> I don't see any DOSdrivers in the System/Devs/DOSdrivers folder/drawer - ONLY in the
> MorphOS folder/drawer, which is the system assigned MOSSYS: as far as I understand
> it all. So is that where the DOSdrivers should be put, OR if they aren't MOSSYS files then
> am I supposed to place them in the SYS:Devs/DOSdrivers folder/drawer?

From the official MorphOS FAQ:

"What is MOSSYS: and SYS:MorphOS?
MOSSYS: is an assign pointing to SYS:MorphOS. The idea is that SYS:MorphOS is a private directory for the operating system and you do not need to touch anything in it."

"Is it safe to install any third-party components to MOSSYS:?
As a general rule, no. It might work, but we do not support these type of MorphOS setups in any way. Possible bug reports or other forms of help requests caused by related problems will most likely be ignored. Only the MorphOS development team can make sure that all components of MorphOS fit together well and work in harmony. We encourage that you do not risk system stability in favor of adding unofficial software components to MOSSYS:"

This should eventually answer your question, I hope.

> I think you are misunderstanding what I am trying to say - The system created mountlist
> [...] won't change it's filetype from tool to project even when I try to save it as such.
> So, even if I create a Mountlist using MOUNTER I cannot get it to work with "mount68k"
> as I cannot change it from a "tool" to a "project" type to assign a default tool. If I created
> an icon for the mountlist for MorphOS would it then be possible to save the file as a
> "project" to then allow me to assign a default tool

True, I don't understand what you're saying. There is no such thing as a "tool filetype" or "project filetype" for mountlist files, as these are categories for icons, which are files of their own (*.info). So I'm not sure what you mean when you say you tried to save the mountlist file as a project filetype. What you need to do is give the ZIP mountlist file an associated project icon (ZIP.info) where you can enter "mount68k" as default tool. This is in no way different from AmigaOS.

> the only stumbling block for me to get my ZIP disk/drive mounted on Ambient
> was the "MOUNT" PPC/MOS command that I had to swap for the 68k "MOUNT"
> command [...] - and NOT the mountlist

It was geit's idea that your copied mountlist was faulty so that the MorphOS 'mount' command failed where the 3rd party 'mount' command succeeded, not mine. I don't know if geit is right or wrong here so I won't take sides but just tell what the implication would be *if* geit is right.

> I feel you should all encourage people to report such issues

I quote myself from several postings back:

"Yes, this seems to indicate an incompatibility, bug or missing feature in the MorphOS 'mount' command which I think should be investigated by the MorphOS Team."


Edit: Henes answered some points faster (and better) :-)

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 07.11.2013 - 22:22 ]

Quote:
I understand this process you have explained, which I had explained to me when I initially started using MorphOS, and came across this icon difference from Amiga OS, of creating/swapping/copying an icon (.info) file onto the image area in the file "Information" requester, which is I suppose what I thought might be required, but I still need to know if the mountlist created by "Mounter" is useable by MorphOS for a ZIP disk - BUT, if I plug the ZIP drive into another USB port then it's going to alter the UNIT number, so I still need another icon, or will have to amend the icon each time, or create alternative unit copies of it to be able to use it when I do change USB ports.

It would still be better to have Poseidon recognise and mount on Ambient the ZIP disk in whichever port it is connected to, don't you think?

Quote:
I thought that would the case, and I was aware of the MOSSYS: - "Hands-Off" Do Not Tamper with it recommendation, though I had not read that section of the FAQ I just read it more than likely in one of these forums.

Quote:
OK you are being slightly pedantic, but any file when you show the "information" window for it, has a menu to change the file "type" from/to - tool or project - that is what I meant, but I surely thought you would have realised that.

However, you are wrong about the similarity with Amiga OS and icons, specifically with regard to OS3.9, because even if the file does not have an icon when you are altering the file from/to it being a tool/project/drawer/trashcan because as you save the details Amiga OS3.9 CREATES the icon.info from the default icon.info file, for the system to save it - which is why I don't understand why MorphOS doesn't do that as it is logical, and makes far greater sense, at least it seems that way to me.

Quote:
So, here again I consider I am being made to feel like I have done something wrong, as I have not really used a 3rd party 'mount' command as it was the AMIGA OS3.9 - the previous/original incarnation of what MorphOS has become, and even though there was no timely information coming from any developer afer I initally asked this question about whether ZIP disks were supported, which is why, sometime later than my initial thread start, I went ahead and used the Amiga OS3.9 files to get around the lack of support for USB ZIP disks in MorphOS. Which so far I seem to justified in doing, as there is no support for the ZIP USB hardware under MorphOS, even though Poseidon recognises it, which I seem to remember I was the person who asked Chris Hodges to try to implement ZIP drive support for Poseidon under Amiga OS3.9.

Quote:

I look forward to hearing back from the development team on a solution to this issue - to the benefit of all who might want to use a ZIP disk on MorphOS - not that there are likely to be many users who will want to I suppose.

