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APPLE II DEVELOPMENT FORUM CONFERENCE LOG
February 21, 1989  10:00 p.m. Eastern time
Topic: Apple II Operating Systems
Forum Leader: James Luther (Jump Long)


AFA Gary J Tonight's topic is Operating Systems.
DennisDoms (Operating Systems, I think)
AFA Gary J Hi Dave
DennisDoms It just seemed to be a good, friendly RT with some good info.
Matt DTS   I'm glad to hear it!
Matt DTS   Hi Dave, Doug, Everyone Else.
Dave Lyons Howdy, all.
Jump Long  Hi all!
HeckOfAGuy wehn do we start?
AFA Gary J Hi Jump!
Jump Long  <- AFL Jim left his disk at work.
AFA Gary J :)
SEGlass    Whats the topic tonight?
HeckOfAGuy bye
AFA Gary J Operating Systems.
Matt DTS   Jim left here right around an hour ago, like a good little soldier
           (OSs, Steve)
SEGlass    I guess I'll stick around.  I might know a thing or two.
Matt DTS   I've heard that.
Jump Long  I wonder how many times I'll have to tell who I am tonight...
SEGlass    Thats the one about Dorthy and a wizzard, right?
AFA Gary J heheh...
AFA Gary J Jim IS here!
Jump Long  <- AFL Jim (really!)
SEGlass    where?
Jump Long  Anyway... Welcome to the Apple II Development Forum. Tonight's
           topic is AppleII
Jump Long  Operating Systems.
Jump Long  I guess we'll start off with no protocol until things get going.
Jump Long  (here Steve)
SEGlass    Now I see.
Jump Long  The floor is open...
AFA Gary J I've got one, (if nobody else does...)  
Jump Long  Hi Guy
AFA Parik  why does GS/OS replace the control panel vector?
Jump Long  GA Gary
Guy Rice   Hello JML.
AFA Parik  (bugs in the ROM version, etc)
AFA Gary J What is it about the GetFileInfo call that could cause a "Block
           number out of
Dave Lyons A better question is DOES GS/OS replace the control panel vector,
           I think.
AFA Gary J range error" in GS/OS?
Jump Long  <- Jim M Luther
Guy Rice   I'm sure it does...
AFA Parik  it does, I've got two GSs, one w/ ProDOS 8 and one w/ GSOS and one
           points to
Dave Lyons Gary, it reads the bitmap and finds that there's a free block past
           the end
Dave Lyons of the volume!
AFA Parik  routines in bank $14 and one points to routines in $FE.  I
           disassembled them
SEGlass    !
Guy Rice   GS/OS replaces it I think so that you can't get in while the Busy
           flag is set.
Dave Lyons (I tried it a little bit ago & posted a msg in your folder in
           ADV:OS.)
AFA Parik  both and they seem to be the same except for a few minor
           differences.
AFA Gary J Yes, but doesn't ProDos 8 read the bit map as well?
AFA Gary J Ok, Thanks Dave!
Dave Lyons Parik, do you have SoftSwitch installed?
AFA Parik  nope
SEGlass    Wow, this all went by too fast!!!!
AFA Parik  (Hi Scott)
Jump Long  Maybe we better go to protocol...
ScottG25   (Hi Everyone)
Jump Long  Q= Parik, Gary
SEGlass    Please
AFA Gary J Q = Parik
Dave Lyons !
AFA Parik  :)
Jump Long  GA Steve
AFA Parik  Question again: GS/OS replaces the Control Panel vector ($E1/0048)
           with its
AFA Gary J Q = Parik (Steve, Dave)
AFA Parik  own routine in bank $14.  Is there some bug in the ROM version
           which is
AFA Parik  located at bank $FE?
SEGlass    GSOS does not replace the vector.
Guy Rice   It does.
SEGlass    The event manager does replace the vector.
SEGlass    It always has replaced since the very first ROM.
SEGlass    It has nothing to do with the OS.  
AFA Parik  ok, thanks.  
AFA Parik  (any particular reason why?  :)
SEGlass    The idea was that the CDA request should be an event, not always
           an
Dave Lyons Well, I just checked (event mgr off), and there is indeed a
           RAM-based version
Guy Rice   Right.
SEGlass    interrupt.
SEGlass    That way an event based program could control whats going on
Dave Lyons installed there (I hadn't noticed before).  It's a patch on the
           System Disk,
SEGlass    a little better. GA.
Dave Lyons but it isn't actually part of GS/OS.  (Just TOOL.SETUP / TS2.)
Guy Rice   In other words, System 4.0 replaces it.
Guy Rice   ?
AFA Gary J Q = Parik (Dave)
Dave Lyons Correct.
AFA Gary J Q = Parik (Dave), Guy
AFA Parik  GA
Dave Lyons I haven't compared the ROM version w/ the RAM version, but
Jump Long  Guy, GA
Guy Rice   Ooops - sorry, that was a mistake... ga
Dave Lyons I remember there were some (relatively harmless, but ugly?) bugs
           in the ROM.
Jump Long  ooops
Dave Lyons (Ken Kashmarek rewrote the thing as SOFTSWITCH.INIT or something,
           too.)
Dave Lyons (ga)
Jump Long  Guy, was that a question or not at question?
Guy Rice   Nope. sorry.
AFA Parik  They're both almost the same BTW.  Is it safe to put a $00 in
           $E01D67 to 
Jump Long  OK, Gary, do you want to repeat your question or did you get
           enough of an
Jump Long  answer?
AFA Parik  disable the control panel?  This fools it into believing its being
           re-entrant.
