[comp.sys.amiga] serial device expansion and the comment field.

dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) (01/20/88)

	I got it:	You have several serial.device.N files in devs:
	serial.device.0, serial.device.1, serial.device.2, etc... They have
	to have specific names because we have no desire to scan the
	directory.  This is just for sequencing.

	To actually assign UNIT numbers or ranges you use the comment field...
	Something like:

	comment field:	blah blah blah  UNIT=3-6  blah blah blah

Advantages:
	-DOS does not have to scan directories, simply step through file
	 names until it finds the correct one or a failure occurs. (no
	 serial.device.3).
	-DOS only does the unit/filename step-through if it can't find
	 the base device file (with no numeric extension).
	-DOS does not have to open each file to find out if it is the 
	 correct one... it simply looks at the comment field.
	-Allows user to assign unit #'s anyway he wants
	-Totally compatible with the current system.

Disadvantages:
	-The comment field is used.. 

					-Matt