Mickey R. Boyd          |  "Kirk to Enterprise.  All clear 
          FSU Computer Science       |      down here.  Beam down    
        Technical Support Group      |      yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ."
      email:  boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu  |               
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fischer-michael@cs.yale.edu (Michael Fischer) (06/09/91)

In article <1372@zinn.MV.COM> kgg@zinn.MV.COM (Kenn Goutal) writes:
>In article <1991Jun04.154053.11570@lut.ac.uk> M.A.Rahin@lut.ac.uk
>(Mohammad A. Rahin) writes that he needs to know how to format,
>read, and write TOS floppies on a Sparcstation.
>
>I too would benefit from this information.
>-- Kenn Goutal

Others have mentioned the "mtools" package.  It can be obtained by ftp
from cerl.cecer.army.mil and works quite well.

If you are running SunOS version 4.1, then you have another option.
SunOS now supports MS-DOS file systems.  The file system type is
called "pcfs", and it is used with the normal Unix commands, e.g.,
"mount" to mount it, "ls" to list the directory, etc.  Since mount
normally requires root privileges, you might need your system
administrator to provide a trivial setuid root program to call mount
with the appropriate arguments.  Also, an appropriate entry must be
made in /etc/fstab.

-- 
==================================================
| Michael Fischer <fischer-michael@cs.yale.edu>  |
==================================================

malay@sae.com (Bob Malay) (06/11/91)

In article <1372@zinn.MV.COM>, kgg@zinn.MV.COM (Kenn Goutal) writes:
|> In article <1991Jun04.154053.11570@lut.ac.uk> M.A.Rahin@lut.ac.uk
|> (Mohammad A. Rahin) writes that he needs to know how to format,
|> read, and write TOS floppies on a Sparcstation.
|> 
|> I too would benefit from this information.
|> -- Kenn Goutal
|> 

I tried using Mtools but never got the Mtools' mcopy to work. Our system
admin guy set up pcfs (do a man pcfs). I now use fdformat to format the
floppy on the sparc and then mount /pcfs . After the floppy file system is
mounted you can do any unix-thing you want - ls, cp, df, rm, mkdir, whatever
and the Atari reads these disks without a hitch.

Only glitch is you must be root to do a mount  - at least here you do.

Bob Malay

PS I got a copy of unix-version of lharc. Compiled it on the sparc. I now
un-lharc at blinding speeds and copy the un-lharc'ed files to the sparc
floppy disk!

ytsuji@wucc.waseda.ac.jp (Y.Tsuji) (06/11/91)

Thanks. I have ftp'ed Mtools and read the manual. It is amazing! It says
I'll be allowed to read/write MSDOS partitions on the hard disk.
Now I have a query: Are my hard disk partitions in MSDOS format? I use
a year old ICD software with TOS 1.4 and the partitions are ear-marked as
TOS. Maybe I should ring ICD, but I don't like to ring at small hours.
Tsuji
ytsuji@cfi.waseda.ac.jp