Re: BJ's right, BASIC program in FAQ can't retype $00

[shack@deimos.frii.com (Randy Shackelford)]

In article <5in6q4$rs5$1@darla.visi.com>, Nathan Mates <nathan@visi.com> wrote:

[snip]

>   You're the first to ever claim that Basic.System has any sort of
>problem with filetype $00. You claim to have attempted to retype a TXT
>file, but have neglected to remember that even TXT files can have
>resource forks attached to them, which has been the problem for ProDOS
>8 right from the beginning. Try again with a file known not to have
>a resource fork (which is why I picked a copy of Basic.System for my
>above test).

Here's an all-but-foolproof way to tell in BASIC if a file is extended: in 
an 80 column catalog, extended files always have the endfile listed as 512. 
But they typically have more blocks in use than one, which would be the case
for a standard file with endfile 512. For instance, the Finder S16 file 
lists 367 blocks in use.

>   The FAQ's instructions for changing the filetype of BINSCII.TXT
>from $00 or anything else to TXT will remain unchanged unless someone
>can demonstrate that a specific vresion combo of ProDOS and
>Basic.System do have a problem with files of type $00 that is
>unrelated to resource forks.

Ain't such a thing, type $00 files are nothing special to BASIC. Think about
it: why would there be code in BASIC to cause type $00 files to behave
differently? As I mentioned in another followup, PC Exchange will put files
on ProDOS disks as extended type $00 files if it gives up trying to make a
meaningful type for the file. As a test, I copied an application file to
a ProDOS disk and catalogged it on the IIgs. It was extended type $00.
-- 
Randy Shackelford                                 
shack@frii.com