Re: Going past the 51 file limit, other than GEOS?

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Obsbedia2 <obsbedia2@aol.com> wrote:

> Qfix allows ProDOS file names that use any ascii characters, but has anyone
> tried to allow ProDOS to handle more that 51 files on the main directory?

What do you have against subdirectories?

I'd be surprised if GEOS could let you get past this limit, since it
uses ProDOS.

The standard size of the root directory on all ProDOS volumes is four
blocks.  The directory holds 13 entries per block, except for the first
block, which holds 12 entries.  13 * 3 + 12 = 51.

In theory, it is possible to create a ProDOS volume with a nonstandard
root directory size (there are link fields in each block, after all).
The most well-known examples of this are /RAM and the AppleWorks 1.x/2.x
5.25" disks, which have a single block (limit of 12 files) for the root
directory.

The catch: if you use a nonstandard size, there are apparently several
programs which won't work with the disk.  I don't know of any specific
examples, but Apple fixed the "four blocks" rule at some point to avoid
problems.

Disk repair utilities would be a prime example.  There might also be
problems with the boot code (boot block and PRODOS itself).

Apart from the technical issues, I wouldn't want more than 51 files in
the root directory anyway - it would make the disk rather unwieldy to
use.  I try to avoid this many files in most subdirectories as well,
except where there is a logical collection of files (e.g. source code
header files), or the directory is used to accumulate archived files.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P O Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand