> Recently I copied a debian linux archive with a funky filename
> (say gcc-2.7.2.deb) into /ms-dos/tmp and it gave it a bizarre filename
> (it included tildes, which I hear is MS-Win95's rearing it's hideous head)
> PLUS it had a period in the "8" part of the "8.3" so it was unreadable from
> MS-LOS, and Linux couldn't read it either (big suprise there).

I just tried creating a file with that very name.  First I tried a floppy
mounted with long filenames enabled; it created the desired filename, and
when I remounted with short filenames enforced, the file had the name
gcc-27~1.deb, as one would expect.  I then wiped the floppy (is there a better
MS-SOD mkfs than "mformat"?), and mounted with short filenames, and recreated
the file; again, it was gcc-27~1.deb.

I just checked the floppy on a Win-95 system; it heartily approved of the
shortened file name, and also approved of the long filename (I had taken it
back to the NetBSD system and recreated the file in long-filename mode without
deleting the original file, so now there was gcc-27~1.deb and gcc-2.7.2.deb).

This was an empty diskette; it's not out of the question that something could
misfire on a floppy with lots of files.