Subj : Re: DIR on an empty CD-ROM drive under 4DOS 7.01A To : Dan McMullin From : Matthias Paul Date : Sat Mar 23 2002 01:54 pm From: "Matthias Paul" On 2002-03-22, Dan McMullin wrote: > Prior to the release of 4DOS 7.01A (54), issuing a DIR command > on my CD-ROM drive (R: in my system) when there's no disc present > in the tray yields what I consider to be the expected result: > > Drive not ready--close door > R(etry), I(gnore), F(ail), or A(bort)? > > Under 7.01A, I get the following result: > > Volume in drive R is unlabeled > > [...] > Is this what JPSoft calls a "feature" or is it what I call a bug? I could reproduce this with varying "success" in different configurations: Results for C:\> DIR z: [ENTER] where Z: is open or empty SCSI CD-ROM drive: Operating System \ 4DOS Shell | 7.00A (49) | 7.01A (54) | Ideal -------------------------------------+------------+------------+--------- Windows 98 SE DOS Box (no MSCDEX) | [1] | [6] | [2] MS-DOS 7.10 (98 SE) with MSCDEX 2.95 | [2] | [6] | [2] MS-DOS 7.10 (98 SE) with NWCDEX 2.81 | [1] | [68] | [2 or 1] DR-DOS 7.03 with MSCDEX 2.95 | [2722229] | [272229A] | [2] DR-DOS 7.03 with NWCDEX 2.81 | [11161118] | [11161118] | [2 or 1] -------------------------------------+------------+------------+--------- Note: AFAIR NWCDEX up to 2.81 has a small bug which causes it to return "drive not ready" rather then CD-ROM not ready, so the difference between [1] and [2] is probably a result of this bug. Results for C:\> z: [ENTER] where Z: is open or empty SCSI CD-ROM drive: Operating System \ 4DOS Shell | 7.00A (49) | 7.01A (54) | Ideal -------------------------------------+------------+------------+--------- Windows 98 SE DOS Box (no MSCDEX) | [1] | [5] ERR | [2] MS-DOS 7.10 (98 SE) with MSCDEX 2.95 | [2] | [5] ERR | [2] MS-DOS 7.10 (98 SE) with NWCDEX 2.81 | [1] | [5] ERR | [2 or 1] DR-DOS 7.03 with MSCDEX 2.95 | [2] Z:> | [2] Z:> | [2] DR-DOS 7.03 with NWCDEX 2.81 | [115] C:\> | [115] C:\> | [2 or 1] -------------------------------------+------------+------------+--------- Notes: AFAIR, NWCDEX up to 2.81 has a small bug which causes it to return "drive not ready" rather then CD-ROM not ready, so the difference between [1] and [2] is probably a result of this bug. 4DOS will "successfully" change the drive letter unter DR-DOS 7.03 with MSCDEX, but not with NWCDEX. IMHO, it should not, but some may consider this a "feature". Anyway, this is probably due to the same difference between [1] and [2], and might be fixed by future issues of NWCDEX. Results for C:\> DIR a: [ENTER] and C:\> a: [ENTER] where A: is empty 2.88 Mb ED floppy drive: Operating System \ 4DOS Shell | 7.00A (49) | 7.01A (54) | Ideal -------------------------------------+------------+------------+--------- Windows 98 SE DOS Box | [1] | [4] ERR | [1] MS-DOS 7.10 (98 SE) | [1] | [4] ERR | [1] DR-DOS 7.03 | [13] | [13] | [1] -------------------------------------+------------+------------+--------- Messages (where "D:", "d:", or "D" represents the drive letter): -------- 1) |Drive not ready--close door |R(etry), I(gnore), F(ail), or A(bort)? a 2) |CD-ROM not ready |R(etry), I(gnore), F(ail), or A(bort)? a 3) |Fail on INT 24 "D:" 4) |Invalid drive "D:" 5) |Invalid path "d:" (<- BUG: Drive letter not uppercased) 6) | Volume in drive D is unlabeled (<- BUG: Indent) 7) | Volume in drive D is 123456789012 (<- BUG: Indent + Label is garbage) 8) |File not found "d:\*.*" | 0 bytes in 0 files and 0 dirs | 0 bytes free 9) | Directory of d:\*.* [<- BUG: Indent] | (<- BUG: Empty line) | 0 (<- BUG: Number) | 0 bytes in 1 file and 0 dirs 0 bytes allocated A) | 19.125 bytes free (<- BUG: No free space on CD-ROM) So, this actually looks like an operating system and/or version dependent bug in 4DOS 7.01A. Testing under other issues of MS-DOS and PC DOS might help to shed some further light on it. Anyone? In either case, Dan, you should join JPSoftware's mailing list/group jpsoft.support on jpsoft.media3.net and report the problem to them. Or do you want me to forward the issue to them for you? Greetings, Matthias -- ; http://www.uni-bonn.de/~uzs180/mpdokeng.html; http://mpaul.drdos.org --- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-2 * Origin: Mach2 Systems (1:342/3) .