
MacDisk for the PC read me file			9th July 1993
===============================

Contents:

- How to install MacDisk
- Floppy support of MacDisk
- Loading MacDisk into Upper Memory
- Known problems with MacDisk


How to install MacDisk
======================

If you do not read manuals this gives you the quick installation procedure.

If you are running MS-DOS then insert the MacDisk installation disk into 
drive A or B and run install.exe from the disk. Once installed you will need
to re-boot your PC.

If you are running Microsoft Windows you will need to run install.exe from 
thefile manager by either double-clicking it or using the Run command found 
on the File menu. Once installed you will need to re-boot your PC.


Floppy support of MacDisk
=========================

Please note that MacDisk will only work with 3.5" High Density floppy disks 
and will NOT work with 3.5" Low Density floppy disks (800KB Macintosh disks) 
due to hardware limitations on the PC.


Loading MacDisk into Upper Memmory
==================================

Installing 'MacDisk for the PC' into Upper Memory.

The manual gives details of installing MacDisk for the PC into standard 
memory. It is possible when using DOS 5.0 or later on a 386 or 486 PC for 
MacDisk to be loaded into Upper Memory, if enough space is available. When 
loaded into Upper Memory, MacDisk will require less than 200 bytes of 
standard memory.

The procedure to load MacDisk into Upper Memory requires that you edit the 
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on your PC.

CONFIG.SYS
----------

Changes to CONFIG.SYS are summarised here. A full explanation can be found in
the MS-DOS Version 5 User's Guide under "Running programs in the Upper Memory 
Area".

Ensure that the following lines are in CONFIG.SYS

	DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS	
	DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS	
	DOS=HIGH,UMB

If  EMM386.EXE was already in CONFIG.SYS, then the RAM option should be used 
in place of NOEMS.

AUTOEXEC.BAT
------------

The line in AUTOEXEC.BAT that runs MacDisk should have LOADHIGH prepended to 
it. It will then read:

	LOADHIGH C:\MACDISK\MACDISK

Further information about loading programs into Upper Memory can be found in 
the MS-DOS Version 5 User's Guide.


Known problems with MacDisk
===========================

During the installation process you can set MacDisk to NOT boot on startup
and NOT have the path added to Autoexec.bat. If both of these conditions are
met and you wish to run MacDisk, you must run it from the directory it was 
installed into. e.g. use the following two lines:

cd \MacDisk
MacDisk

When attempting to copy files onto a write protected Macintosh disk there
will be no error message given for files of less than 512 bytes in length.
This is not an indication that the file has copied correctly, as it has not.
For files larger than 512 bytes an appropriate error message is generated.

To re-format a Macintosh floppy as a DOS floppy. Run the format command and
insert the disk when requested. Do not run the format command with the disk
in the drive.

If you attempt to use software which uses File Control Block (FCB) calls to 
the file system, it will not work with MacDisk. These are typically old 
applications, written for MS-DOS version 1. An example would be Sidekick.

If you are writing to a Macintosh disk from Lotus 123 V3.1 the files can be
corrupted. This is caused by 123 not flushing the file until either the 
application terminates or another file is written. To avoid any corruption
either do not remove the disk until after the application is quit or ensure 
that another file is written to a different disk before removing the disk.

Using DOS 6 you cannot use MSBACKUP to backup FROM a Macintosh floppy.

The DOS BACKUP command does not recognise Macintosh disks as removable so 
backups TO Macintosh disks will terminate when the disk is full.

It is not advisable to run MacDisk for the first time from within windows. 
It should be run when the PC is starting up (default installation runs it
from Autoexec.bat) or started in DOS before entering Windows.

There are some problems with Macintosh files that are locked and on an
unlocked disk. If they are locked on the Macintosh then they may not appear
as locked on the PC and will be writable. If a file is locked by the PC
and the disk taken back to a Macintosh, this file may not appear as locked.

When running DOS 4.x there are several known problems.

	When loading MacDisk an 'Invalid Configuration' error is generated. 
	This is a problem with the DOS 4 IFSFUNC command and does not effect 
	the loading or operation of MacDisk.

	It is not always possible to print files on Macintosh disks using 
	the PRINT command. It will usually fail with a 'Path not found' 
	error. To print a file with this problem, copy it onto your local 
	DOS disk.

	The BACKUP command will not backup to a Macintosh floppy.

When using dbase IV there is a problem with dbase in low memory situations. 
If the 'largest executable size' as reported by the DOS command MEM is below 
395000 when dbase is booted it is likely to either terminate reporting 
'insufficient memory' or crash the system with an integer divide by zero.

When using Windows for Workgroups there is a conflict caused by the loading 
order of the Windows for Workgroups driver. The effect is that only the first
file on Macintosh disks is seen when they are examined. The solution to this 
problem is to insert the following line

	NET START WORKSTATION

at the end of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file (but before any line that runs Windows 
for Workgroups) and re-boot your PC. This ensures that the Windows for 
Workgroups driver is loaded before Windows for Workgroups is launched.
