On 11/12/2019 12:36 PM, Jon Brase wrote:
copy on MS-DOS wasn't really meant for copying more than one file at a
time (which is why xcopy exists), and FreeDOS uses the same command
line syntax. Copy only accepts one destination file and treats all
other filenames on the command line as sources. Also, the form new\*.*
will expand to all the filenames *already in new*, if any, so even if
copy did take multiple destinations, throwing in new\*.* for the
destination would give you the results you expect (it would overwrite
existing files in new with copies of the source files).
Long story short, Microsoft meant for you to use xcopy for what you're
trying to do back in the day, and FreeDOS is no different.
Sorry to be so blunt, but that is simply bollocks!
The only difference between the intrinsic COPY command and the external
XCOPY should be that the later should in most cases be faster due to
using a larger buffer. You can copy any number of files, as long as you
are staying within the limitations of the file system.
Just as a quick test, I copied on my current FreeDOS 1.2 system (Dell
Core 2 laptop with 60GB SSD) my folder with Ralf Brown's Interrupt List
to a test folder. 94 files, for a total of 16MB, with the largest file a
5.5MB large combined INTERRUP.LST. All without a hitch.
As for Dale's complain about editing large text files, that is in line
with being compatible with MS/PC-DOS. Almost all editors had some hard
limitations, EDIT AFAIR is limited to 64KB (max segment size), some
others were limited to what's left of the base 640KB, Semware's
QEDIT/TSE could handle up to 16MB when (sufficient) XMS memory was
available and DeSmet C's SEE editor also can handle MB sized files by
using spill files...
My guess is that there is something else wrong with Dale's setup, with
both hardware and software being possibilities...
Ralf
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