AFA Parik  re-entrant = re-entered.
AFA Gary J I think Dave answered my question.  He was nice enough to test my
           situation.
SEGlass    !
Jump Long  GA Steve
AFA Gary J I was getting a "block out of range" error on my hard drive when
           doing a 
AFA Gary J GetFileInfo call on the volume.
SEGlass    I think I just remembered why we patched it.
AFA Gary J GA
SEGlass    There was a problem if you went into the CDAs and an NDA was the
SEGlass    front window.  The event manager would pass all keystrokes to
SEGlass    the NDA even though it was not on the part of the screen you could
           see.
SEGlass    We fixed it by telling the system that the CDA menu was active and
           not allowing
SEGlass    keystroke events to passed on to NDAs at this time.  Leaving the
           CDAs
SEGlass    activated the NDAs again.
SEGlass    GA
Dave Lyons !
Jump Long  GA Dave
AFA Gary J Q = Parik (Dave)
Dave Lyons I don't understand...did it pass the keystrokes _only_ to the NDA,
           or would
Dave Lyons they also get seen by a CDA doing ReadChar calls?  (I've never had
           trouble
Dave Lyons typing in Nifty List with NDAs open, on any version of the System
           Disk.)
Dave Lyons (ga)
SEGlass    The way GetNextEvent works is that before the event is returned to
           the
SEGlass    calling routine, SystemEvent is called.  SystemEvent looks at the
           
SEGlass    top window.  If it is a system window, then it sees if that system
           window
SEGlass    wants the kind of event that is being looked at.  If it does want
           the
AFA Gary J Q = Dave (Steve)
SEGlass    event, then it passes it on the the NDA and the event manager
           returns
SEGlass    a null event.  If the NDA does not want that kind of event, the
           event
SEGlass    manager returns it.  An NDA that does not accept keystrokes would
           not
SEGlass    have caused a problem.
Dave Lyons Well...I'm still baffled, then.  I'm pretty sure I have a lot of
           NDAs that have
SEGlass    Does that help?  GA.
Dave Lyons -1 (all events) for their event masks, even though they don't
           actually do
Dave Lyons anything with keyDown events if they get them.  I'll look into it
           some more.
Dave Lyons (done)
Jump Long  For those that just wandered in, I'm AFL Jim (really!)
Matt DTS   He is not!  I'M AFL JIM!
Guy Rice   Heheh...
AFA Gary J Sure you are.. :)  And I'M Steve Wozniak!
JSchober   :)
SEGlass    I thought you were John Scully
Jump Long  haha, Matt - You could be if you went a couple of cubes over!
Jump Long  (and knew the secret code :)
Jump Long  Anyway... back to OSs
SEGlass    !
JSchober   (did I miss anyone's FN??  %)
Coach101   ?
Jump Long  GA Steve
AFA Gary J Q = (Steve), Coach
SEGlass    Just an interesting point to note:  we have not yet been talking
           about
SEGlass    anything relating to an OS on the GS.  
SEGlass    This desk manager stuff and event manager stuff is all independent
           of
Jump Long  Gary was...
AFA Gary J :)
SEGlass    the OS.  The patch may have first appeared on the 4.0 disk which
           
SEGlass    is so well noted for GS/OS, but many people have trouble
           distinguishing where
SEGlass    the OS starts and stops.  Not that I'm complaining, the same
           problem happens
SEGlass    inside Apple for all our product lines too.  GA.
Dave Lyons [No problem:  The OS starts at $E100A8 and B0. :) ]
AE JohnS   :-)
AFA Gary J Q = Coach
Jump Long  GA Coach
Coach101   With regard to disk caching,
Coach101   When I set the size with the Apple Nda, when is that emory
           actually
Coach101   used, what can cause a release of that memory, and what happens
           if
Coach101   the amount of memory is not available at the time that GsOs goes
Coach101   to do a Cache operation (presuming that the memory is not a hard
Coach101   set aside from the time the value is set in the Nda)    GA
Jump Long  I think that was covered in the message boards several months
           ago...
Dave Lyons !
Matt DTS   ! (Since no one else is)
Dave Lyons (ga Matt)
Jump Long  GA Dave
Matt DTS   (dave, quit that)
AFA Gary J Q = Coach (Dave, Matt)
SEGlass    I knew Dave and Matt could answer!
AFA Gary J :)
Jump Long  Let's all answer...
Matt DTS   The cache size set by the Disk Cache NDA is the maximum size that
           the cache may grow to.
AFA Gary J Q = Coach (Matt OR Dave..both at the same time)
Jump Long  If the memory isn't available, GS/OS won't get it.
Matt DTS   It is not all allocated when you set the cache size (which is done
           through a mostly-undocumented...
Matt DTS   ResetCache call), but is allocated as drivers and FSTs request
           that blocks be cached.
Dave Lyons  ! --> ?
Matt DTS   It is only released when a driver/FST asks a particular cached
           block to be flushed from the...
Matt DTS   ...cache or a ResetCache call is allocated.  (GA, Dave)
Dave Lyons I would have got that mostly wrong, BTW.  Anyway, now I have a
           question
Dave Lyons instead:  What is the difference between a 0K and a 16K cache
           setting?  I read
Dave Lyons that the cache is always at least 16K.  Does that mean it's
           setting+16K, or
Dave Lyons min(16K,setting) ?
SEGlass    16K or is this a trick question
Dave Lyons (I mean the "maximum cache size", of course.)
SEGlass    !
AFA Gary J Q = Coach & Dave (Matt)
Matt DTS   The OS has an internal cache that FSTs may use that is at least
           16K, regardless of the NDA setting.
