Next: 5.3 Networking with TCP/IP Up: 5 Advanced Features Previous: 5.1.6 Running into trouble

# 5.2 Accessing MS-DOS Files

If, for some twisted and bizarre reason, you would have need to access files from MS-DOS, it's quite easily done under Linux.

The usual way to access MS-DOS files is to mount an MS-DOS partition or floppy under Linux, allowing you to access the files directly through the filesystem. For example, if you have an MS-DOS floppy in `/dev/fd0`, the command

`# mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt`

will mount it under `/mnt`. See Section 4.6.2 for more information on mounting floppies.

You can also mount an MS-DOS partition of your hard drive for access under Linux. If you have an MS-DOS partition on `/dev/hda1`, the command

`# mount -t msdos /dev/hda1 /mnt`

will mount it. Be sure to `umount` the partition when you're done using it. You can have your MS-DOS partitions automatically mounted at boot time if you include entries for them in `/etc/fstab`; see Section 4.8 for details. For example, the following line in `/etc/fstab` will mount an MS-DOS partition on `/dev/hda1` on the directory `/dos`.

`/dev/hda1 /dos msdos defaults`

The `Mtools` software may also be used to access MS-DOS files. For example, the commands `mcd`, `mdir`, and `mcopy` all behave as their MS-DOS counterparts. If you installed `Mtools`, there should be man pages available for these commands.

Accessing MS-DOS files is one thing; running MS-DOS programs from Linux is another. There is an MS-DOS Emulator under development for Linux; it is widely available, and even distributed with SLS. It can be retrieved from a number of locations, including the various Linux FTP sites (see Appendix C for details). The MS-DOS Emulator is reportedly powerful enough to run a number of applications, including Wordperfect, from Linux. However, Linux and MS-DOS are vastly different operating systems. The power of any MS-DOS emulator under UNIX is somewhat limited.

In addition, work is underway on a Microsoft Windows emulator to run under X Windows. Watch the newsgroups and FTP sites for more information.

Next: 5.3 Networking with TCP/IP Up: 5 Advanced Features Previous: 5.1.6 Running into trouble