Re: ProDOS misc. questions

[nathan@cco.caltech.edu (Nathan Mates)]

In article <31FE0E42.4CB6@cardshow.com>,
Michael Guitton  <webmaster@cardshow.com> wrote:
>> Unfortunately, ProDos uses 16-bit values for blocks, limiting volumes
>> to 32Mb.

>Yes... Up to 65536 blocks of 512 bytes.

>> To overcome this limitation,you'd have to rewrite about everything.

>I don't have time nor knowledge to do that.

   Not just everything in ProDOS. You'd have to rewrite a fair number
of applications as well. Anything that wants access to the disk at the
block level would have to be thrown out and rewritten. Bye bye disk
utilities. Bye bye private tools written over the past years.

>An Apple II expert could then hack a new 24-bit addressing version of =
>ProDOS, couldn't he? Is there a need for this?

   I don't think anyone really has both the time and the knowledge to
do that. There are a lot of people with a clue, but they have day
jobs.  There are people with the time, but no clue. And we're fast
running out of university kids which are the Apple IIs best supply of
people with time and knowledge.

   The Apple II community is full of people who have identified a
need and after finding that nobody's doing it, they go out, learn,
and do it themselves. And have fun at it.

   [Right now, I'm working on FAQs, WWW pages, debugging GS/OS,
documenting some file formats, and answering questions on c.s.a2. And
_yes_, I do have a day job (porting a Bowling game to the Sega
Saturn). I've got a list of major programming projects that I'd like
to do that are just piling up with other things in the way. The things
that are lacking right now are 1) A Life 2) Time to read books or
watch tv (well, mostly anime. With Babylon 5 in reruns, there's
nothing good on US TV), 3) Did I mention that apart from the guys in
the office, I talk to only other people via computers. 4) Time to
do some major GS programs...]

Nathan "Ok, I'll stop complaining :)" Mates
-- 
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/      <*>
# And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the
# Kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in 
# parables" Mark 4:11, NRSV