Jump Long  GA Steve
Jump Long  and Matt
Dave Lyons Okay, so the effective maximum is 16K more than the setting.  Got
           it.
SEGlass    The settings above 0 are in addition to what the OS will do
           anyway.
Matt DTS   (Steve will correct me if I'm wrong.)
SEGlass    There are other times that the cache is flushed.
AFA Gary J Q = Coach & Dave (Steve & Matt)
SEGlass    Most specifically, when the disk from which the blocks came from
           is
Matt DTS   That's true.  I forgot about that.
SEGlass    ejected.  
SEGlass    Caching also works differently depending on whether or not 
SEGlass    sessions is on or off.
SEGlass    I'm not sure of the details, but generally, many more blocks are
           cached
Dave Lyons ?
SEGlass    if sessions is on.  Also, applications can get involved in
           caching, but again
SEGlass    I don't know the details.  GA.
AFA Gary J Q = Coach, Dave
Jump Long  Coach, is this enough or do you have a follow-up question?
Matt DTS   !
Matt DTS   ! = "Do you want more details or is that enough?"
Jump Long  GA Matt, give us details.
Coach101   A ? and !
Matt DTS   I'll let Coach go first since he has the floor.  GA.
Jump Long  OK, GA Coach
Coach101   first the comment.   Since re-booting a II-Gs is an infrequent
Coach101   happening, and I never eject my hard-disk (intentionally), it 
Coach101   is reasonable that I could accumulate some long unused cache
Coach101   blocks from an application that ran an hour ago.  Now I come
Coach101   along and have a memory hungy application that does not have
Coach101   much need for disk cacheing.  Is there a provision for an
           application
Coach101   to cause the cache to be flushed?  Now I forgot the second ?  Ga
SEGlass    !
Jump Long  GA Matt or Steve
AFA Gary J Q = Coach (Matt/Steve), Dave
Matt DTS   (GA Steve - researching)
SEGlass    Unless an application does something special, there are not
SEGlass    many blocks that the OS will cache by itself.  The exception to
           this
Dan Burton !
SEGlass    is the sessions call which causes the cache to be flushed when
Matt DTS   !
SEGlass    sessions are turned off.  But there is still the potential for
           problems.  The
AFA Gary J Q = Coach (Steve/Matt, Dan), Dave
SEGlass    cache is not purgable.  GA
Coach101   So,
Dan Burton It would be nice to be able to turn cache off or bea able to fulsh
           it for us 
Jump Long  Matt, GA
Coach101   BeginSession followed by EndSession will effectively reduce the
Dan Burton Crazy people that use 1 CMS drive on 2 IIGSs
Coach101   current cache to its smallest size (16k) ?
Dave Lyons !
Matt DTS   (everyone else GA - I just wanted to stick my foot in the door)
Dave Lyons Dan, write your own device driver that never caches any blocks on
           your drive.
Dan Burton I thought about it.
SEGlass    I don't know if the session calls will flush any more than what is
           collected
SEGlass    during the time sessions is on.  An easy FlushAll is a good idea. 
           I don't
SEGlass    know if it is easy to do, but Matt is researching...   Any news
           matt?
AFA Gary J Q = Coach (Steve), Dave
SEGlass    GA
Matt DTS   Hold on - let me find the latest question...
AFA Gary J (he must be multi-tasking again  :)
Coach101   Applicatiion level Flush All --- I think?
Jump Long  Steve, are cache blocks purgable at any level by the Memory
           Manager?
Matt DTS   Ok.  First, ResetCache will flush the cache.  We didn't document
           this call in Volume 1 mostly...
Matt DTS   ...of time constraints.  We'll try to get it in the Final (A-W)
           manual, and probably a tech note too.
Jump Long  (never mind)
Dave Lyons (It's in NLIST.DATA, tho, I think.)
Matt DTS   Second - a Session in progress effectively directs all blocks that
           are written as cached NOT to be...
Matt DTS   ...written to disk as well, until an EndSession is encountered. 
           Since the ProDOS FST automatically...
AFA Gary J Q - Coach (Matt/Steve), Dave
Dave Lyons !
Matt DTS   ...caches (or requests caching for) "system blocks" (directories,
           bit-maps, etc.), this has the effect
AFA Gary J Q + (Dave)
Matt DTS   ...of writing just the data blocks to disk immediately, and not
           writing all the directory...
Matt DTS   ...updates until the end of the session.  This keeps the drive
           head from moving around so much...
Matt DTS   ...and increases speed.  The whole scheme fails if the application
           asks that all the files it's...
AFA Gary J Q = Coach (Matt/Steve, Dave), Dave
Matt DTS   ...reading/writing be cached as well, since those will kick out
           all the system blocks in the cache...
Matt DTS   ...unless the cache is big enough to hold EVERYTHING, and things
           will be around normal speed.
Matt DTS   For more information on this, I strongly recommend (since I was
           strongly suggested to write it)...
Matt DTS   ...GS/OS TN #3, "Pointers on Caching", which should be right here
           in the ADV library.  GA.  (Whew!)
AFA Gary J Yes, it is in the library.
Coach101   I read Tn 43.  It did an outstanding job of discussing and
Jump Long  I might note that Gary Little's new book has the ResetCache call
           documented in
Jump Long  it.
Coach101   explaing when to use cacheing.  It did not address the items
           that
AFA Gary J Q = Coach (Dave), Dave
Coach101   have come forth in this discussion.  Thanks for all the
           information.
Coach101   That finishes my questions ...    Ga....
Dave Lyons Does ResetCache flush the internal 16K, too?