IIRC H&P's OS3.9 didn't even exist when MorphOS was created. And, to be polite, let's say it's generally considered as a bunch of unstable patches. Even if, with time, some of its interesting API might have be implemented in MorphOS when it made sense.
What I meant is MorphOS does not always try to be compatible with 3.9's "extensions".

Maybe your mountlist uses one of them which isn't supported by MorphOS' mount command.
Or maybe there is some other bug/error yet to find...

In any case, what I suggest is you upload your not-working moutlist file somewhere. Unmodified.
Because posting it on MZ forum has modified it, changed line feed and so on. So other people could reproduce your issue and maybe somebody will understand what's happening. Then we can decide if the mountfile is broken, c:mount is buggy, c:mount doesn't implement something... etc

And, in my understanding so far, this is in no way related to ZIP support working or not (since it works in the end...). More some c:mount issue which could arise with a completly different device too.


PS: and, sorry, .info icon files work "the same as" in AmigaOS :) Or nothing would work at all. As I understand, the only difference you noticed if the way the information windows create new icons or not... Which would just be a Workbench (3.9 only?) VS Ambient different (and yes, you could be right on what makes more sense or not).
One of the "annoying" points in the original Workbench (and which was copied into Ambient and Magellan too) is the information windows access/changes both the file attributes (like the RWED protection bits) and the associated .info icon file. i.e. one GUI let you access two different files depending on which GUI elements you touch... Which can be considered confusing from a certain point of view... And which this thread tends to confirm for me :-)

> any file when you show the "information" window for it, has a menu to change the
> file "type" from/to - tool or project - that is what I meant

Yes, it would probably be better if handling of virtual icons (i.e. no real *.info files) was changed to either display the icon type (again: not "file type") without any option to change it, or leave it changeable *and* have MorphOS create an icon file of the selected type when saved.

> you are wrong about the similarity with Amiga OS and icons, [...] because even
> if the file does not have an icon when you are altering the file from/to it being a
> tool/project/drawer/trashcan because as you save the details Amiga OS3.9
> CREATES the icon.info from the default icon.info file

I stand corrected then and should have written "AmigaOS 3.1" (which MorphOS is based on) instead of just "AmigaOS".

> I have not really used a 3rd party 'mount' command as it was the AMIGA OS3.9

The AmigaOS 'mount' command does not come with MorphOS nor was it written by you, which makes it a 3rd party component for MorphOS according to the widely accepted definition of the term.

> the previous/original incarnation of what MorphOS has become

MorphOS is explicitly based on AmigaOS 3.1, not 3.9, but I don't know what the changes are between the 'mount' commands of 3.1 and 3.9, if any. It might prove enlightening to verify with the AmigaOS 3.1 'mount' command with the same mountlist(s) to see whether it resembles the 'mount' command of MorphOS or the one of AmigaOS 3.9.

Quote:
I think your comments that Amiga OS 3.9 is "a bunch of unstable patches" is an unfair comment on the whole, and one that is basically unjustified. As the system is, though it is now past its 'sell-by-date', generally stable, and very responsive, and in some regards - like the icon.info handling a better way of handling icons in the regard I have described already than that offered by MorphOS, which is a much more modern interpretation of WB3.1, which I actually didn't know it was/is.
Quote:
I know there was bad blood between some developers/users of the 2 OS's, but please, let's lay that corpse to rest, and move on.

I am not convinced that there is a bug in the Amiga OS 3.9 mountlist icon, or the 68k mount command, but just some incompatibility between the 2 OS's, which I cannot understand.

As far as I am aware, a mountlist is just a text file in reality that is executed to get the system to 'show' the device on the 'desktop', and I cannot see that it could be classed as a 'buggy' extension as I believe 3.1 and 3.9 mountlist icons work in the same way - unless someone can convince me otherwise.
Quote:
Where do I upload it? If necessary - please read my next comment first of all.
Quote:
I can assure you that if you copy just the text I have imported to this thread then that is all that was in the mountlist other than the tooltypes, which I have mentioned already, but if this is not to be trusted then all you would need to do is get a mountlist icon from an Amiga DOSdriver for a ZIP drive off the Amiga OS3.9 or maybe even the OS 3.5 CDs as that is all I did. Have you not got access to these files?
Quote:
So, are we likely to see a modification to the way the default non-.info files are handled by MorphOS? So they work more harmoniously in the system, as they do in Amiga OS3.9.
Quote:
Do you mean it alters the MD5 checksum as well, or creation date, etc. or something else I haven't quite understood?

Quote:
I am glad that you think this would be a better way to handle default/non-.info files as it works so much better in Amiga OS 3.9 than it does in MorphOS - though there are many things that MorphOS does much better than Amiga OS3.9 does, which is the main reason I migrated here - and I don't think I am disappointed I did.

