DOS Directories










From: Fred Horvat (aa778@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)

Date: 10/21/92-08:23:27 AM Z









From: aa778@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Fred Horvat)
Subject: DOS Directories
Date: Wed Oct 21 08:23:27 1992



    What good are directories on the Portfolio?  For those
of you familiar with DOS already then you have a good 
idea.  Those with Atari ST background a directory is the 
same as a folder.  I will go briefly over setup and using 
directories but will not go in depth.  If you have any 
questions on them you can post the questions or leave me 
E-mail and I'll get back to you.

    To make a directory called TEST you would type in at 
the C> MD TEST and press enter.  To get into the directory 
type C> CD\TEST and press enter and now you are in the 
directory.  If you do a DIR command you will only see what 
is in that directory.  To remove an empty directory you 
would type C> RD TEST and press enter.

    In the AUTOEXEC.BAT file if you have the following 
line PROMPT $P$G   DOS will tell you what directory you 
are in.  Example you are turn on the Portfolio and you are 
staring at the C> if you type CD\TEST to go into the TEST 
directory the DOS prompt will like C> without the command 
added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  With it looks like
C\TEST> telling you that you are currently in the TEST 
directory.

    What can you do with a directory?  You can have a 
directory for only spreadsheets, one for notes, one for 
different address books.....  This way all like files are 
grouped together.  You can also have a directory for a 
compiler or interpreter like TBASIC or PBASIC.

    What good are directories on the Portfolio besides 
separating like files?  For me it is useful for backing 
up.  I only have the 32k RAM card that came with the 
Portfolio.  Other backups are on 3 1/2" floppy that were 
first transferred to a desktop PC.  With a 32k Ram drive 
and my Portfolio setup as FDISK 64 meaning I have roughly 
64k of data space on the Portfolio obviously not all the 
data with fit on the 32k RAM card.  In my backup BAT file
I backup up only certain directories.  What directories 
don't I backup?  I don't backup test files or programs 
that I just transferred to the Portfolio.  I also don't 
backup my programming directory that contains the 
interpreter or compiler such as TBASIC but I do backup the 
files and programs that were created by them.

    I hope this has help some of you who are new to the 
Portfolio and DOS out a little.

-- 
                                        Fred Horvat, aa778
                                        Your Atari Portfolio SYGOP
                                        And all your Atari SYGOPs,xx004









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