Jump Long  Dave GA
Dave Lyons :)
Dave Lyons (No big deal--just wondering if Doug is going to fry his drive
           trying to use
Dave Lyons it.)
Jump Long  ResetCache resizes the cache to the battery RAM setting.
Dave Lyons Mmmm.  So it doesn't necessarily remove all blocks from the cache,
           right?
Jump Long  I would _guess_ that flushes it in the process (I don't know).
ScottG25   ?
Dave Lyons Okay, a more interesting pair of questions:  Does the Finder use
           Sessions? and
AFA Gary J Q = (Dave), Dave, Scott
Dave Lyons is the cache limited by its set size even during a session?
SEGlass    Yes and I thing no.
DaviesDoug !
SEGlass    thing should be think
Jump Long  GA Doug
DaviesDoug Think I've seen a couple of SESSION calls in FINDER (kludging
           through it...
DaviesDoug one day)
AFA Gary J Q = Dave (Doug), Scott
Dave Lyons Okay, good.
Dave Lyons Well, let me throw out 2 more things quickly:
Dave Lyons Can generated drivers generate disk-switched events, or whatever
           the right
Dave Lyons terminology is?  For example, what about a Laser 3.5 drive on a
           UDC card or
Dave Lyons something?  (Somebody on Info-Apple was complaining that GS/OS
           would prompt
Dave Lyons for a disk & never notice that he switched disks.)
Matt DTS   Stupid Macintosh crashes all the **** time...
Matt DTS   ...<grumble grumble grumble>
SEGlass    Use a real system!
Jump Long  Turn off intermail, Matt ;)
Dave Lyons Nobody tackling that one?
Matt DTS   What
Matt DTS   ('s the question?)
Jump Long  Repeat it, Dave
Dave Lyons The ? was can a generated device driver come up with disk-switched
           events, like
AFA Gary J Q = Dave (??), Scott
Dave Lyons for a 3rd-party 3.5" drive on a 3rd-party interface card.  A user
           was 
Dave Lyons complaining that GS/OS never noticed he switched disks & kept
           prompting for
Dave Lyons the one he had already inserted.
Jump Long  on what drive and card, Dave? (you'll like this Matt)
Matt DTS   A generated driver never generates disk-switched EVENTS, to the
           best of my knowledge.  However...
Guy Rice   Heheh!
Dave Lyons I think it was a Laser 3.5 drive on a UDC card, but that might be
           wrong--I can'
Dave Lyons t check the msg right now.
AFA Gary J Q = Dave (Matt), Scott
SEGlass    Did he crash again?
Matt DTS   ...a generated Extended SmartPort driver can return disk-switched
           errors when they occur.  GA.
JSchober   ...let me try to hunt down Dave's message on info-apple here...
           hang on...
Dave Lyons While Joe's doing that, I want to take a quick poll:  How many
           people here
Dave Lyons are reasonably sure they've had a volume damaged because a buggy
           3rd-party
Dave Lyons utility accidentally overwrote part of GS/OS's cache?  I have. 
           (Some Apple
Dave Lyons people already know how I feel about this.)
JSchober   (Dave:  got an approximate date-posted on that message?)
Dave Lyons (Yeah, approximately yesterday or today, I think.)
JSchober   Ok...
AFA Gary J Q = Dave, Scott
Matt DTS   {S About Applelink}
Coach101   Getting at checksumming, Dave?
Dave Lyons Yes, Coach, I'd like to see the OS do some checking when reading
           from the
Dave Lyons cache to make sure it hasn't been tromped over.
SEGlass    If you run something that trashes random memory, check summing the
           cache
Coach101   I see the problem Dave, but that little old 65816 is very
SEGlass    is not going to make it safe to run that application.
Coach101   overworked.  But, it would protect the inexperienced appliance
Guy Rice   It will prevent that application from destroying the disk,
           though...
Dave Lyons Right, I don't mean that checksumming would make me feel safe
           using a buggy
Jump Long  It could be tromping on the OS in many other places.
Dave Lyons application--only that it would point out the problem in some
           cases!  I'd want
Coach101   user.  I would probably turn it off and take my chances with
DaviesDoug Welcome back matt!!!!!!!!!
DaviesDoug hehe
AFA Gary J Q = Dave, Scott
Dave Lyons it to cause a fatal error giving the address of the trashed block,
           and there'd
Coach101   _better_ software.   Or......   Hardware memoryp protect!!!
Dave Lyons be some chance of identifying the culprit from the data it stored
           over the
Dave Lyons cache.
SEGlass    The only time that cached memory is written is when the 
JSchober   (stupid ALINK software... BUFFER FULL on the catalog...
           sorry...)
SEGlass    application uses the sessions call.
Matt DTS   Not exactly, Steve.
Dave Lyons No, Steve:  Here's what happened to me.  Something overwrote the
           last 1/4 of
AFA Gary J Careful, Joe.  BillP is here  :)
Coach101   WRITE-THROUGH I DEARLY HOP!!!!!!
Dave Lyons the cached image of the first block of my *:system directory. 
           Some change
SEGlass    The one exception is the bitmap and directory blocks.
BillP      :X
AFA Gary J Q = Dave, Scott
JSchober   (oops!  uhhh... HIII, Bill.... %)
Dave Lyons was made to some file in that dir block (file added or deleted, or
           locked or
Guy Rice   That's some exception!
Dave Lyons unlocked or whatever), and the damaged block was read from the
           cache, changed,
Dave Lyons and re-written.  Presto!  Lots of warnings to move the data to
           another disk.
