Will DOSBox-X be able to emulate FAT file systems?

BridgeHeadland commented 1 year ago

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

The feature question is not related to any problem, at least not at the moment.

What you want

This issue probably belongs in both the feature request and question labels, but since I have to choose, I prefer the former. What I'm wondering is whether DOSBox-X will sooner or later be able to emulate FAT file systems, even if you only mount folders, and not image files, since those file systems are the only ones the DOS support (I think). I could be wrong, as I don't understand software development, but I don't think DOSBoxes generally emulate file systems at all, as far as I can see - at least I can't run ScanDisk in mounted folders (I've tried). The ScanDisk does not run in CD-ROM drives, network drives, drives created by using ASSIGN, SUBST, or JOIN commands, or INTERLINK. If it can be done, the issue clearly belongs in the feature request label, at least. I think if DOSBox-X emulates FAT in general, be it a specific FAT filesystem, auto or experimental, one would probably be able to run for example Windows, newer than Windows 3.x, in mounted folders (plain and simple), so as long as these Windows are capable of being run as shells in DOS (in real hardware). I don't really know if there is anything particularly necessary, but it would be very easy for everyone, at least almost, especially for those who are not good at using computers.

Describe alternatives you've considered

No response

Additional information

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[X] I have searched and didn't find any similar feature request.

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joncampbell123 commented 1 year ago

According to another bug report here, DOSBox-X seems to support emulating FAT from a directory already (can anyone answer this to confirm?).

tazok81 commented 1 year ago

I think he talks about mounting local folder and access it for windows 9.x. The option "convertdrivefat=true" converts local folder and win95 can reach it, but all changes made there are dropped when emulator quits. Should be fine to preserve them, but probably there is reason why it is not done. I was thinking about dropping the need of "img" file for running win9.x. I think, for system disk it is hard due "mbr" etc, but maybe for disk "D" it could be done. Maybe holding FAT in small database file and then doing file operations on real storage?

Torinde commented 1 year ago

MBR (and similar data, such as cached FAT index) can be put probably in a file (either in the mounted folder or in the DOSBox-X folder).

I would be more interested in running Win9x from the DOSBox shell (without booting MS-DOS 7), but that's a different topic.

maxpat78 commented 1 year ago

Why FAT-on-folder emulation should be "static", and so accurate to let ScanDisk run? We have got CHKDSK/fsck on host system, already...

And launching OSes more complex than Win 3.x from folders depends less on FAT emulation, and more on the accuracy of interrupts and other hardware!

joncampbell123 / dosbox-x