[comp.unix.aix] AIX 1.2, DOS-Merge, & > 32MB DOS Partition ??

hh2@prism.gatech.EDU (HAAS) (04/09/91)

I'm presently running AIX 1.2 for the PS/2. I have several hundred
megabytes available for DOS, and would like to access it by booting
DOS, AND with DOS-Merge when booted under AIX.

The problem is that DOS-Merge insists on installing with IBM-DOS 3.3
ONLY. DOS 3.3 limits the partition size to 32 MB. It would be nice
to be able to use DOS 4.0 or 5.0, but I'd be REAL happy if someone knew
a way to access more than 32 MB under DOS-Merge using IBM-DOS 3.3.

Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance . . . 

hh
-- 
  Harry Haas  GTRI/RIDL/DB     "What makes it DO that!?" - Bones 
  Georgia Institute of Technology,        Atlanta Georgia, 30332
  uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!hh2
  Internet: hh2@prism.gatech.edu         hhaas@gtri01.gatech.edu

kevin@msa3b.UUCP (Kevin P. Kleinfelter) (04/10/91)

hh2@prism.gatech.EDU (HAAS) writes:

>The problem is that DOS-Merge insists on installing with IBM-DOS 3.3
>ONLY. DOS 3.3 limits the partition size to 32 MB. It would be nice
>to be able to use DOS 4.0 or 5.0, but I'd be REAL happy if someone knew
>a way to access more than 32 MB under DOS-Merge using IBM-DOS 3.3.

Could you perhaps use multiple drives, and use "join"?  Not quite
what you want, but it is usually a close approximation.
-- 
Kevin Kleinfelter @ Dun and Bradstreet Software, Inc (404) 239-2347
...gatech!nanovx!msa3b!kevin
Warning: There seem to be multiple 'msa3b' nodes on Usenet, and it is
nanoVX, not nanovAx.

freese@dalvm41b.vnet.ibm.com ("Bradley T. Freese") (05/25/91)

hh2@prism.gatech.EDU (HAAS) writes:

> I'm presently running AIX 1.2 for the PS/2. I have several hundred
> megabytes available for DOS, and would like to access it by booting
> DOS, AND with DOS-Merge when booted under AIX.

> The problem is that DOS-Merge insists on installing with IBM-DOS 3.3
> ONLY. DOS 3.3 limits the partition size to 32 MB. It would be nice
> to be able to use DOS 4.0 or 5.0, but I'd be REAL happy if someone knew
> a way to access more than 32 MB under DOS-Merge using IBM-DOS 3.3.

> Any suggestions?

Sure:  set up extended DOS partitions and access those:

1) Boot the PS/2 under DOS 3.3 and use 'fdisk' to create an extended
   partition and several logical drives.  Each drive would, of course,
   be 32MB or less.
2) Let the system reboot into DOS and format each of the new drives.
3) Boot under AIX.  Start Merge with 'dos +aa +ae +af:=/dev/dd03'.
   This should start a Merge session with the floppy disk as A:, the
   normal C: and D: assignments, the DOS primary partition as E:, and
   the first logical drive in the extended partition as F:.

For more information, look up the discussion "Multiple Partitions" in
"Administering DOS Partitions" in the "DOS Merge System Administration"
chapter of _DOS Merge User's and Administrator's Guide_.  You can use
the 'dosopt' command and the "/etc/dosdev" file to customize how you
start Merge to use the additional logical drives.

One last thing:  if the F: assignment does not work, you might try
starting Merge with a different "dd0x" assignment.  I found mine through
hit-or-miss.  The documentation does not explain the correspondance
between the various DOS partitions and the AIX ddxx devices very well.

Good luck.