Dave Lyons Ick.  I realize checksumming would decrease performance, but not
           all _that_
Dave Lyons much.  It could be limited to system blocks if that would help,
           and it could
Dave Lyons be a configurable option (which I would leave ON most of the time,
           but which
Dave Lyons could default to OFF for people not developing software).
Matt DTS   On the other hand, protecting developers makes it much easier for
           them to accidentally....
SEGlass    Could be an interesting Programmer preference.
Matt DTS   ...release buggy software (bugs they didn't find because they had
           checksumming on).
AFA Gary J Q = Dave (Matt/Steve), Scott
Dave Lyons Matt, WHAT?  How could that happen?
Dave Lyons They would FIND bugs that they otherwise would miss.  A checksum
           failure, in
Dave Lyons my plan, would cause a fatal error, not a re-read from disk.
SEGlass    Not the way I'd put such a feature in.  Disks would not get
           trashed but
Matt DTS   It couldn't if your suggestion of a fatal error for bad checksum
           was taken.  That's the first I've...
Matt DTS   ...heard of it.
SEGlass    the App would not keep running!
Dave Lyons Well, maybe I didn't make my vision clear enough when I mentioned
           it before,
SEGlass    There are things that can be done now to simulate something like
           this.
AFA Gary J Q = Dave (Matt/Steve), Scott
Dave Lyons but that's what I've wanted all along--something to make SURE you
           notice when
Dave Lyons something bad happens.
SEGlass    One could write a heart beat task that checksummed blocks that it
           owns
SEGlass    and put up messages when the mem is trashed.  It would use memory
           but it 
SEGlass    would be a good test.  You could even link it into the Tool
           Dispatch vector
SEGlass    so it would run more often.  (It would slow things down a lot so
           you'd
SEGlass    probably want to make it part of a CDA so you could turn it on
           and
SEGlass    off).
SEGlass    GA
Dave Lyons Yes, that's a good idea.  I may do something like that sometime. 
           But Murphy's
Dave Lyons Law says that the GS/OS cache is going to get trashed, and the
           blocks my
Jump Long  How would you get it to take care of the Cache blocks?
Dave Lyons heartbeat routine checks are not. :)
AFA Gary J Q = Dave (Matt/Steve), Scott
Dave Lyons After my latest debugging experience last night, I'm also
           considering something
Dave Lyons to check the current QD port for validity on all appropriate
           calls.  (I found
Jump Long  Would it cause an check of some kind everytime the cache blocks
           changed?
Dave Lyons a formerly-mysterious Finder problem.)
SEGlass    Necessity is the mother of invention.
Matt DTS   (GA)
SEGlass    Jim, the heartbeat task would only check its own memory, hoping
           that if
SEGlass    an application is going to trash something, it will trash the
           blocks being
SEGlass    checked.  It is not bullet proof, but very little is.  It would
           just be
AFA Gary J Q = Dave (Jim - Matt/Steve), Scott
SEGlass    a tool to help find problems earlier.
SEGlass    GA
Jump Long  OK
Dave Lyons (done)
Jump Long  Scott, GA
ScottG25   What does GS/OS Error 54 mean besides out of memory... Which
           memory, main?
Dave Lyons What led to that error, again, Scott/
Dave Lyons ?
DaviesDoug !
Matt DTS   It quite often means that you've used a length byte instead of a
           word on a class one call.
Dave Lyons (That's just a question mark, not a question.)
DaviesDoug main? a thought all memory was created equal
DaviesDoug matt, protocal!
ScottG25   An _OpenGS call....
AFA Gary J Q = Scott (Doug, Dave, Matt)
Dave Lyons (By _OpenGS do you mean call number $2010?)
ScottG25   Plenty of memory in the machine...
SEGlass    Bye all.
JSchober   CUL Steve.
Matt DTS   G'night Steve.
Dave Lyons Bye, Steve.
Jump Long  By Steve
ScottG25   Yep, Dave...
BillP      Good to see you online Steve!
Matt DTS   Scott, are you sure you have a length word on the pathname string
           in the parameter block?
BillP      they always leave before I can type  :(
ScottG25   I can't say 100% sure, Matt, but if I substitute a P16 Open and
           change the
ScottG25   param block it works...  I will have to be 100 sure...
Dave Lyons Example:  ABC = $03 $00 $41 $42 $43.    BTW, it should be
           _OdysseyII.
ScottG25   though.
Matt DTS   What error $54 means is that GS/OS tried to allocate some memory
           and couldn't get it.
Dave Lyons By "change the parm block" what do you mean exactly?  Are you also
           changing
ScottG25   100=100% sure.
Dave Lyons the string?
Matt DTS   However, this doesn't always occur exactly like you might think it
           would.
Matt DTS   GS/OS allocates all of it's own memory that it asks for at
           run-time in discrete 8K blocks.
ScottG25   Nope... Same string.... just substituting what a P16 open wants...
           and comment-
AFA Gary J Q = Scott (Doug, Matt/Dave)
ScottG25   ing out the GSOS stuff..
Matt DTS   Are you changing the string to have a length WORD for GS/OS
           instead of a length BYTE for P16?
Dave Lyons You have a problem, then.
DaviesDoug .done.
ScottG25   No, Matt... should I?
Matt DTS   (don't mean to repeat myself, but I'm a mite confused)
JSchober   (just looked at the GS/OS Open in NList... Christ, what IS all
           that?!)
Dave Lyons P16 "ABC" = $03 $41 $42 $43, but GS/OS (class 1 string) "ABC" =
           $03 $00 $41 $42
Dave Lyons $43.
