Every instance of DOS in this file is refering to MicroSoft DOS. It is not in any way an inferance that there is no other types of DOS. ( Far from it, I am a Linux User, myself ).
In DOS every drive has a drive letter associated with it. It is common for thefirst floppy drive to be the A: drive. The first hard drive is usually the C: drive. DOS uses a tree directory structure. Basically, if you were to draw a diagram of the directories, you would have an upside-down tree-like picture:
c:\
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dos windows foxpro
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temp system bin examples
The first directory, \, also called the root directory because it is the "root" of the directory tree. All other directories are called subdirectories. On most DOS versions, it is common for the Command Prompt to display which drive and directory you are currently in, known as the current working directory. To change what your current working directory is use the CD command.
To change to directory DOS from the root directory:
CD DOS
or
CD \DOS
The first one will move you to the DOS directory only if you are in the root direcotory. The second will move you there from anywhere you are on the same disk
Each drive letter has it's own working directory. If it is the first time you are referencing that drive letter, DOS will usually put you into the root directory of that drive.
The root directory is created whenever your format a disk. All other directories are created by the user directly or when programs are installed on the machine. To create a directory, you would type:
MD <directory>
where <directory> is the name for the new directory. REMEMBER, do not name any directory the same as the name of a file.
To remove anempty directory, type:
RD <directory>
where directory is the name for the directory to be deleted.
To remove a directory with files still in it, type:
DELTREE directory
where directory is the name for the directory to be deleted. It will ask you if you want to delete the directory (Y/N). Just type Y and hit ENTER if you are sure. If not, type N and hit enter and it will not remove it.
Files in DOS are limited to 8 character names and a three character extension which is seperated by a period.
Example: AUTOEXEC.BAT
CONFIG.SYS
COMMAND.COM
When DOS displays these files when you type DIR, DOS does NOT display the period. It is implied that it is there by having some empty space between the file name and it's extension.
Example: AUTOEXEC BAT
CONFIG SYS
COMMAND COM
Not even all characters are legal file name characters. If you are new to DOS, keep it simple. If you just use alphabetical and numberical sysmbols only, you will have no trouble with illegal charaters. Directories have the same limitation, and you cannot have a file and a directory of the same name in the same directory. DOS will have trouble creating the second instance of the same name. Usually directories have no extention.
DOS uses a command line interface which is non-graphical. You type in commands in one line at a time. While typing the computer is not yet interpreting what you are typing. It only starts to execute something once you press ENTER. DOS then sends what you had typed to a Command Interpreter to pick apart what you have typed to see if it is a valid command and what arguements, or command line parameters, with it. First it checks to see if the command is built into the kernel, and if it is execute it. It then checks for any file in the current directory, and if there execute it. If it is not then it checks every directory in your path.
DOS commands can be in either UPPER or lower case letters. It is all interpreted as the same by the Command Interpreter. To DOS, the following two commands are identical:
Copy FilE1 A:\
COPY FILE1 a:\
The only time this is not true is when you run a program that was compiled with a case sensitive compiler. This is getting to be rare on DOS, but still exists. If you do not know, but a command failes when it is all or partially UPPER case, try typing it all in lower case.
First of all, there must be made a point about the differences of a disk drive and a disk. A disk drive is the actual physical device that is inside the machine that reads and writes to the disk. The disk is a thin plasic disk with a magnetic sensitive coating on it, inside a protective sleeve. DO NOT EVER REMOVE A DISK FROM IT'S PROTECTIVE SLEEVE. The protective sleeve has holes in it in common places so that a drive can get to it's magnetic media. Because if this it is good to have some kind cover or case to keep the disk in so that dust does not get inside of it. If dust does get inside of it, it can scratch the surface of the disk and ruin the disk. Any information would then be lost.
There are two common physical sizes of floppy disks. 5.25 inch and 3.5 inch disks. For both of these there are a number of different formated sizes, so you have to be careful. For 5.25 disks, there are 180k, 360k disks and 1.2MB disks. For 3.5 disks, there are 720k disks, 1.44MB disks and 2.88MB disks. In order, they were developed: 180k, 360k, 720k, 1.2MB, 1.44MB and 2.88MB. 360k and 720k are known as low density or double density (DD) disks. 1.2MB and 1.44MB are known as high density (HD) disks. The 2.88MB disks are high density disks also, but you have to watch when you buy disks that the FORMATED SIZE is 2.88MB. Some disks have a label that says that they are 2HD, but are only 2.0MB, and so can only be formatted to 1.44MB.
To use any of these sized disks you must find out what floppy drives your machine has. The low density drives can only use the low density disks. The high density drives can use the low density and high density disks, and format high density disks as low density as so they can be used on a low density drive.
Each disk that DOS uses has to have the same information format on them so that DOS can save the correct information onto the disk. If the disk does not have a DOS format on it then anytime you reference it you will recieve an error.
Unless you buy floppy disks that are already formated, you will have to do it yourself before you can use it. To format a floppy disk in the A: drive to the same size as the drive's maximum, or default size, just type:
FORMAT A:
If you are formatting it to a different size, you will have to tell it what size it will be. To format a disk to 720k in a high density drive and it is the A: drive, type:
FORMAT A: /F:720
For a 1.44MB disk in a 2.88MB drive, you would type:
FORMAT A: /F:1.44
Once it is formated, you should be able to do any normal DOS operation to that drive without any additional setup.
To copy a single file from one place to another you should first read Directories and Directory and File Names sections so that you will be able to construct the path of where you want to get or put the file.
To copy a file, type:
COPY <path1><filename1> <path2><filename2>
where: <path1> is the directory path to where the file is if it is not in the current working directory. <filename1> id the name of the file you are trying to copy. <path2> is the directory path of where you are trying to put the file. <filename2> is the new filename to give to the file if it is different from the current file name. If any of these arguements are not different from the defaults, then they could be left out. Here are some examples:
To copy a file from the current directory to the root directory of the floppy in the A: drive:
Copy file1.txt a:\
To copy a file to another file with a different name in the same directory:
Copy file1.txt file2.txt
To copy a file from the A: drive to the current working directory:
Copy A:\file1.txt
Note: To get addtional information for each command, type:
<command> /?
where <command> is the name of the command.