[syslinux] MSCDEX over NDIS ethernet

[Nazo]

On 9/2/05, Darryl L. Miles <darryl at netbauds.net> wrote:
> 
> I would like to implement a replacement MSCDEX driver (based on the
> replacement in FreeDOS SHSUCDX
> http://johnson.tmfc.net/freedos/shsucdx.html and SYSLINUX) however
> instead of talking to disk BIOS calls or PATA chipset I would like it to
> talk to the NDIS driver and act as a TFTP client simply forfulling
> application get block requests through TFTP.
> 
> 
> Its not clear where the ISO9660 CD filesystem is handled, maybe within
> the existing MSCDEX itself already and BIOS calls are used to get disk
> blocks from the CDROM unit.  If possible I'd like to mimic A:, C:, D:
> (cdrom) supporting FAT, VFAT, ISO9660 backing images.
> 
> 
> Goemetry information and other meta data could also be obtained (maybe
> via TFTP too in a simple structured accompanying file to the backing
> image).  I may even wish the TFTP client handle a media change event
> (triggered on another UDP port) so the TFTP client refreshes meta data
> and block requests and emits the same application errors as no CD in
> drive would.
> 
> 
> I wish to be able to run 1st and 2nd stage DOS installer programs
> seamlessly this way as well have have a "tftpdisk" that can present any
> ISO just as-if I had booted from an el-torio CD on the machine itself.
> 
> 
> Maybe somebody already knows of such a project or driver that already
> exists for this purpose ?
> 
> Or maybe somebody can point out some floor in the idea ?  It seems like
> 80% of the ground work is already done between the two projects.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> --
> Darryl L. Miles
> 
> 
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> 

Am I understanding you correctly to be saying that essentially you
want a virtual cdrom using the network to get the cd image?  I'm
thinking that the cdrom extention driver isn't actually what you want
for this purpose.  I've seen utilities designed for fake cdroms in DOS
and they never actually replaced mscdex/shsucdx, but, work along side
it to create a false drive that could fool things.  Mind you, their
purpose was to fool games so they'd run fully off of the harddrive,
and if you aren't meaning to use this for gaming, then you may not
need something so complicated.

Anyway, what I'm thinking is that you might want to speak with the
author of fake cd, which you can find some info on here (email at
bottom of page):  http://www.math.uni-rostock.de/~nfa506/fakecddr.html
 It would probably make more sense to start from a basis of a software
like that, then all you need to do is the networking instead of the
entire thing.