Matt DTS   Yes!  That's the cause of the error.
ScottG25   Aha! thanks!:))
Matt DTS   GS/OS is taking the first word of your string and trying to
           allocate memory to process it.
Dave Lyons That's the parameters, Joe!  Luckily, only 2 of them are required
           (that's what
Dave Lyons the "2-15" means at the beginning).
AFA Gary J Q = Scott
Matt DTS   If the first character of the pathname has ASCII value greater
           than $20, GS/OS will think the...
Matt DTS   ....pathname is longer than 8K, and will be unable to allocate
           memory to process it.  Error $54.
JSchober   Yeah, I know THAT!  :)  But ... "+GET_FILE_INFO"... oh oh OH!
           <geez, I'm
ScottG25   SF GetFile returns a word instead of a byte?
Matt DTS   (and it MUST have ASCII greater than $20, you know.)
JSchober   awake... that's a nice touch!  Gotta get myself that GS/OS Tech
           Ref RRSN...>
ScottG25   in the pathname?
Dave Lyons Yeah, +GET_FILE_INFO means all the parameters GET_FILE_INFO
           returns.  Too 
Dave Lyons many to list there.
Matt DTS   SFGetFile returns length byte.  Standard File returns all Class
           Zero structures.
JSchober   Yeah, that just hit me.  Like I said, pretty nifty addition... :) 
           So what's
JSchober   "acc"?
ScottG25   Thanks! Guys!  
Matt DTS   If this out-of-memory problem happens at a particularly bad time,
           GS/OS will have a...
Dave Lyons Acc=access, I think.  It lets you specify what you're going to do
           with the
Matt DTS   ...Fatal System Error (GS/OS dialog shows up, the error number is
           2).
Dave Lyons file.  If you're just going to Read from it, say so with the
           Access parameter,
Matt DTS   HINT HINT HINT HINT HINT HINT HINT
Dave Lyons and it will have a nice effect on what other users can do with the
           same file
Dave Lyons in a shared environment.
Matt DTS   What Dave just said.
JSchober   OIC... hmmm!  Now I REALLY gotta get the Ref -- that sounds
           terrific...
Matt DTS   ProDOS, as a file system, is pretty wimpy about access privileges.
            Other file systems (and maybe...
Matt DTS   therefore future FSTs) aren't.  Programmers need to be able to
           handle error $4E (access error) in a...
Matt DTS   ...better way than trying to set the access bits to something they
           can work with.  In some file...
Matt DTS   ....systems, you will be unable to set the access to a different
           value.  So get used to it.
Matt DTS   Also...
Matt DTS   ...what Dave says about requesting access is a very good strategy.
            If you are in a file system...
Matt DTS   ....where you have permission only to do certain things (like
           read, not write), then if you try...
Matt DTS   ....to write to the file, you'll get an error $4E.  If you OPEN
           the file with request_access = $00...
Matt DTS   ....you'll have to be able to handle $4E on every system call.  If
           you OPEN with request_access = ...
Matt DTS   ...just what you need (read and write but not rename, if that's
           what you're going to do)...
Matt DTS   ....you'll get an error $4E on the OPEN if something's not going
           to work.  Handle it one...
Matt DTS   ...place instead of twenty or thirty.  Good idea.
Matt DTS   (GA)
JSchober   Hmm.  NICE, indeed!!  :)  Thanks for the info.  Gotta run, folks
           -- thanks for
JSchober   the chat.  See yuz...
Coach101   ?, $0000 on Acc promotes to all bits stored in the files
Matt DTS   (lots of typing for me tonight)
Coach101   directory entry as opposed to what is currently possible?
Matt DTS   Yes, that's true, Coach...
Matt DTS   ...but an FST has no way to tell you what access you really GOT,
           where by asking specifically...
Matt DTS   ...it can return error $4E if you asked for something you can't
           do.
Coach101   Huh?, somebody knows that I can not get Write at the present
Coach101   time, that person would return a $4E (if the FST does not know)?
Matt DTS   If I OPEN a file that I have only read and rename access to, but I
           ask with request_access = 0...
Matt DTS   ...the FST has no way to tell me "Hey, you got read and rename but
           that's it!".  If I try to WRITE...
Matt DTS   ...or anything else I don't have permission for, I'll get error
           $4E.  HOWEVER...
DaviesDoug !
Jump Long  You can always do a GetFileInfo before opening a file to see that
           access.
DaviesDoug the open call doesn't give you the error?
Matt DTS   ...if I OPEN with request_access = read+write, and all I have is
           read+rename, the FST will return...
Coach101   Ok, finally it penetrates the gray material...
ScottG25   (night!)
Guy Rice   :)
Matt DTS   ...error $4E on the OPEN call, instead of when you try to WRITE
           when you don't have access to.
Matt DTS   Doug:  No.  The FST doesn't know what you're going to try to do;
           it can't return an error just...
DaviesDoug answered my question
Matt DTS   ...because you have less than full access.  You just get an OPEN
           file with permission to do...
Matt DTS   ...whatever you can.  (Sorry, I was already typing, and I don't
           think I can stop now!)
Guy Rice   ::watches Matt's fingers sizzle::
AFA Gary J <fast fingers Matt...>
Matt DTS   Quick!  Get me to a piano!
Guy Rice   hehe!
Coach101   Matt, in a shared file environment, can one _opener_ lock
Matt DTS   Geez...I've been at work for nearly 12 hours now...
Coach101   other _opener_'s by type of open request?
DaviesDoug did matt mention he was at work?
Dan Burton We do that all the time here Matt
Matt DTS   Be quiet, Doug.  <mutual admiration society>
Matt DTS   Coach:  What??
