Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucsd!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!crash!canada
From: canada@crash.cts.com (Diane Barlow Close)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: 40 Folder Bug *BACK* in TOS 1.4?!
Message-ID: <876@crash.cts.com>
Date: 10 Dec 89 17:12:15 GMT
Reply-To: canada@crash.cts.com (Diane Barlow Close)
Distribution: na
Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA
Lines: 42


The following message appeared on the San Diego Atari Computer Enthusiast's
BBS.  The originator of the message is quite a competent
programmer/developer for the ST, so I gave his message more ``weight'' than
if just anyone had posted it.  Can anyone confirm or dismiss this bug
report:

Message : 974 [Open] 12-10-89 12:01am
From    : John Sudikatus
To      : All 
Subject : TOS 1.4 bugs
Sig(s)  : 1 (General news)

A WARNING TO ALL TOS 1.4 USERS!!!
 
Despite what Atari has said about the 40 folder bug being fixed in TOS
1.4, IT ISN'T!  Actually, the "40 folder" problem in previous
versions of TOS may have indeed been fixed, but in reducing the amount
of low memory used by TOS (in attempt to be more compatible with TOS
1.0) another bug was introduced. It seems that the directory buffers
now overlap slightly with the dynamic memory pointer list. This means
that when you have accessed more than about 35 folders and then try to
allocate memory, there is a good chance that the program will bomb
horribly. This is most likely to occur in programs that search all
subdirectories on your disk (like a utility I wrote does).
 
I STRONGLY recommend using FOLDRXXX.PRG or CACHENNN.PRG in your AUTO
folder. FOLDRXXX.PRG seems to work since the added buffers are put at
the head of the list, meaning that they will be used before the
original 40 (80 actually, since each folder requires 2 buffers). But
one thing to note is that the size of disk buffers in TOS 1.4 has
increased slightly over that of TOS 1.0 & 1.2. To get the requested
number of buffers you must multiply the number of extra folders you
want by about 1.06 (70/66 to be exact) and rename FOLDRXXX with that
number.
 
Fix a bug, create a bug. That's Atari for you. Oh, well....
-- 
Diane Barlow Close
      {nosc, ucsd}!crash!canada
      canada@crash.cts.com
      Free Canada -- Trade Mulroney