ranma@noc.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Michael Gutierrez) (01/26/91)
Is this the place to discuss software???
I bought DOS Mounter 2.0 at MacWorld, because it supposedly was able to mount
MS-DOS formatted Syquest carts and read/write MS-DOS (yes, I know it's better
known as Messy-DOS, _dont_remind_me_!!!), but it seems I've been tricked into
a sleight-of-hand with this one!
At Dayna's booth in MacWorld, they had a Syquest (Mass Micro, if I remember
correctly...) and was supposedly "mounting" a MS-DOS formatted cartridge
as the rep was demonstrating. He did the usual opening, dragging, etc.
So, since I had been using the 'demo' version for a while, and really needed
to use the Syquest feature, I bought the 2.0 version there (at ComputerWare's
booth).
Well, it worked fine for my regular MS-Dos disks, formatting and reading
anyway I wanted. So when I tried to get it to recognize the Syquest, it
initally wouldn't see it there. OK, the Read Me file says need an updated
init for removable drives that does better polling. Fine, got one for
the Syquest, and now DOS Mounter says 'Disk Unreadable' and asks to format.
Well, that was the first problem. I tried to get it to format, and it wouldn't
even format it.
Well, went back to ComputerWare, and they had not even tried this new version
with MS-DOS Syquests (since they don't know of anybody who has any), but
on their IIfx, it was the same problem.
They called Dayna about it, and that's when I found out it never worked on
the current release. Asked when it will be fixed, "Real Soon Now, hopefully
in a week..."
THIS PISSES ME OFF TO NO END!!!
I always thought that distributed vaporware was usually confined to
MS-DOS software, not the Mac world (no pun intended). This is got to
be the worst case of customer trickery I've ever run across as far as
Mac software is concerned. At MacWorld, I specifically asked if the
current version supports Syquests, and I was told in no uncertian terms
via the demonstration they had set up there in their booth. I even got
one of their beach balls on my desk here (which would have gone into
my fireplace tonight, but it would probably emit toxic gasses, preventing
me from complaining to them any further about their vaporware...).
Everywere in their manual, it says it supports Syquests, and even the
Readme file says that, with the warning about updating the inits.
How can a manufacturer actually do that??? I now believe that the Syquest
cart at their booth was none other than a Mac formatted cart, with files
on it made to look like MS-DOS files (not too hard to do, eh?), and did
what amounted to three-ring circus trickery.
OK, so why do I need to mount MS-DOS carts???, well, I have an Amiga with
a Video Toaster on it, and I generate 1 meg RGB files on it. Well, the Amiga
doesn't have any drives over 880k, and that leaves me with either uploading
the files to work here (on my Sparc 1+) or finding another way to transfer
them. Anyway, on the Amiga, I can read/write MS-DOS Syquests via another
program called CrossDos. Fine, I transfer the RGB files to a Syquest cart
and bring them to work and use the Mac here at work to transfer them on to
my Sparc via NCSA Telnet. Then I can hit the RGB files with the usual tools
(PBM, FBM, etc).
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..................
robert.blob@Apple.COM (Brian Bechtel) (01/26/91)
ranma@noc.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Michael Gutierrez) writes:
[long flame about DOS Mounter 2.0 and Syquests]
There may be an explanation for what you're experiencing. DOS Mounter
2.0 uses the "external file system" hook in the Mac file system. This
is an entry point which is called whenever the native Mac file system
doesn't recognize a disk.
Some drivers check that a cartridge is Mac format, rather than letting
the file system do that check. They then reject a cartridge (or offer
to format it) without ever letting the file system call the external
file system hook.
If this is true for the particular drive you have, then the message
you're getting is not DOS Mounter's fault; they aren't even getting
called. The solution in this case is to try someone else's driver.
No, I don't have a list of these drivers.
A conversation with one of the authors of DOS Mounter brought up this
problem (which I had also experienced when writing the High Sierra &
ISO 9660 file system translators for CD-ROM using the external file
system hook.)
--Brian Bechtel blob@apple.com "My opinion, not Apple's"