Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!toddpw
From: toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Tech Questions about GS/OS (and some ramblings)
Message-ID: <1991Jan8.072457.198@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 8 Jan 91 07:24:57 GMT
References: <353@generic.UUCP>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 32

ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com (Eric Mcgillicuddy) writes:

(In response to this bit which I wrote)
>>Note that this is not always sufficient. Parts of the Orca/C stdio library
>>depend on the shell being present, and barf if you S16 them.

>I think that this is not a problem. If you want to do I/O use the Toolbox. Are
>you complaining that Orca/C does not use Toolcalls when you generate a SYS16
>file?                                             ^^in lieu of shell calls

Here's the situation. I compile an EXE that uses fopen/fread/fclose. It works
but >64K reads return $FFFF in the high word (if I read $1fde8, the return
value from fread() would be $fffffde8 instead). When I Filetype that load file
to S16 (note: I didn't specify S16 compilation in Prizm, I used compile and
link commands in the shell) and launch it from finder, fopen() returns an error
($100, whatever that means).

When I replace fopen/fread/fclose with my own little subroutines that rely on
gsos.h (GSOpen/GSRead/GSClose is what I call them) my executable shrinks by
about 2K and everything works like a charm.

I'm really tempted to start writing a real stdio library for Orca that uses
GS/OS for everything (even stdin/stdout/stderr) but I have enough projects
already to keep me busy.

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu

P.S. Lord High Giffer can display pictures now. Decompression is still entirely
in C (slow, but easier to debug and tune) but I expect to be screaming past
GIF3200 by the end of the week. I still won't have any conversions other than
pre-scale color, so if you know of some really hot color-crunchers let me know.