Re: Prodos Vs. Dos 3.3

[drsmooth@relex.com (Edhel Iaur)]

Rob Kopp <rkopp@PioneerPlanet.infi.net> wrote:

>THe reason I am raising the issue is that I have some Native American
>games that I want to write for the ][.  It has been a long time since
>I've messed about with the ][, and I seem to remember always wanting to
>use Prodos.  But now I am thinking that Dos 3.3 would allow it to run on
>more systems (like ancient ][+'s).  I also don't think hard drives are
>in common use on ]['s.  What are your thoughts?

Go for it.  Use DOS 3.3 (or a compatible, faster one).  That's what
I'm using for my soon-to-be World-Famous survey/mock voting program.
You get the compatibility (ANY // can use it, if you're using a
master), speed (if you're using a DOS 3.3 clone), and more flexability
in filenames (almost ANY characters are allowed in a filename, even
inverse or flashing ones!).  I've even read once that DOS 3.3 BASIC
programs go a hair (a small hair) faster than their
ProDOS/BASIC.SYSTEM counterparts.  If you're daring, it's easier to
make a 36+ track disk in DOS 3.3 for more room.  I *think* there's
more DOS 3.3 disk recovery programs than ProDOS ones (not counting
IIgs ones).  DOS 3.3 doesn't eat up your 16k language card memory in
addition to the main memory it uses, unlike ProDOS.  There's no MON
command in ProDOS's BASIC.SYSTEM.

However, DOS 3.3 only takes upper-case commands, and DOS commands from
your BASIC programs hafta be on the left margin.  DOS 3.3 also doesn't
cater too well to user-defined commands.  Plus, DOS 3.3 doesn't have
that nifty "-" command, which runs anything.  DOS 3.3 normally doesn't
support a clock, and it won't serve your Extended 80-Column Card's 64k
of RAM to you as a RAMdisk (sometimes, this is VERY handy).  DOS 3.3
doesn't have a MACHID byte that ID's the computer it's running on.
Normally, DOS 3.3 doesn't support 3.5" disks.  ProDOS's BASIC.SYSTEM
has its own grabage collecting command ("FRE"); DOS 3.3 doesn't.  Some
versions of DOS 3.3 give nasty error messages, such as "ERROR #6"
("file not found").
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