Re: ProDOS misc. questions

[GUDATH@EZINFO.VMSMAIL.ETHZ.CH (Henrik 'Ratte' Gudat)]

In <31FDD36C.B59@cardshow.com> Michael writes:

> o Why the root directory of a ProDOS volume is limited to 51 files?

There's limited space for the root structure.
 
> o Would it be possible to overcome the 32MB partition size limit of =
> 
> ProDOS? The File Manager on the Macintosh can only handle volumes of =

Theoretically yes, practically no.
Prodos does not support logical blocks. All block references are associated
with physical block numbers.
Unfortunately, ProDos uses 16-bit values for blocks, limiting volumes to 32Mb.
To overcome this limitation,you'd have to rewrite about everything.

Strangely enough, the SmartPort can deal with volumes as large as 8Gb because
the extended SmartPort protocol supports 32-bit block numbers.

I hope the Mac will once get rid of this logical block business. With 64-bit
architecture, there's really no need for that.

- henrik

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