MetaDOS is a system extension that allows
TOS to support non-native block devices (like CDroms) and non-native file systems (like long filenames).
MetaDOS has two major clones which are
BetaDOS by
Ulf Ronald Andersson and
ExtenDOS by
Anodyne Software. As of
MiNT release,
MetaDOS is
deprecated in favor of
MiNT extended filesystem interface (working with .XFS drivers). The last known
MetaDOS version is v2.74, freely released by Atari in 1997.
From the user point of view,
MetaDOS is just a .PRG program file that comes with its .BOS and .DOS drivers. All these files are to be copied in the
AUTO? folder so that
MetaDOS can be launched at startup. It is as simple as that.
From the programmer point of view,
MetaDOS is a block device
API? that accepts plugable block device drivers (.BOS files) and filesystems drivers (.DOS files). The
MetadosFunctionReference only documents the block device functions because access to the filesystem is done through the use of standard
GEMDOS filesystem functions. The
MetaDOS API? is deprecated in favor of
MiNT device driver functions, so when available, you should use
Fcntl() and other standard
GEMDOS filesystem functions.