Once a CrossDOS driver has been activated, you can work with MS-DOS disk directories and files in that drive just as you normally do on the Amiga. You can copy, move, rename, and delete using standard Workbench icon and menu techniques. You can load and save files on MS-DOS fisks from any Amiga program by using the disk's volume name or the CrossDOS drive's device name (for example, MYDOSDISK: or PC0:). MS-DOS disks can be formatted the same way you format Amiga disks.
File naming conventions for MS-DOS apply when accessing or creating file and directory names. Under MS_DOS, file names can be no more than eight characters long with an optional three-character extension.
The following characters are not valid for MS-DOS names:
Although some of these characters are valid for AmigaDOS file names, avoid using them. The slash, backslash, left bracket, right bracket, and colon characters in particular are reserved for special use.
The file (or directory) name is limited to eight alphanumeric characters. The characters can be specified as lower case, but are converted to upper case automatically. The space character is allowed between other alphanumeric characters, but it is not recommended.
The optional file (or directory) extension is limited to three alphanumeric characters preceded by a dot (.). There can be only one extension per file name. The characters can be specified as lower case, but are converted to upper case automatically. The space character is allowed between other alphanumeric characters, but it is not recommended.
One exception to the three character extension is the Amiga extension .info. When the file name is read from the MS-DOS disk by CrossDOS, a .INF extension is automatically expanded to .info to allow the file to be recognized by Workbench. Subsequently, when a file is written to the MS-DOS disk with a .info extension, it is stored on the disk as .INF.
The original file that has a Workbench .info file associated with it must not have any other extensions in the name. Create files on the MS-DOS disk with no file extension so that applications that automatically create .info files work correctly.
The colon (:) character is used as a root name qualifier to refer to the physical device name, the volume name of the disk, or the logical name of a directory path. For example:
A volume name under MS-DOS is limited to eleven alphanumeric characters with spaces allowed between characters. The characters can be specified as lower case, but are converted to upper case automatically.
The volume name is normally written to the disk during a format. It is possible for disks formatted on MS-DOS systems to be unnamed, in which case CrossDOS uses the boot block identification name and a creation date of January 1, 1980 as the volume information for AmigaDOS. For example, the following two paths are equivalent:
IBM 3.1:FILENAME.EXT
PC0:FILENAME.EXT
The directory name qualifier is the standard AmigaDOS slash (/) character. This character is used to separate directory paths. For example,
Disks created on MS-DOS computers do not have icons. You can display pseudo-icons for files and directories on these disks by selecting the Show All Files option, described in Chapter 3.
You can create real Amiga icons on MS-DOS disks in any of the following ways:
MS-DOS converts the .info extension of the icon files to .INF, but CrossDOS still recognizes the most .info files. Under MS-DOS or other PC operating systems, these files are not recognized and icon information in them is meaningless.
Format disks as MS-DOS using the normal disk format procedure described in Chapter 3. Be sure, however, to select the MS-DOS disk's icon, volume name, or device name to format the disk as MS-DOS and not AmigaDOS. For example, to format a disk as MS-DOS in the DF0:/PC0: drive select the PC0:???? Icon and choose the Format Disk menu item.
