xanthian@well.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) (08/20/89)
This one just bit me, and the folks at C-A should have known better! Please change the name of "ram disk:" to either ram_disk: or just ram:; changing the name to include an embedded space for 1.3 broke working software! For example, the Lattice C++ hello.sh demonstration script won't work if the compiler is installed in ram:. Instead, a message to the effect: "parameters beyond file name ignored" comes up, and is promptly followed by a delightful requestor to "Insert disk DISK". It is sure nice to have icons with multi-word labels, but what I as a CLI user think of a file system design that allows embedded spaces in names cannot be expressed without profanity, and lots of it. well!xanthian Kent, the man from xanth, now just another echo from The Well.
jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith) (08/21/89)
In article <13227@well.UUCP> xanthian@well.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >This one just bit me, and the folks at C-A should have known better! >Please change the name of "ram disk:" to either ram_disk: or just ram:; >changing the name to include an embedded space for 1.3 broke >working software! I didn't allow that problem to bother me. Put the following in your startup-sequence, and it won't bother you. makedir ram:t assign t: ram:t ;So nested EXECUTEs won't write to your boot disk relabel RAM: RAM_DISK -- Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: JMS@F74.TYMNET.COM or jms@tymix.tymnet.com McDonnell Douglas FSCO | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms PO Box 49019, MS-D21 | PDP-10 support: My car's license plate is "POPJ P," San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | narrator.device: "I didn't say that, my Amiga did!"
andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) (08/22/89)
In article <13227@well.UUCP> xanthian@well.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >This one just bit me, and the folks at C-A should have known better! > >Please change the name of "ram disk:" to either ram_disk: or just ram:; >changing the name to include an embedded space for 1.3 broke >working software! For example, the Lattice C++ hello.sh demonstration You can relabel the ram disk to be anything you like; however you have now been warned that you have broken software...a space has always been legal in disk names. And, you've been warned by a piece of software that you can always refer to by the name RAM: or relabel to something else, This happened as a side effect of fixing the ram-handler for 1.3... pre-1.2 RAM: didn't have a proper volume node, so lots of programs had to a special case the ram-handler. >It is sure nice to have icons with multi-word labels, but what I as a CLI >user think of a file system design that allows embedded spaces in names >cannot be expressed without profanity, and lots of it. Either refer to it as RAM: or relabel it in your startup sequence. -- andy finkel {uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!andy Commodore-Amiga, Inc. The Law of Software Envelopment Every program at MIT attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot expand are replaced by ones which can. Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share. I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors.
swan@jolnet.ORPK.IL.US (Joel Swan) (08/22/89)
In article <525@tardis.Tymnet.COM> jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith) writes: >In article <13227@well.UUCP> xanthian@well.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >>This one just bit me, and the folks at C-A should have known better! >>Please change the name of "ram disk:" to either ram_disk: or just ram:; >I didn't allow that problem to bother me. Put the following in your >startup-sequence, and it won't bother you. > relabel RAM: RAM_DISK >-- >Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: JMS@F74.TYMNET.COM or jms@tymix.tymnet.com I agree with Kent completely. I also relabel RAM:, but I relabel it to simply "RAM". However, the best world would be to simply drop the second word "DISK" from its name in the first place. First, most other devices are only 3 letters (DF0:, DH0:, VD0:, etc) and RAM as its name would fit better. (I realize device names and volume names are different, but they CAN be the same if we want them to, right?) Second, 3 letters is easier and faster to type, especially when it contains no spaces (hence, no quotes). BTW- I have a hard time finding a spot in my startup-sequence to relabel RAM. It seems if I do it too early in my SS, I get an error code. I also must do it a few commands ahead of my loadwb if I remember right. I think it would give me validation errors or something. -- - Joel E. Swan [ swan@jolnet.UUCP <> PLINK ID: Amiga*joel ] [ "Amigas.... for the rest of us." <> CI$ : 74746,3240 ] [ "...peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:8 ]
shadow@pawl.rpi.edu (Deven T. Corzine) (08/24/89)
On 22 Aug 89 01:48:15 GMT, swan@jolnet.ORPK.IL.US (Joel Swan) said: Joel> BTW- I have a hard time finding a spot in my startup-sequence to Joel> relabel RAM. It seems if I do it too early in my SS, I get an Joel> error code. I also must do it a few commands ahead of my loadwb Joel> if I remember right. I think it would give me validation errors Joel> or something. What I do is start my startup-sequence by installing ConMan and starting an AShell and killing the original CLI, but then the AShell mounts RAD:, and attempts to "relabel rad: vd0"... if it gets an error on either the mount or relabel, it runs RemRAD, prints an error, and does a "relabel ram: vd0" instead. Subsequent references are all to vd0:, copying files and assigning devices, etc. This way, it will use RAD: if it can, (and won't copy files it doesn't need to) and fall back on RAM: if RAD: fails. I no longer use the ASDG vdisk, but I was used to "VD0:" so I used it for the volume label of the main ramdisk. A "relabel ram: ram" precedes the "mount rad:" so if RAD: works, RAM: will have volume label ram:. *I* like it. :-) Deven -- Deven T. Corzine Internet: deven@rpi.edu, shadow@pawl.rpi.edu Snail: 2214 12th Street, Troy, NY 12180 Phone: (518) 271-0750 Bitnet: deven@rpitsmts, userfxb6@rpitsmts UUCP: uunet!rpi!deven Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.