Coach101   Matt....  Work?????   Whats Ripleys address??
Matt DTS   I'll pretend I didn't read that.
Coach101   In a shared file environment, can one _opener_ specify access
Coach101   permissions for future _opener_s (as in till the original _opener_
           
Dan Burton If you were at HOME you wouldn't need to answer the hard
           questions
Coach101   closes the file) as a function of the next _opener_'s access
           modes?
Matt DTS   Can't speak for all shared systems.  I can speak for AppleShare as
           a model, though it doesn't...
Matt DTS   ...run under GS/OS (just P16) at this time.
Matt DTS   Under AppleShare, the *owner* of the file (the person who created
           it) has the right to determine
Matt DTS   who has what privilges to the file or folder.  The three privilege
           levels are...
Matt DTS   See Folders, See Files, Make Changes. (Hold on just a second
           here...)
Dan Burton Does AppleShare allow you to set defaults for privilges?
Matt DTS   Those privileges can be granted or denied for "everyone", "owner",
           or "group" (a list of people put 
Dan Burton I get tired of having to change them every time I create a new
           folder.
Matt DTS   put together by the server administrator).  So I could make a
           folder that I, the owner...
Matt DTS   ....could have all privileges to, but set "make changes" only for
           everyone else.
Guy Rice   (Shades of Unix... :)
Matt DTS   Since they can make changes, they can put files in the folder, but
           they can't see inside the folder.
Coach101   Wath your language
Matt DTS   That makes it a "drop box".  They can put files in it for me, but
           no one but me can get to them.
TimH06     Dan, no there is no provision for default privileges.  Although
           it's not...
TimH06     impossible to do.
Coach101   Matt, what I was looking for was an ability at _open_ time to
           lock
Dan Burton How do you do it? 
Coach101   other users from the file (during a master file update for
Coach101   example).  
TimH06     Dan, it would be something that we would have to add to the system
           software.
Matt DTS   In AppleShare, there's a facility to lock ranges of the file from
           others.  Also...
Matt DTS   ...files opened for one person to WRITE to are closed to the rest
           of the people on the server.
Matt DTS   (in AppleShare at least)
Coach101   Which, going back about three pages or so, means that someone
Dave Lyons Tim, are you saying simply that any software that creates new
           folders is free
Coach101   (maybe) should pass out the $4E to me at open time.  Not read
           time
Coach101   since the error is found at Open time.
Dave Lyons to set the access rights during what the user sees as a single
           "create folder"
Dave Lyons operation?
TimH06     Dave, yes that's possible.
TimH06     Coach, if someone has opened the file on the server for write
           access....
TimH06     you'll get the access error when you try to open it while he still
           has it open.
TimH06     Huh?
TimH06     Does that make any sense to you?
Coach101   Ok, I thought it was said earlier tht the error would get
Coach101   to me when I tried the _not valid_ operation (i.e., the read).
DaviesDoug he said WRITE ACCESS
DaviesDoug in the open call
Matt DTS   yes, that's true, Coach - OPENing a file that someone else has
           open with WRITE ACCESS is invalid.
Matt DTS   (in AppleShare.)
Coach101   (and interesting in GsOs?)
TimH06     Matt, if an Application opens a file for write access, can an NDA
           open it
TimH06     again for read?
Coach101   Now if only ALPE did not barf everytime something happened on my
Matt DTS   Not as far as I'm aware.
Coach101   II-Gs AppleLink connection.....
Coach101   Applelink === Appletalk
DaviesDoug turn appletalk off...I do
TimH06     Blasphmey! (spelling?)
Coach101   Na....  ALPE is from Apple...  AppleTalk is from Apple....  They
Coach101   support their pure-Apple stuff.... They will fix it in the
           end....
DaviesDoug yes THEY SHOULD
Matt DTS   ALPE is more from Quantum than it is from Apple, but leave
           complaints and they'll work on it.
TimH06     That was Blasphemey
TimH06     Opps, blaspheme.
DaviesDoug they never answer ours very well
DaviesDoug they think we're real idiots
DaviesDoug and try to tell us something that makes absolutely no sense or was
           totally
DaviesDoug obvious
Coach101   Quote.... sort of....  AppleLink does not support networked
Dave Lyons Did anybody answ your question Tim?  Yes, if a file is open for
           writing, it
Coach101   computers.... Of course the fact that what blows ALPE up is when
Dave Lyons can still be opened again for reading, and any part that is not
           actually
Dave Lyons range-locked can be read, too.
Coach101   my wife prints to a printer (I do nothing) seemed to be
Coach101   un-impressive to ALPE/Quantum/Apple (whoever actually answers
DaviesDoug I was talking about Quantum Matt
Coach101   the questions/complaints).
Matt DTS   (Whew!)
DaviesDoug you guys are great
DaviesDoug when your at WORK
DaviesDoug not at HOME
Jump Long  hehehe
DaviesDoug did I mention matt wasn't at HOME
Dan Burton downd Doug!                                      
AFA Gary J Dave:  Thanks for the help with my problem on the message
           boards.
TimH06     Dave, what!?  If someone opens a file for writting, I don't think
           anybody else
DaviesDoug ruff ruff, growl....
TimH06     can open it at all.
TimH06     I'm talking ProDOS here.
DaviesDoug did I mention dan was listening to the Police?
Dave Lyons No problem, Gary.
Jump Long  I'll bet Matt is wearing a hat right now...
Jump Long  ...a blue one.
