Needed option (fwd)

[David C Niemi]

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Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 03:51:21 -0700
From: "Wm. G. McGrath" <address@hidden>
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Subject: Needed option
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Hi,

This isn't a bug report, rather it's more like a suggestion for a
needed feature in mtools.

I am trying to put together a firewall with an old 486 and a couple
of 3Com 509B nics. I need to reset the IRQs, addresses, turn on full
duplex, and disable Plug and Play. Donald Becker has a utility that
can handle the IRQs and addresses but not the full duplex or PnP.
Fortunately, 3Com has a utility that can handle these things. But,
it's a dos utility. Now I don't own a dos box. So I'm in deep do do.
In this situation, Linux is not quite self-sufficient.

Mtools lacks an option to create a dos system diskette. (In dos this
is done with the FORMAT A:/S command.) This is necessary because I
have to copy the 3Com utility to a bootable dos diskette and reboot
with it in order to run the program and reset the nics. Copying the
file to an ordinary dos diskette, created with mformat, mkdosfs, or
mkfs, only produces an unbootable diskette. It's unfortunate that
3Com doesn't offer better support, such as a linux utility, but
that's the world we live in. I find myself caught between the
shortcomings of the manufacturer's support and the shortcomings of
the available options in mformat.

I'm sure that I'll find a way to get a system disk in the next
week or so, so I'm not sending this email for myself. Rather, I
thought I'd mention this shortcoming with mtools to help out the
next person who needs to make a system diskette for one reason or
another. Please consider adding this option to mtools.

It's not a feature that's going to be used a great deal, but it
would be pretty convenient to have included in the next release. It
would make Linux a little more complete. That is, if you guys agree.


        Thanks for listening,

        bill

-- 
"The story of the scapegoat ought to be impenetrable. Myth serves
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