On Sat, 08 Jan 2000 22:07:52 -0800, Clarence Verge wrote:
> Samuel W. Heywood wrote:
>> I should like to insert my comments too.
>> You cannot read any disk partition > 32 MB with DOS 3.30.
>> According to a manual I have for MS-DOS 3.31, this version likewise is
>> not capapble of reading a drive > 32 MB. I don't have a manual for
>> my COMPAQ DOS 3.31. I do know that COMPAQ DOS 3.31 is capapble of reading
>> a 100 MB Iomega Zip Drive. I know because I've done it. I don't know how
>> large a partition COMPAQ DOS 3.31 will recognize on a hard drive.
> Hi Sam;
> Hmmm. Peter Norton seems to think MS-DOS 3.31 WILL recognize big partitions.
> Can you tell from the manual just what the difference between 3.30 and 3.31
> might be ? Could it be possible that that portion of the manual was not
> updated from 3.30 ?
It does seem to me that some portions of the manual, especially the portion
describing how to use FDISK, might not have been upgraded from the manual for
DOS 3.30.
Under the subject heading "What's New" I find the following:
"Performance improvements. Several internal enhancements and a new command,
fastopen, improve MS-DOS performance, especially with applications that use
many files.
Support for 1.44 megabyte, 3 1/2 inch disks.
Support for four serial (COM) ports. Previous versions of MS-DOS supported
two.
Enhancements to config.sys commands, including buffers, stacks, device.
MS-DOS 3.30 [ sic., typo?] also includes a new config.sys command, country.
Ability to use partititions larger than 32 megabytes. You can create
extended partitions larger than 32 mega-bytes with fdisk.
Improved national language support. MS-DOS 3.3 [sic., typo?] offers the
ability to to select alternate language-specific character sets (called
code pages) instead of the standard U.S, character set. Three new commands-
chcp, nlsfunc, and select, and several enhanced MS-DOS commands, including
keyb and mode support code page selection. In addition the config.sys
command, country, and two installable deveice drivers allow you to select
language-specific code pages.
Enhanced batch processing capapbilities.
Ability to make a system disk formatted by an earlier version of MS-DOS
bootable with MS-DOS 3.3 [sic., typo?]. This is possible because MS-DOS
3.3 [sic., typo?] allows the io.sys system file to be non-contiguous on the
disk.
Various enhancements to existing commands, including
append
attrib
backup
date
format
graphics
keyboard
mode
restore
time"
>From the above quoted information, it appears that some of the above refers
to what's new in MS-DOS 3.3, and some paragraphs refer to what's new in
MS-DOS 3.31. Some differences remain quite unclear.
Sam Heywood
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