Though my ears (eyes actually) have taken a bit of an ear(eye)-bashing recently, in this thread.
Quote:
I appreciate you stand corrected, as we all make mistakes.
Quote:
I think that is being a bit pinnickity - it came from a recognised Official AMIGA version which, as far as I am aware, is the same in version as in WB 3.1 and 3.5 and 3.9 - this may prove to be correct - or not, but I feel it is code that was released by Amiga and should be accepted to be from the same 'stable' as the version WB3.1 was and thus what MorphOS is based on.
Quote:
I agree that the 'mount' commands code for WB 3.1 & 3.9 & MorphOS should be thoroughly checked for any inconsistencies or incompatibilties, though I am not sure what this will reveal.

However, I still feel that the solution to mounting the ZIP disk icon onto Ambient should be better handled by Poseidon/Trident as it is unrealistic to have to double-click on one of a variety of icons (for a specific USB port/unit) once you know which unit has been recognised by Poseidon that the ZIP drive/disk is plugged into.

> I am not convinced that there is a bug in the Amiga OS 3.9 mountlist icon [...]. [...] I believe
> 3.1 and 3.9 mountlist icons work in the same way [...]. [...] get a mountlist icon from an
> Amiga DOSdriver for a ZIP drive off the Amiga OS3.9 or maybe even the OS 3.5 CDs

I notice that after all that Henes and I told you in this regard, you continue to write "mountlist icon" when you mean "mountlist file". Again: a file and its associated icon are two distinct entities. Nobody has supposed there was a bug in any icon, or that 3.1 and 3.9 icons work in different ways. These suppositions have all been made with regard to the actual mountlist files.

> As far as I am aware, a mountlist is just a text file in reality that is executed

To be more precise, what is executed is the 'mount' command with the contents of the mountfile passed as arguments.

> are we likely to see a modification to the way the default non-.info files are
> handled by MorphOS?

If by "non-.info files" you mean "non-file icons", I'd like to see that change as well.

Quote:
No, in Amiga OS3.9 the mountlist has an ICON so that is what I copied - the mountlist is passed to the 'mount' command when the ICON is double-clicked, this is a slight issue of how Amiga OS3.9 ICONs are used in that OS, and how there is NO ICON with a mountlist under MorphOS.

There is a difference between the 2 OS's but what I said I believe is correct in the context I said it.
Quote:
OK, I'll go along with that, but it's a moot point.

> I am glad that you think this would be a better way to handle default/non-.info files

...more like "non-file icons".

> it came from a recognised Official AMIGA version which, as far as I am aware, is the same
> in version as in WB 3.1 and 3.5 and 3.9

I just checked the respective 'mount' commands of 3.1 and 3.5/3.9 using 'version full' command, which gives:
- mount 40.4 (27.09.93), 6880 bytes in 3.1
- Mount 44.6 (14.07.99), 6684 bytes in 3.5/3.9

> I feel it is code that was released by Amiga and should be accepted to be from the
> same 'stable' as the version WB3.1 was and thus what MorphOS is based on.

This doesn't change in the slightest that the AmigaOS 3.9 'mount' command is 3rd party software for MorphOS, which even the AmigaOS 3.1 'mount' command is by definition.

> I agree that the 'mount' commands code for WB 3.1 & 3.9 & MorphOS should be
> thoroughly checked for any inconsistencies or incompatibilties

Opposed to what some might claim (and have claimed in the past), the MorphOS Team says it doesn't have access to AmigaOS source code.

>>> I am not convinced that there is a bug in the Amiga OS 3.9 mountlist icon [...]. [...] I believe
>>> 3.1 and 3.9 mountlist icons work in the same way [...]. [...] get a mountlist icon from an
>>> Amiga DOSdriver for a ZIP drive off the Amiga OS3.9 or maybe even the OS 3.5 CDs

>> I notice that after all that Henes and I told you in this regard, you continue to write
>> "mountlist icon" when you mean "mountlist file". Again: a file and its associated icon
>> are two distinct entities. Nobody has supposed there was a bug in any icon, or that
>> 3.1 and 3.9 icons work in different ways. These suppositions have all been made
>> with regard to the actual mountlist files.

> No, in Amiga OS3.9 the mountlist has an ICON so that is what I copied

Yes, you copied both the mountlist file and the associated icon file, but that is not what my objection is about. I object against your idea that anyone in this thread assumed there was "a bug in the Amiga OS 3.9 mountlist icon" or that it was not the case that "3.1 and 3.9 mountlist icons work in the same way", when in fact these assumptions have been made by geit and Henes with regard to the actual mountlist file, *not* its associated icon, which is a different file.

> this is a slight issue of how Amiga OS3.9 ICONs are used in that OS, and how there is
> NO ICON with a mountlist under MorphOS. There is a difference between the 2 OS's
> but what I said I believe is correct in the context I said it.

Under MorphOS, if you create an associated icon for a mountlist file (for instance the way Henes has explained it), it has an icon as a result which then works the same as in AmigaOS. And if you copy from AmigaOS a mountlist file with associated icon, it keeps its icon under MorphOS, which then works the same as in AmigaOS. In terms of icon handling, the only relevant difference between MorphOS and AmigaOS 3.5+ is in the way you can create an icon.