Unix / Dos partition problem in ISC 2.0.2

[Dave Lee]

Thanks to all who responded to question concerning DOS partitions.
Here is a summary of what to do to use DOS partitions for DOS, 
VPIX, and unix "mount -f DOS".  My objective here is to have a system
that appears as similar as possible running under DOS standalone,
and VPIX.  Considering the amount of incorrect responses I recieved,
(especially from folks as ISC) I thought this would be of general interest.

Hard Drive Info:
	Drive 0		108 RLL
	Drive 1		68  RLL

A1) 	BACKUP EVERYTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLY THRASH !!!!
A2)	BACKUP EVERYTHING ELSE !!!!
A3)	BACKUP YOUR BACKUPS ;-) 

1)  When installing ISC, create a small DOS partition as the first partition.
    I made a 10M partition.  This will become your C: drive for:
	DOS standalone
	UNIX dossette commands.

	
    Format this partition from a floppy booted DOS.  FORMAT C: /s 
    MAKE SURE that it is < 32 M.

    Place only files on C:  that will be useless under VPIX.
    These include the \DOS directory, and any programs that do things VPIX 
    hates like scanner programs, Protected mode programs, Modem programs etc.	

2)  Use sysadm -- addharddisk menu to install the second drive.
    Make a DOS partition < 32 M as the FIRST partition.
    I suggest starting at cylinder 2. the FM in one place says to skip 
    cylinder 0, and in another place to skip 0 and 1.  Just to be safe,
    I skip 0 and 1.

    This will become drive D: for 
	DOS standalone
	UNIX dossette commands 
        VPIX <optional>

    Format D: from a bootable DOS disk. 
    Place the rest of your DOS files on D:

3)  If you want to mount your dos drives (C:, or D:) you should apply the 
    fixes posted earlier adjusting NDOSINODE and remake the kernal.
    To mount the dos files use
	mount -f DOS /dev/dsk/Xp1  /dos
    where  X is the drive number (0 or 1).
	
    If you want to use drive D: from vpix edit your vpix.cnf file to say

	D    /dev/dsk/1p0 
    Which magically accesses the DOS partition on your first hard drive,
    rather than your entire hard drive as one might expect.
    Remember to allow read/write permission to /dev/dsk/1p0.
    If you dont like that you cant have a drive D:, but you can use
    Z:\dos to access your dos files it is mounted as above.

NOTES:
	NEVER make the DOS partition anything but the FIRST partition.
    	HORRIBLE things happen if you make the DOS partiton second.

	dossette seems to be the most versatile program.  It can use DOS
  	partitions > 32 M.  VPIX and mount -f can only access < 32M 
 	filesystems.   

	Contrary to popular oppinion ;-) DOS 4.x filesystems seem to work
	fine under vpix and mount, providing they are < 32 M.

	Give your new setup a FULL STOMPING before trusting it.
	Make sure you can mount and unmount ALL filesystems, fill them
 	up to the brim with data, delete it, and make sure ALL filesystems
	still work.

	It is possible for you disk to be so completely trashed that you 
	have to do a LOW LEVEL format if you mess up.
	My 68M drive got so bad that even the ISC Boot Disk would panic.
	I had to go to the ROM DIAGNOSTICS format to fix the problem.
	
THE GOOD PART:
	With the above procedures, I can now have a fairly consistant 
	enviroment under VPIX and DOS. 
	For me this is very important.  Some programs are extremely 
	difficult to change their installation drives or directories.
	In particular Wordstar 2000 uses a binary configuration file
	that has full pathnames (like C:\WS2000\WS2.EXE) with no easy
	way to modify it.  I had to use norton utils to change the 
	"C:" to a "D:" when I moved the directory tree.
	This would be a real pain if I had to use different drive 
	letters running DOS standalone and vpix.

Disclaimer:
	This is based on my own personal experiences (trauma ;-)) and
	other's suggestions (Email and Posting) and contridicts some 
	statements earlier made in this newsgroup.
	It works for me, and it should work for you, but I dont guarentee it.
	Please BACKUP EVERYTHING to save hairpulling and foul language 
	in case of errors or typos.

If anyone dissagrees with any of the above, please Email or Post.

 
-- 
Dave Lee
uunet!dptechno!dave