Re: [Rpcemu] RISC OS 6 install instructions - revised

On 25 Jan 2013, Peter Howkins <rpcemu.howkins@marutan.net> wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 04:55:08PM +0000, Tony Moore wrote:

> > No problem. If development is still in progress, could I ask again
> > if the Windows version could be made to allow the hostfs folder to
> > be moved out of the RPCEmu folder? This would enable several RPCEmu
> > installations to access the same files, via HostFS.
>
> There is a big can of worms here that needs a lot of work to do
> properly, so I'm currently ignoring it and trying to concentrate on
> emulation issues.

Fair enough, and many thanks for all your efforts!

> > I understand that this is already possible with the Linux version.
>
> Yes, via symbolic linking. Though I believe something is similarly
> possible under Windows too.
>
> This page has a few suggestions under the Sharing HostFS with Virtual
> Risc PC [1] with regards to linking.
>
> http://www.riscos.info/index.php/RPCEmu_Windows_Tips

I'd seen that page, but not paid much attention to it, in view of its
'deprecated' heading. However, as you say, it leads to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_symbolic_link which contains the
information needed to set up symbolic links - completely new to me.

In case anyone is interested: I have folders RPCEmu_439, RPCEmu_519 and
RPCEmu_620 containing the program files. Each folder contains a copy of
the same hostfs folder, but the redundancy can be avoided as follows

hide the hostfs folders, by renaming them

create a new folder, say, rpcemu_hostfs in the Program Files folder

from the Command Prompt, as Administrator, issue the commands

mklink /d "c:\program files\rpcemu_439\hostfs" "c:\program files\rpcemu_hostfs"
mklink /d "c:\program files\rpcemu_519\hostfs" "c:\program files\rpcemu_hostfs"
mklink /d "c:\program files\rpcemu_620\hostfs" "c:\program files\rpcemu_hostfs"

Quotes are needed, because the paths contain spaces, and the paths may
need to be edited. The commands create symbolic links, named hostfs, in
the three RPCEmu folders, but each link points to the same rpcemu_hostfs
folder, so that the contents of the three renamed hostfs folders can now
be merged in the single rpcemu_hostfs folder.

For this to work, 4.39 and 6.20 must boot from ADFS, thus allowing 5.19
to boot from HostFS, as usual.

Problem solved.

Many thanks, Peter, for the suggestion.

Tony







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