Using the ViewStation's
Floppy Disk with SoftWindows from Insignia Solutions
Application programs like SoftWindows from Insignia Solutions run
on your host computer and can read/write MS-DOS disks using a DOS
utility, FSA, File Sharing Architecture. These application programs
reference the UNIX file system as if it were a DOS file system. For
example, a typical application would set DOS drive E: as a UNIX
directory.
Follow these steps to use the ViewStation's floppy disk drive
from SoftWindows:
1. Make sure your ViewStation's fontpath includes the
SoftWindows fonts. If you need to add these fonts, use this command
line from an xterm window on your HDSware host:
xset +fp /FXUtilities/hds-fx/fonts/softpc
where FXUtilities is the host IP address and path to
the HDSware software. You can verify this setting with the "xset q"
command, which reports the current font path.
2. Make sure your username environment variables include the
SoftWindows environment. You should have an entry in your .profile file
for the SoftWindows environment:
setenv $SWINHOME /usr/lib/SoftWindows
or the directory appropriate to your system. If this
variable is not set, SoftWindows will use a pop-up box and offer to set
it for you. SoftWindows also checks for its system configuration file
and will set it automatically for you if you wish.
If you use Xdm, the .profile file may not be read. In this
case, you should add a line to your .xsession or .xinitrc file to read
the .profile file.
3. Mount the ViewStation's floppy disk on your host computer's
file system with NFS. You must be the root user to do this. For
example, you could mount the floppy disk drive on a ViewStation named
mikevs at file location /export/home/mike/mkfloppy with
this command:
mount -o rw,intr,wsize=6144,timeo=1200 mikevs:/floppy1
/export/home/mike/mkfloppy
4. Set up your FSA (File Sharing Architecture, an MS-DOS
utility) link to the floppy disk drive. From your SoftWindows Desktop,
choose Open Drive ... from the Disk Drives ... cascade menu on the
Options menu.
This menu lets you define a UNIX directory as your PC Drive E:
Click on the FSA Root Directory Name ... and then enter the
mounted file location for the floppy disk drive: (for this example)
/export/home/mike/mkfloppy
Alternately, you could do Step 4 from your MS-DOS
configuration, as below.
4a. From the MS-DOS prompt, you can use the NET USE command:
DOS:\> NET USE X:dir
or, in this example:
DOS:\> NET USE E:/export/home/mike/mkfloppy
You may want to add this line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT
script to make this configuration automatically when you start your PC.
5. At this point, you're finished. You can read and write to
the ViewStation's floppy disk as if it were your PC drive E:. For
example, a file BUDGET.DOC on the floppy disk would appear to the PC
application as E:BUDGET.DOC
Using the ViewStation's Floppy Disk from WABI 2.0
To use the ViewStation's floppy disk drive on a WABI 2.0
system, follow these steps:
1. Mount the ViewStation's floppy disk on your host computer's
file system with NFS. For example, you could mount the floppy disk
drive on a ViewStation named mikevs at file location /export/home/mike/mkfloppy
with this command:
mount -o rw,intr,wsize=6144,timeo=1200 mikevs:/floppy1
/export/home/mike/mkfloppy
2. From within your WABI window:
a. In the Program Manager, open the Configuration Manager.
b. Now open the Drives icon.
c. Select an unassigned drive letter in the Drives panel, for this
example choose Drive E.
d. In the Available Directory Paths panel, navigate through the
list of directories and files to reach the file system you want:
/export/home/mike/mkfloppy in this example.
e. Choose Connect. The path displayed is assigned to the floppy
disk drive, and appears next to the drive letter in the Drives panel.
f. Choose OK to save the assignment.
3. At this point, the ViewStation's floppy disk drive is
selectable from within the File Manager as Drive E.
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