Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sdcsvax!ucbvax!decvax!decwrl!sun!imagen!atari!apratt
From: apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Does FOLDRXXX _really_ work w/new ROMS?
Message-ID: <938@atari.UUCP>
Date: 11 Jan 88 22:57:43 GMT
References: <2484@dasys1.UUCP>
Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 47

in article <2484@dasys1.UUCP>, schuster@dasys1.UUCP (Michael Schuster) says:
> Next I looked at FOLDRXXX.PRG. The discussion on CIS said that it contained
> a look-up table of ROM version dates. Within the program the following
> information (re-formatted, of course) appears:
>       $4E75   11/20/1985
>       $56FA   02/06/1986
>       $56FA   04/24/1986
>       $56FA   06/01/1986
>       $7E0A   00/00/0000
> (actually the last "date" might not be an entry at all, as the table is
> padded at the end with nulls).
> 
> This table brings forth two very alarming impressions!
> 1. The system date of the current roms, 04/11/1987, is NOWHERE IN THIS TABLE.
> 2. The address of $7E0A, which I take it is a projection of where GEMFRL might
>    be in the future, is WRONG. The TOS header lists GEMFRL at $7E9C.
> 

For Christ's sake!  Everybody with a debugger thinks he can out-think
the guy who wrote (and documented) a utility.

(It happens that you have the table wrong: $4E75 is an "rts" instruction.
The table starts with the next word, with date-address pairs.)

Atari is not so foolish as to think that a patch which works for current
and old ROMs (i.e.  6/1/1986 and older) works for all future ROMs.  If
we say it works for ALL ROMS, PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE don't you think
we've put a little more thought into it than that?

Yes, FOLDRXXX.PRG works for ALL ROMS.  It will work for ALL FUTURE ROMS. 
(At least, all ROMs which have this problem.) I shouldn't have to defend
it like this, but I will spell it out:

For old ROMs, the location of the patch point is determined from the table.
For newer ROMs, a pointer to the patch point was placed at the end of the 
OS header, so the address comes from the ROM itself.

That's how you make things work for past, present, and future.

The reason I am mad about this posting is that the LAST thing we need
is people to start rumors discrediting Atari's patches.  When we do
try to fix something, please make sure of your facts before telling the
world that it doesn't work.

============================================
Opinions expressed above do not necessarily	-- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp.
reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else.	  ...ames!atari!apratt