Re: 8-bit unzip utility

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

On Jun 23, 3:49 pm, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:

> > I've considered doing a CD that can interpret ".." as parent
> > directory, it'd be a real timesaver
>
> I have that as an external command, loaded by STARTUP.  I think
> it came with a bunch of others in ProCMD (?).

Hmm. I've not used ProCMD in many years - i'd imagine there is one in
there. I find it rewarding to add such tidbits myself so I tend to
just develop as needed. In this case the itch has not developed
sufficiently that I've yet scratched it ;-)

> It is very handy using the .. notation to move about in a directory
> tree, as you know.  It's a shame that the ProDOS (SOS?) designers
> didn't provide a way of "trimming" a path as well as extending it.

Yes, the absence of a 'self' and 'parent' referential entry in each
directory makes it impossible to use relative paths, so while CD is a
handy addition, you still can't do, for example, BLOAD ../THING

> As for "ls", that seems like an easy patch, rather than an external
> command--if it is just a synonym for CATALOG.

My "CAT" replaces the vector for the real CAT command with a code
segment which detects the 80-column firwmare status and calls the
appropriate underlying command. a real "ls" is a different beast,
since it would support wildcards on the command line. I remember my
excitement when I first saw the 'ProDOS Users Disk' FILER.SYSTEM,
which had wildcard matching support, only to discover it absent from
BASIC.SYSTEM

Unfortunately my mods aren't original Apple II friendly, as they load
themselves into Auxiliary memory at $2000 and hook via small jump
routines in page 3. I found this approach lets me add whatever I
please to the conventional environment without encroaching upon the
standard 'blank slate' memory state of BASIC.SYSTEM

Matt