CSvax:Pucc-H:Physics:piner@pur-ee.UUCP (06/28/83)
Wow, this bug is really neat. Microsoft strikes again. Edit-80 assumes a logical record length of 128 bytes. No matter what the real logical record length is. Under LDOS (also NEWDOS and other TRS-80 operating systems I assume.) The logical record length can be anything from 1 to 256 bytes. This is stored in the directory when the file is created. When you open a file, LDOS will use the logical record length that you give it. Edit-80 doesn't do this correctly, so if the file was created with 256 byte logical record length, Edit-80 opens it with that but thinks it is working with records of 128 bytes. The result is that half of each read is lost. As long as you are only working with files that Edit-80 created in the first place, you are ok, but if you are working with ascii files copied from somewhere else, you can have trouble. LDOS does have a way to change the logical record length by copying a file, so you can recover the data in a form Edit-80 will read, but beware of this bug. That is what happens when you hack a CP/M program to run under another OS. Caveat emptor, y'all. Rich Piner Purdue Physics Dept.
bernie@watarts.UUCP (07/08/83)
Why on earth is anyone using Edit-80??? Why not use any of the dozens of good solid editors that are available for the 80, instead of the ugly (*ugly*!) one that comes with the Fortran package? --Bernie Roehl
rconn%brl@sri-unix.UUCP (07/12/83)
From: Rick Conn <rconn@brl> EDIT-80 is just another alternative for an editor, and whether it is "ugly" or not is a matter of personal preference and application. My experience with it has not revealed any bugs to me, so I think it is safe to say that it works. Applications exist in which it makes sense to use EDIT-80. One which comes to mind is that in which a user is allowed to dial into a micro and run an editor. Providing a screen-oriented editor requires specific knowledge of the target terminal (GOTO XY, etc), and a screen- oriented editor over a 300 or 1200 baud line may run rather slowly to the user. Consequently, a line- or character-oriented editor may be an answer. You can provide ED, of course, but EDIT-80 is an alternative. Being familiar with SOS on DEC-10's, I found EDIT-80 to be easy to move into. There are several similarities. The basic command syntax and operational philosophy is the same. Rick