Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!math.fu-berlin.de!unido!gmdzi!strobl From: strobl@gmdzi.gmd.de (Wolfgang Strobl) Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d Subject: Re: ALED goes to the wastebasket here in Iceland Message-ID: <4949@gmdzi.gmd.de> Date: 19 Jun 91 21:52:36 GMT References: <2554@gold.gvg.tek.com> <3274@krafla.rhi.hi.is> <1991Jun19.103013.25421@cc.tut.fi> <1991Jun19.112156.901@klaava.Helsinki.FI> Organization: GMD, St. Augustin, F.R. Germany Lines: 28 wirzeniu@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lars Wirzenius) writes: >In article <1991Jun19.103013.25421@cc.tut.fi> kaukasoi@cc.tut.fi (Kaukasoina Petri) writes: >>As a Finn, I do not agree. At least in Finland there is no reason not >>to use all characters in filenames. If you give small letters in >A word of caution: Don't use the character 229 (e5 in hex, it's a greek >letter) as the first character of a filename. That character signals to >DOS that the file has been deleted. Did you check this? My copy of DOS (MSDOS 4.01)handles 0xe5 as the first file name character without problems. DOS translates it to 0x05 and back, internally. If I remember correctly, I read about this feature in one of the many files in my copy of the MS programmers library (CD-ROM), so it's a documented feature. Of course, everybody else - besides DOS commands - get this wrong. PCTOOLS displays the 0x05 character in its tree listing, for example. The Germany version of Windows 3.0 reacts funny: the file manager displays the character (0xe5 / 0x05) as an underscore, but refuses to handle (move, copy, rename) the file. The attempt to grab and move the file using the mouse results in an error message: "file not found, check file/path name", which isn't especially enlighting. The internationalization support contained in the basic Microsoft operating system products (DOS, OS/2, Windows) is excellent, but most of their application programmers seem to be unable to use it. Wolfgang Strobl #include