S23DRIVES

The S/23-DRIVES config can help with configuring software written in the 70s on the IBM System 36 mainframes to run on modern PCs.

The System 36 Mainframe used a numbering system rather then the modern Lettering system to refer to your multiple drives. Instead of Drive C, Drive D, and so on, you had Drive 1, Drive 2, Drive 3, and so on.

In System36, file references would include "//#" at the end to identify which drive it was running on. If you had a line such as OPEN #5: "name=TestFile.dat//2...." then it would open the file "TestFile" on drive 2.

These old programs can run unmodified on modern PC's. You simply have to include an S23DRIVES statement that tells BR which drive letters to use for each drive number. These drive letters specify BR Local drives, which can be mapped to folders on your computer using the DRIVE config statement.

Example:

 DRIVE C:,C:\Work\Compusoft\,c,VOL002\
 S/23-DRIVES ABCCC

The above DRIVE configuration statement tells BR to use the C:\Work\Compusoft\Vol002 folder for drive C. Then the S/23-DRIVES statement tells BR that drive //1 should be floppy disk A, drive //2 should be floppy disk B, and drives //3, //4, and //5 should be C:\Work\Compusoft\Vol002.

This should be used for backwards compatibility only. You'll need this command if you're trying to adapt software from a mainframe to run on modern computers using BR. You would never use this for new software - just reference the drive letter instead.

This page is primarily provided for reference purposes - in case you are attempting to maintain old BR software from that era that started on the mainframe and you encounter the S/23 DRIVES statement and need to understand what it is and how it works.