Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com (11/24/90)
We've all heard vague reports of SpartaDOS X corrupting or deleting files, but I for one have never heard a CLEAR description of a distinct, repeat- able problem. However, I believe I have begun to characterize a misbehavior of SDX when used with disks in Atari DOS 2.0 format. To wit, I find that SDX's ATARIDOS.SYS handler misunderstands file sizes as compared with "real" Atari DOS 2.0. SDX's "DIRS" command reports files as occupying ONE SECTOR MORE than Atari DOS 2.0 will list for the same files, and -- worse yet -- files CREATED in Atari DOS format under SDX get ONE FEWER than the right number of sectors recorded in their directory entry field. This can lead, at the very least, to a great waste of disk space, not to mention the possibility of file corruption if sector usage and allocation information gets too far out of agreement with itself... A friend and I have, however, managed to copy the programs from the SDX cartridge and put them on a disk where we can get a look at 'em. Perhaps we can figure out how the ATARIDOS.SYS driver works, how it hooks into SDX, and perhaps we or someone else can eventually FIX it! (Which suggests that I'd better ask: have there been different releases of SDX? What's current, and how do I tell what I have?)
aa384@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Doug Wokoun) (11/25/90)
>However, I believe I have begun to characterize a misbehavior of SDX when >used with disks in Atari DOS 2.0 format. On the ICD BBS, there is a file called "ATARIDOS.SYS" which is supposed to fix a bug in the SDX 4.20 ATARIDOS.SYS file. SDX 4.20 is the current version of SpartaDOS X. I would upload it here, except that there was a notice saying it was not to be distributed. ICD BBS: 1-815-968-2229 To find out what version you have, type "VERSION" at the prompt. It also appears on boot. -- Doug Wokoun - (aa384) - - - - - ||| / | \