xanthian@well.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) (08/24/89)
Well, I read three responses to my request to change "RAM DISK:" to either "RAM_DISK:" or back to "RAM:"; I liked best the one that started "I agree with Kent completely" of course. ;-) I can state with certainty that with my short term only memory, and return to read this group only when I'm unemployed but flush, I can be used as a pretty good approximation of a naive user in cases like this. I _tried_ RELABELing RAM DISK:, and got back and error message. Never in my wildest imaginings did it occur to me that I would have to do it before the workbench got loaded. Now I will. Never the less, Andy and other CATS types, this is a bug, not a feature, since it is guaranteed to cause grief to old software, and to new users, and most of all (I'm shouting here, listen up ;-) IT WASN'T NECESSARY! I hope Carolyn got the copy of my letter to mwm I cc'ed to her; the gist was, if you don't start making things lots, lots easier for the incredibly naive, barely-ept user (me for example), your market penetration with the Amiga is going to stay low, or decrease. Word of mouth from the brand new owner to friends and relations is your biggest sales tool, or greatest sales liability, depending on what impression you make right at the start. Take a long, introspective look at what put the Mac in offices all over the country where it was forbidden by official policy, and made it the success it is today. The answer? It did what people wanted, it did it right out of the box, and it made the user feel in charge of the machine. Excusing "features" that cause the user grief on the basis that "the other guy's software is broken" is the surest way to take Commodore right back to chapter 11. Don't tell me it isn't your fault. Don't tell me some arcane way to get around it. Don't tell me it is no big deal. Fix it. well!xanthian Kent, the man from xanth, now just another echo from The Well. (And by the way, if relabel works for RAM:, it should always work, as should diskchange.)
jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup) (08/25/89)
In article <13304@well.UUCP> xanthian@well.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >I _tried_ RELABELing RAM DISK:, and got back and error message. Never in my >wildest imaginings did it occur to me that I would have to do it before >the workbench got loaded. Now I will. I forget about pre-1.3, but under 1.3 it works fine. The current Workbench wants you to do relabels through the Workbench Rename after WB is started (it doesn't notice relabels, of ram: or of any other disk, from CLI). Works fine. Relabel before WB comes up, everything works fine. >Never the less, Andy and other CATS types, this is a bug, not a feature, >since it is guaranteed to cause grief to old software, and to new users, >and most of all (I'm shouting here, listen up ;-) IT WASN'T NECESSARY! Everyone has known from Day 1 (and many before) that spaces were allowed in file names and device names. There is a limit on how much we can do to make already broken programs work. Far more important is to avoid breaking correct programs. -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com BIX: rjesup Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"
ajbrouw@neabbs.UUCP (ALBERT-JAN BROUWER) (08/28/89)
In article <13227@well.UUCP> xanthian@well.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >This one just bit me, and the folks at C-A should have known better! > >Please change the name of "ram disk:" to either ram_disk: or just ram:; >changing the name to include an embedded space for 1.3 broke >working software! For example, the Lattice C++ hello.sh demonstration My solution to this was to take l:RAM-Handler, search for the string "RAM DISK" and modify the " " to a "_" as to let it read "RAM_DISK". You can do this with NewZap or any editor that accepts binary files. Modifying executable files may not be considered to be normal practice, but I consider this to be the cleanest solution when opposed to some time-dependant use of Relabel. Err, BTW, when doing this, try to preserve the "----rw-d" flag pattern. -- Albert. ## "To err is human -- to moo, bovine" (Nutworks magazine) ##