Re: ProDOS Plus

[mdj <mdj.mdj@gmail.com>]

On Jun 30, 6:03 pm, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
> mdj wrote:
> > On Jun 30, 11:50 am, "Bryan Parkoff" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>
> >>>>As for actual file system support, it should have P8 and Smartport
> >>>>compatibility, original HFS and possibly FAT16.
>
> >>>>Now the questions arise.
>
> >>>Right.  I think by adding HFS to the list, you've "blown the budget".
> >>>This is no longer a simple extension.  FAT16 may also be in this
> >>>category.  Even increasing the maximum size of a ProDOS(+) volume
> >>>may be well beyond the scope of a "simple extension".
>
> >>    I try to remember.  Beneath to ProDOS manual states to limit 65,536
> >>blocks per volume.  I think that ProDOS is designed to read only 8 bit width
> >>byte.
>
> > The block limit only exists within the ProDOS filesystem itself.
> > ProDOS 8 V1.5+ can access larger volumes via AppleTalk. See an
> > AppleTalk reference for a description of the ProDOS Filing Interface
> > that allows this.
>
> At the file level, the ProDOS limit is 16MB (3-byte byte pointer).
> That limit is probably not too constraining.

I can't imagine a dataset > 16mb that would be useful on an b bit
machine :-)

> Appletalk file sharing presents only a file level to ProDOS, since the
> remote volume is managed by the server.

The point is, the necessary indirection between the OS's Filing
Interface an Filesystem implementation exists. I got the feeling some
here thought it necessary to replace ProDOS 8 to manage this feat, but
that's not necessary at all, you can just plug another filesystem in.

Matt