afs nf_hostfs

Host Filesystem driver

This disk driver allows you to access host filesystem directly without passing through the hard disk emulation layer. There are drivers for both Metados 'hostfs.dos' and MiNT 'hostfs.xfs'.

MetaDOS driver

First as said before, you need to install MetaDOS, Spin, BetaDOS or ExtenDOS to load the driver at boot time. All have a configuration file 'config.sys' or 'bdconfig.sys' depending on the loader. Note: after some tests, it appears the driver does not work with MetaDOS (and Spin which uses MetaDOS), so use either BetaDOS or ExtenDOS.

You need to edit this file to add a line like this:

  *DOS, \auto\hostfs.dos, P:P

As you see, you have complete pathname to the driver, and 'P:P' means that it maps the GEMDOS drive letter P to the MetaDOS device P. In fact the MetaDOS device does not exists. But you must use the same letter for GEMDOS drive and MetaDOS device. Standard GEM fileselector only have drive letters from A to P, so this is why it would be wise to not assign GEMDOS drives letters Q to Z.

The GEMDOS drive is configured in ARAnyM's config file, [HOSTFS] section, where you map a drive to a host filesystem directory:

  [HOSTFS]
  P = /path/to/my/favorite/atari/software/

Now you don't need floppies anymore to move, copy and access files from your virtual Atari machine.

MiNT driver

If you installed the MiNT multitasking kernel, then there is a driver for it. Just copy the 'hostfs.xfs' file in the MiNT directory, and all drives declared in [HOSTFS] section will be mounted under the U:
directory.