China DOS Union

Support, support! By the way, does it support long file names?

It's impossible.

It doesn't even support FAT32, so it was probably programmed a long time ago, around before 1995.

Actually, isn't this exactly what we want? The earlier the better, the later the more powerful it is, and the more it's like Microsoft that doesn't support DOS. It's a pity that the software produced by those famous companies can't be used in pure DOS! Sad, lamentable!

Hey, actually there are DOS versions of Norton NDD 2002, DISKEDIT 2002, UNERASE 2002, GHOST 2002, etc., but there is no SpeedDisk 2002 for DEFRAG. Also, DEFRAG in FreeDOS is open-source, but unfortunately it doesn't support FAT32 and long filenames at present. However, its author may be working hard to add such support... Here is the download (including source code):

http://savannah.nongnu.org/download/free-defrag/

Hehe, the difference between FAT32 and FAT16 is not just as simple as you said. Personally, I feel that it is not very realistic to guide a large hard disk image. Because if the hard disk image installs the Windows XP or Linux operating system, there may be more complex problems than the current "protected mode disk addressing" (of course, it's just a personal guess, no basis), and it is possible that these new problems are problems that GRUB cannot solve.

GRUB can boot the img file and make a simple system like DOS run, which is already great, I think most of us are currently using GRUB for DOS to boot the img file of DOS for some emergency maintenance of the system. There should not be many people who want to use it to virtualize the hard disk to run complex operating systems.

Letting GRUB support booting ISO files is what I am looking forward to at present, but I can already foresee the arduousness of this work. After all, booting an ISO file can start many programs, including the current Windows PE, ERDcommander, and installation programs of various systems. It is hard to guarantee that there will be more complex problems than those encountered in testing Win98 now.
I always think that if GRUB is to finally solve these problems, one direction is to write it into the BIOS, that is, the virtual hard disk, virtual CD, virtual floppy disk at the BIOS level. Because the LSI SCSI Raid controller I am using now is like this. They re - partition the Raid array into the virtual hard disk you define at the BIOS level. In the operating system environment, what you see is the virtual hard disk, not the hard disk before the disk array is established. The operating system runs very well on this level of virtual hard disk and there will be no problems.

In addition, the hard disk space is getting larger and larger now. We can completely set aside a few gigabytes of space and divide it into several logical partitions. Before guiding the image each time, we can format these logical partitions and copy the img file in, which can ensure the continuity of the img file (hehe, everyone won't still stay in the era when the hard disk is only a few gigabytes).

Hehe, I said some words, hoping that I didn't dampen Brother Budian's morale. To be honest, I have collected and used many programs, and GRUB for DOS is one of the best ones (it feels like the first time I used VMware), I hope GRUB for DOS can get better and better, far beyond my imagination ^_^

The following is the speech of Budian on 2003 - 11 - 23 11:27:17
There is not much difference between FAT16 and FAT32. In the FAT table, the entry of FAT16 occupies 2 bytes, and the entry of FAT32 occupies 4 bytes. That's all. With the source code, it can always be modified. It should be better than starting from scratch. Don't lose heart :-)

The preparation work should be sufficient. You can search for articles on the FAT file system structure again and then start to do it.

Brother cavvie said it perfectly! The int13 emulation of GRUB FOR DOS was never intended to solve the problems for operating systems that don't use BIOS, such as WIN2000/LINUX, etc. Since Win98 is a transitional operating system that can support both BIOS and protected - mode disk access, it is hoped to support Win98 as well as possible. By solving the problems in Win98, maybe we can understand Win98 better. This is a challenge and also an interest, not necessarily a task that must be completed. As long as we do our best to the limit we can reach, there will be no regrets.

Regarding the img of large hard disks, it can be well supported now, as long as you use DOS, there is no problem. The emulation of large hard disks is rarely used, but it was just implemented incidentally. Originally, it was for implementing the emulation of floppy disks in any format. It was found that the emulation of large hard disks is completely similar, so it was implemented together. Whether users use it or not is not important. Maybe users will have the need to use it, and then they will find it convenient.

Regarding the DEFRAG problem, brother, take your time. It is really not easy to do well, because this thing is also dangerous. I strongly pay attention to and support it!!