70 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
This file is designed as an introduction to minixfs. What it is, what it does
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and why you might want to use it.
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Minixfs is an alternative filesystem which runs under MiNT. It can
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replace the standard TOS MS-DOS like filesystem which is standard on the ST.
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So why would you want to replace the standard TOS filesystem? Here are some
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of the arguments for and against minixfs:
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For:
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1. Filenames are no longer limited to 8 characters with an optional 3
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character extension, the standard filesystem supports mixed case 14 character
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filenames. Alternative filesystems support 30 or even 62 character filenames.
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2. The filesystem is much more U*ix like, supporting the standard user/group
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ids, 3 access times (well for the V2 filesystem anyway) and so on. If you're
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used to Un*x like filesystems then this will certainly make you feel at home!
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Symbolic and hard links are supported too as are sparse files and the root
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directory can never fill up.
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3. The filesystem is compatible with that used by Minix as might be guessed
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from its name. If you use Minix then using minixfs under MiNT will allow the
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minix partitions to be accessible under TOS, in fact they can be set up to
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appear almost indistinguishable from TOS partitions.
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4. Because it uses an indirection block Un*x like filesystem it tends to be
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somewhat more robust than TOS filesystems.
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5. Full source is available, as am I. You find a bug, tell me and I'll fix it.
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6. It is possible to make *huge* partitions, theoretically the limit is 4096Gb
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if your hardware and software can take it (and I don't know anything that
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can!). This is achieved *without* increasing the sector size, unlike the
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standard TOS filesystems.
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7. It is quite a bit quicker than TOS filesystems. If you don't use
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write-caching disk software then the speedup using turbo mode is considerable.
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Even if you do use write-caching software (e.g. ICD) the speedup is still
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useable.
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Against:
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1. Programs which depend upon the filesystem format (defraggers consistency
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checkers etc) will not work. I have written a consistency checker for Minixfs
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however, which is supplied. A port of the Linux defragger is also available.
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2. Non MiNT aware programs will not be able to access longer filenames and
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some non conforming MiNT aware programs wont either. You can still use the
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translated TOS compatible names though.
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3. Minixfs is not officially supported by Atari. At least they've never told
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me if it is. This has several consequences and some of the more cynical may
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consider this should be put in the 'for' group :-)
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4. Huge partitions have a few caveats, mainly due to buggy driver software.
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Although work arounds exist. Roughly speaking this works in spite of the
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driver software rather than because of it :-)
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In spite of the above 'againsts' I regard minixfs as a very powerful
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and useful addition to the ST (then again I would wouldn't I?). For programmers
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it is very useful indeed particularly if you are porting from Un*x, many of
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the standard kludges to make filenames fit are no longer necessary nor are
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some of the tricks to keep TOS happy (like not unlinking an open file).
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If you haven't decided not to try Minixfs by now then you'll want to
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know more information. If you're unsure you can always experiment with Minixfs
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filesystems on floppy disks first before comitting your hard disk.
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The remaining files in this directory give information about minixfs
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itself and the various tools for creating and fixing minixfs partitions.
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