Hi all,
(To Laurens: thanks for your nice comment on my pages).
>> Quickly after my previous upload, I again uploaded a utility I
>> wrote once. It's called "Split" (v1.1),
>> (..)
>> Only 'shortcoming': it needs MSX-DOS 2.
Laurens Holst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> replied:
> Dos2 RULEZ!!!
>
> I was wondering... is there still anybody who hasn't got Dos2??? If not,
> then I could just make utilities Dos2-only... Lot easier than inluding
> (terrible) Dos1-support...
> Oh, I was also wondering who hasn't got a harddisk?
> Ok, I know the MSX-ers on this list are only the real die-hards, so this
> will not be a relyable question for the general MSX-user, but still... I'd
> like to know.
Yes, I agee, but:
Not supporting DOS 1 is simply a LIMITATION, and I don't like
limitations...
For instance, something that only supports DOS2, can
not, or very difficult be used with emulators, and when you're
writing something for MSX these days, I think you should do it so,
that it will also work on emulators, or at least don't go to great
lengths to PREVENT it from doing so. 8-(
(Same thing on PC's: although writing for DOS, it's unbelievable how
much trouble programmers go through to prevent something from working
under Windows 9x-DOS or in a DOS-box...)
In these days, I think there will also be many people who might
only occasionally use their MSX, and for that purpose have only a
'standard' MSX (probably MSX2), often without DOS2 built-in.
If something needs DOS2, that would require having this built in,
extra plugging in a cartridge or HDD interface with DOS2, etc., which
is just more trouble.
If something also supports DOS1 as well, you can just work with what
you've got, rather than with what the programmer would like you to
have. ;-)
In general, I think you should support all things that are not TOO
difficult to support, that are not too rare.
Only exception would be if the program is for a very special purpose,
or if it would mean a really big amount of extra work.
For instance, if you're writing a music program to get the best
possible out of MSX-Music, you should not only support a particular
FM-PAC, but also the -PAK, Korean or other versions, because people
might have these, and they all work about the same.
Also supporting MSX Audio for this program could mean re-writing the
entire program, so it would be understandable to drop support for
that.
But when you're writing an entire music program, disk functions will
only be a small part of it. So her you SHOULD support both DOS1 and
DOS2, or at least write it so, that it will also work under DOS2,
using DOS1-compatible functions. That's the general idea...
For a disk-utillity like this "Split" I made, a large part of the
work is command-line parsing, and converting results in disk
functions. If I would have wanted DOS1-support for this, I would have
had to make a huge part of it disk-version dependant. I might as well
have written a separate DOS1- and DOS2-version in that case.
So for this, I decided to drop DOS1 support, and make full use of
DOS2. If I had to include DOS1 disk functions as well, I might not
have done it all (a lot more work).
Speaking of DOS2:
Strict requirements for DOS2 are a memory mapper, and some
kind of disk-drive to work with.
Maybe it will even work with only the built-in RAMdisk, without even
any real drive attached. Does anyone know if this is true?
But what I asked myself some time ago:
Would DOS2 work on a MSX-1 as well? Think of it: as far as I know, it
doesn't use any SPECIFIC MSX-2 features, only things that are
commonly found on MSX-2's, like the memory mapper.
But MSX-1's and memory mappers don't byte each other, nor do MSX-1's
and harddisks or so.
So suppose you have a MSX-1 with sufficient cartridge-slots, and you
would plug in a memory mapper, DOS2 cartridge, and disk-interface.
After initialising the mapper by hand, and resetting the machine once
more, would things work as normal, with Disk BASIC 2.x to go with it?
Can anyone try this, just to satisfy our curiosity?
(P.S. The combination MSX-1/mapper DOES work as normal, I know this
for a fact. You can even run some MegaROM cracks on such a system,
that are stating to be MSX-2 only...)
Greetings,
Alwin Henseler ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://huizen.dds.nl/~alwinh/msx MSX Tech Doc page
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