Dave Lyons Oops, I thought you were talking about GS/OS & AppleShare, Tim,
           and I just
Dave Lyons learned that you wouldn't have asked that question if you were.
           :)
Dave Lyons Under ProDOS:  No, once a file is open, any other open will just
           give you an
Matt DTS   What?  GS/OS and AppleShare don't work together!  Is your head on
           straight, Dave?
Dave Lyons already-open error.  ProDOS can't tell the difference between an
           application
Dave Lyons and a DA....
Dave Lyons I meant System Disk 3.2, Matt.  Sorry.
Matt DTS   If you opened it read-only first, though, you can open it
           read-only again.
Jump Long  Take one step back, Dave :)
Matt DTS   Oh.  That makes more sense.  (and say "Mr. Glass, May I?")
Coach101   Or is that steps into the future...
Dave Lyons Or the lower level AppleTalk protocols--whichever ones it is that
           let you
Dave Lyons specify access rights when opening a shared file.  I've never done
           it, only
Dave Lyons read about it.
Matt DTS   Gee, after destroying two motherboards, I'm getting better at this
           chip-pulling business <grin>.
DaviesDoug is that a new olympic event?
Coach101   Matt, have you had mmuch positive reaction to the new
DaviesDoug I've heard of chip throwing
Coach101   Apple Partners/....  program?
Matt DTS   Coach, I personally have seen about 5% positive reaction.
DaviesDoug apple partners?
TimH06     What do you guys think about the new program.......Bye Matt.  Nice
           knowin' ya.
Matt DTS   He asked a question, I answered it.
Coach101   I think its good....   Does that mean I have to leave?
DaviesDoug Anyone put that neat graphics demo out here yet....the ray tracing
           one
TimH06     No!!!!!  Sign him up Matt!
Coach101   Look at it this way....   Apple is in the business of selling
Coach101   appliances in the II market place (as opposed to programming
Coach101   environment machines).  $675 just cannot cover the costs they
Coach101   must expend in the developer support area.  Now if $675 (if I
           remember
Coach101   the correct number) breaks a developer, then that developer is
Coach101   not selling much software....  ergo, is not contributing much to
DaviesDoug Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
           Bang! Bang!
TimH06     Well I don't know.  Matt, you're up to 10 peanuts a day.  Peanuts
           aren't cheep
Coach101   Apple's profit picture....   Nasty, but I think the logic is
TimH06     you know.
DaviesDoug Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
TimH06     Just kidding folks.
DaviesDoug 21 gun solute to the death of PROTOCOL (spelled right)
Coach101   correct.....   Now, $675 is less than $60 per month.  I know a
Coach101   lot of hobbyists in golf, tennis, .....  that spend that much on
Dave Lyons _I'm_ not selling much software, but.... :)
DaviesDoug salute was spelled wrong though
Coach101   their hobby a month.  Why not pay apple if what I am really
           doing
Coach101   is supporting a hobby?
Matt DTS   ($600, Coach.  $50/month.)
Coach101   Sorry about any protocol violation..... The fingers were working
Jump Long  Try to find a racket club for that...
DaviesDoug protocol is dead
AFA Gary J Protocol is dead for the night..
Coach101   the eyes on the tube were dis-engaged.
Coach101   Ah, but Dave, I thought you were a _national treasure_?
Dave Lyons :)
Jump Long  Do you think the amount or support from Apple through
           non-developer services
Dave Lyons Coach, even _without_ the $50/month Partners fee, a lot of
           developers 
Jump Long  channels is enough (help to users groups, information on services
           such as this,
Jump Long  etc)?
Dave Lyons _already_ spend a lot of money on their "hobby."  If the $600/yr
           meant you
Dave Lyons got all the stuff you wanted FREE from APDA, that'd be a different
           story!
Jump Long  amount or = amount of
Dave Lyons I agree that devs who can't afford the $600 can do okay with APDA
           membership
Coach101   The unmentioned item in Apda, is what the _discount_ on 
Coach101   Apple material is.  
Dave Lyons and online (but non-guaranteed) help.
Coach101   On the other side, the support through non-developer channels
Coach101   (speaking for ALPE only) is OUTSTANDING..    All knowledgeable
Coach101   sources (Dave Lyons, AFLs, AFAs, etc.) should get _FREE_
Coach101   status in the new program....   They are in effect promoting
Coach101   Apple by helping people......
AFA Gary J Great idea, Coach!  :)
Dave Lyons Wouldn't bother me, either. :)
AFA Gary J (heheh  :)
Coach101   I come from a __large__ mainframe environment, where I pay
Coach101   lots of money for support (support is not free even when you
Coach101   buy the multi-mega-$ iron).....  Goes back to an _unbundling_
Coach101   loss on IBMs part some ~20 years ago!!!
Coach101   Oops.... Sorry about the languague 
Jump Long  I think the government had something to do with that, Coach.
           Something related
Jump Long  to third-party maintenance.
Coach101   Disagree......
Coach101   The initial thing that caused software (and software support) to
Coach101   not be free was that a leasing company sued IBM on the basis
Coach101   that IBM would only provide software on machines that they (IBM)
Coach101   installed.  Thereby destroying any after/re-market in the
           hardware
Coach101   arena.  Prior to that loss (after which you started paying for
Jump Long  (the third party)
Coach101   software and software support, immediately from IBM other
Matt DTS   Well, gang, I have to keep a private engagement in PC, so I'll see
           you all later (and some sooner).
Matt DTS   G'night all.
Coach101   companies fell in line).  The maintenance issue, came about a
Jump Long  Bye Matt
Coach101   little later.  I think the leasing company was .... na... I am
Coach101   not sure so no name