Direct filesystem access
========================

FluxEngine will let you read and write files directly, in many cases. This will
allow you to pull files directly off a disk, or flux image, or disk image,
without needing to image it first. You can also write, and make other
modifications, including formatting blank disks, if the filesystem supports it.
The GUI even has a reasonably competent file manager.

<div style="text-align: center">
<a href="filebrowser.jpg"><img src="filebrowser.jpg" style="width:60%" alt="screenshot of the GUI in action"></a>
</div>

The following file systems are supported so far.

| Filesystem                               | Read? | Write? | Notes |
|:-----------------------------------------|:-----:|:------:|-------|
| Acorn DFS                                |   Y   |        |       |
| Amiga FFS                                |   Y   |   Y    | Both OFS and FFS |
| AppleDOS / ProDOS                        |   Y   |   Y    | With a choice of sector remapping |
| Brother 120kB                            |   Y   |   Y    |       |
| Commodore CbmFS                          |   Y   |        | Only 1541 disks so far |
| CP/M                                     |   Y   |        | Requires configuration for each machine |
| FatFS (a.k.a. MS-DOS)                    |   Y   |   Y    | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32; not Atari (AFAIK!) |
| Hewlett-Packard LIF                      |   Y   |        |       |
| Macintosh HFS                            |   Y   |   Y    | Only AppleDouble files may be written |
| pSOS' PHILE                              |   Y   |        | Probably unreliable due to lack of documentation |
| Smaky 6                                  |   Y   |        |       |
| Zilog MCZ RIO's ZDOS                     |   Y   |        |       |
{: .datatable }

Please not that Atari disks do _not_ use standard FatFS, and the library I'm
using for the heavy lifting (ChaN's
[FatFS](http://elm-chan.org/fsw/ff/00index_e.html) doesn't seem to support it.
If you know different, please [get in
touch](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new).

Using it
--------

To use, try syntax like this:

```
fluxengine ls ibm --180 -f drive:0
```

`ibm --180` is the format, which selects the most common filesystem
automatically.  `-f drive:0` specifies a flux source/sink, in this case a real
disk. You may also specify a flux file (read only). Disk images may be
specified with `-i disk.img` (read/write).

Commands which take filename paramaters typically use `-p` to indicate the path
on the disk, and `-l` for the local filename. For example:

```
fluxengine putfile ibm --180 -f drive:0 -p ondisk.pcx -l z.pcx
```

This will copy the file `z.pcx` onto the disk and call it `ONDISK.PCX`.

The directory separator character is _always_ `/`, even if you're using
Macintosh HFS, where it's usually `:`.

The command line interface is pretty clunky, and is intended for scripts. For
everyday use, I'd suggest using the GUI (see the screenshot above).

The supported commands are:

  - **ls**: list files (including in a directory)
  - **getfile**: pull a file off a disk
  - **putfile**: put a file onto a disk
  - **format**: create a new filesystem and format a disk
  - **getfileinfo**: retrieves metadata about a file.
  - **getdiskinfo**: retrieves metadata about the file system.
  - **rm**: deletes a file or empty directory
  - **mv**: renames a file (use `--path` and `--path2` for the old and new paths)
  - **mkdir**: creates a directory
  
There are commands missing here; this is all a work in progress.

Overriding the filesystem type
------------------------------

Sometimes you might want to use a different filesystem on the disk than the
default; for example, Macintosh HFS filesystems are common on 3.5" floppies. You
can do this as follows:

```
fluxengine format ibm --1440 -f drive:1 --filesystem.type=MACHFS
```

Some filesystems won't work on some disks --- don't try this with Amiga FFS, for
example.