> I think the point was: why bother with mtools when you can do...
> 
> 	mount -t msdos /dev/fd0a /mnt
> 
> ... and read and write it with native unix commands?

Sometimes it's just easier to use mtools - I use them all the time.
Let's say I just want to copy one silly file onto a floppy, for example.
I can either do:
 	mount -t msdos /dev/fd0a /mnt
	cp somefile /mnt
	umount /mnt
	<wait while filesystem syncs itself>

Or I can do:
	mcopy somefile a:
	<done very quick>

Which of the two do you think I'm going to prefer? :-)

Also, mtools is also pretty useful for its `mformat' command.

					Jordan