CCSS23PC@UIAMVS.BITNET ("David A. Lyons") (12/24/87)
DICKSON@HARTFORD (22-Dec-87) writes: >Having looked at Davex and ECP, I have a question. Supposedly the purpose >of these is to provide a command-based shell that is smaller and more >efficient than the finder. Well, not exactly. I can't speak for Don Elton (ECP author), but Davex was around long before the (IIgs) Finder was released. The purpose is to provide a command-based shell for ProDOS 8. Davex does happen to be smaller than the Finder (the Finder also loads a bunch of toolsets from disk), but that wasn't a design goal. Efficiency is an interesting question. There are a few things the Finder can do really well (like put folders inside other folders quickly, because ProDOS 16 supports this). Much of the time I find I can do what I want to do FASTER with a command shell than under the Finder. Just browsing around is paunfully slow in the Finder, even with a hard drive. Then try an "ls /disk1 -t -fBAS" to find *all* the Applesoft programs on your disk, and tell me how you're going to do the same thing in the Finder without spending all afternoon (or whenever you play with the IIgs) browsing through folders! Or spool some files, or use some prompting wildcards.... >The finder, though, isn't what takes up all the disk space; it's the >system folder, and desk accessories, and other things that, as far as >I can tell, have to be on the disk anyway, even when you replace the >finder. If you will be running ProDOS 16 applications that need the stuff in your SYSTEM folder, then you still need it. Nothing I can do about that. If you will not be running ProDOS 16 applications, you don't even need P16 to run Davex--it runs under ProDOS 8 [the ability to run S16 programs--if P16 had been booted initially--was added when P16 became available]. Depending on what you will be running, you may not need *all* the stuff in your system folder. For example, if you are running ECP16 and APW and other text-based P16 programs, you won't need most of the TOOLxxx files in your SYSTEM/TOOLS directory. If your apps won't be using the Print Manager, you don't need the stuff in SYSTEM/DRIVERS. If your apps won't be using the Font Manager, you don't need the stuff in SYSTEM/FONTS. >In fact, when all the help files are installed, there is less free space. The Finder doesn't even *have* help files. If you're happy without them, you can leave them off. You can print them out first (in Davex, try something like "> 1;pg %help/= -hp"), or just keep them handy on another disk. *** I am the author of Davex. The opinions appearing here, if they are *** anyone's at all, are just mine. --David A. Lyons a.k.a. DAL Systems PO Box 287 | North Liberty IA 52317 BITNET: AWCTTYPA@UIAMVS CompuServe 72177,3233