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Yes. Linux uses the standard MS-DOS partitioning scheme, so it can
share your disk with other operating systems. Note, however, that
many of these other operating systems are rather picky. DOS's
FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.EXE, for example, can overwrite
data in a Linux partition, because they sometimes incorrectly use
partition data from the partition's boot sector rather than the
partition table.
In order to prevent programs like these from doing this, it is a good idea to zero out--under Linux--the start of a partition you created, before you use MS-DOS--or whatever--to format it. Type:
$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdXY bs=512 count=1where
hdXY is the relevant partition; e.g., hda1 for
the first partition of the first (IDE) disk.
Linux can read and write the files on your DOS and OS/2 FAT partitions and floppies using either the DOS file system type built into the kernel or mtools. There is kernel support for the VFAT file system used by Windows 9x and Windows NT.
For information about FAT32 partition support, see http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fat32.html.
`` What software does Linux support? '' for details and status of the emulators for DOS, MS Windows, and System V programs.
See, `` Can Linux access Amiga file systems? '' and, `` Can Linux access Mac file systems? '' `` Can Linux access BSD, SysV, etc., UFS? '' `` Can Linux access SMB file systems? ''
There are said to be NTFS drivers under development, which should support compression as a standard feature.
There is also supposedly a Win95 driver that allows read-only access to Linux file systems, although I don't know the URL. Call Microsoft technical support.
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Use the DOS file system; i.e., type, for example:
$ mkdir /dos $ mount -t msdos -o conv=text,umask=022,uid=100,gid=100 /dev/hda3 /dosIf it's a floppy, don't forget to umount it before ejecting it!
You can use the conv=text/binary/auto, umask=nnn,
uid=nnn, and gid=nnn options to control the
automatic line-ending conversion, permissions and ownerships of the
files in the DOS file system as they appear under Linux. If you mount
your DOS file system by putting it in your /etc/fstab, you can
record the options (comma-separated) there, instead of defaults.
Alternatively, you can use mtools, available in both binary and source form on the FTP sites--`` Where can I get Linux material by FTP? ''.
A kernel patch (known as the fd-patches) is available which allows floppies with nonstandard numbers of tracks and/or sectors to be used; this patch is included in the 1.1 alpha testing kernel series.
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As of recently, it does. Information about them is located at http://www.netspace.net.au/~reiter/e2compr/.
There is also a Web site for the e2compr patches. The code is still experimental and consists of patches for the 2.0 and 2.1 kernels. For more information about the project, including the latest patches and the address of the mailing list, look up the URL at http://debs.fuller.edu/e2compr/ This is according to Roderich Schupp, who adds somewhat cryptically, "There is a program called Zlibc ..."
Zlibc is actually a program that allows existing applications to read compressed (GNU gzip'ed) files as if they were not compressed. Look on sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/libs. The author is Alain.Knuff@imag.fr.
There is also a compressing block device driver that can provide on the fly disk compression in the kernel. It is called, ``DouBle'' and is written by Jean-Marc Verbavatz. The source-only distribution is located on sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/patches/diskdrives. This driver compresses inodes and directory information as well as files, so any corruption of the file system is likely to be serious.
There is also a package called tcx (Transparently Compressed Executables) which allows you to keep infrequently compressed executables compressed and only uncompress them temporarily when in use. It is located on sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/utils/compress/.
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Until recently, not very easily. You can access DOS 6.X volumes from the DOS emulator (`` What software does Linux support? ''), but it's harder than accessing a normal DOS volume via the DOS kernel option, a module, or mtools.
There is a recently added package, dmsdos, which reads and writes compressed file systems like DoubleSpace/DriveSpace in MS-DOS 6.x and Win95, as well as Stacker versions 3 and 4. It is available in the archives on ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Filesystem/dosfs.
There is a module available for the Linux kernel which can do read-only access of the compressed volume. Look in sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/dosfs for this package.
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Yes, but Linux access to HPFS partitions is read-only. HPFS
file system access is available as an option when compiling the kernel
or as a module. See the Documentation/filesystems/hpfs.txt
file in the kernel source distribution. ``
How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel?
''). Then you can mount HPFS partition,
using, for example:
$ mkdir /hpfs $ mount -t hpfs /dev/hda5 /hpfs-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Linux kernel has support for the Amiga Fast File System (AFFS)
version 1.3 and later, both as a compile-time option and as a module.
The file Documentation/filesystems/affs.txt in the Linux
kernel source distribution has more information.
See `` How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel? ''.
Linux supports AFFS hard-drive partitions only, though: floppy access is not supported due to incompatibilities between Amiga floppy controllers, and PC and workstation controllers. The AFFS driver can also mount disk partitions used by the Un*x Amiga Emulator, by Bernd Schmidt.
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Recent kernels can mount (read only) the UFS file system used by System V; Coherent; Xenix; BSD and derivatives like SunOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and NeXTstep. UFS support is available as a kernel compile-time option and a module.
See `` How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel? ''.
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Linux supports read/write access of Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT SMB volumes. See the file Documentation/filesystems/smbfs.txt of the Linux kernel source distribution, and `` How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel? '' in this FAQ.
There is also a suite of programs called Samba which provide support for WfW networked file systems (provided they're for TCP/IP). Information is available in the README file at sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/network/samba.
There is a SMB web site at samba.canberra.edu.au/pub/samba.
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There is a set of user-level programs that read and write the Macintosh Hierarchical File System (HFS). It is available at sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/utils/disk-management.
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WINE, a MS Windows emulator for Linux, is still not ready for general
distribution. If you want to contribute to its development, look for
the status reports in the comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine
newsgroup.
A commercial, working product known as WABI is said to provide full MS Windows emulation under Linux. It was written by Sunsoft, Inc. The Linux version is available from Caldera.
There is also a FAQ, compiled by P. David Gardner, at sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/faqs/Wine-FAQ/.
In the meantime, if you need to run MS Windows programs, the best bet--seriously--is to reboot. LILO, the Linux bootloader, can boot one of several operating systems from a menu. See the LILO documentation for details.
Also, LOADLIN (a DOS program to load a Linux, or other OS, kernel is a handy way to make Linux co-exist with DOS. LOADLIN is particularly handy when you want to install Linux on a 3rd or 4th drive on a system (or when you're adding a SCSI drive to a system with an existing IDE).
In these cases, it is common for LILO's boot load to be unable to find or load the kernel on the "other" drive. So you just create a C:\LINUX directory (or whatever), put LOADLIN in it with a copy of your kernel, and use that.
LOADLIN is a VCPI compliant program. Win '95 will want to, "shutdown into DOS mode," to run it (as it would with certain other DOS protected-mode programs).
Earlier versions of LOADLIN sometimes required a package called REALBIOS.COM, which required a boot procedure on an (almost) blank floppy to map the REALBIOS interrupt vectors (prior to the loading of any software drivers). (Current versions don't seem to ship with it, and don't seem to need it).
(Much thanks to Jim Dennis for this information.)
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FDISK.EXE (Not Linux's
fdisk).
mkfs
-t ext2 or mke2fs. At this point you may, if you like,
use Linux's fdisk to change the code of the new partition to
type 83 (Linux Native)--this may help some automated installation
scripts find the right partition to use.
boot = /dev/hda2(where
/dev/hda2 is the partition you want to boot
from) in your /etc/lilo/config or /etc/lilo.config
file.
There is a set of HOWTO's on the subject of multi-boot systems on the LDP Home Page, http://sunssite.unc.edu/LDP/.
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See the Mini-HOWTO on the subject by H. Peter Anvin, hpa@yggdrasil.com. It is available at sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Swap-Space.
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