[Coco] dw 3

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 11:23 PM, Robert Gault <robert.gault at att.net> wrote:
> Aaron Wolfe wrote:
>
>> In the alternate mode of dw4, you can define an infinite number of
>> disks sets where each of the 256 slots in the set points to a local
>> .dsk file or a URL where a .dsk file lives.  Still, only one disk set
>> can be loaded at a time, and they are still referenced as disks 0-255.
>>
>
> OK, now that is understandable. The main problem seems to be a semantics one
> as it has been hard to follow exactly what was meant by the DW4 alternate
> mode. So, the alternate DW4 mode permits many more .dsk images mounted in
> the server. That to me seems major overkill.
>
> Even in the DW4 alternate mode there is still no built-in good method for
> moving files from one .dsk image to another, which was the question of the
> original message in this thread.

I feel like we are playing "Who's on first" here.  In the "dw4
alternate mode", copying files between .dsk images is as simple as
using the COPY command in DECB.  I just verified this myself:

insert diskimageA.dsk into drive 0 using DriveWire UI
insert diskimageB.dsk into drive 1 using DriveWire UI

on coco, type COPY"file.ext:0"TO"newfile.ext:1"

now file.ext has been copied from diskimageA.dsk to diskimageB.dsk

this works between any disks from 0 to 255, each of which is it's own
.dsk file on the server's hard drive.

> As things stand, all copies or backups from one .dsk image to another must
> go through a floppy or a RAM disk. The RAM disk is great for a Coco3 but is
> not possible with a Coco1 or 2.
> I feel a more valuable DW4 alternate mode would permit access to four .dsk
> images at the same time. Then Coco1 and 2 users could move files directly
> from one mount on the server to another. Maybe there is no reasonable way to
> program that given how HDBDOS works.

unless I am completely misunderstanding what we are talking about, the
DW4 alternate mode already allows coco 1,2, or 3 to copy and backup
directly from any of all 256 .dsks to another.


>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>