Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!zooey.Berkeley.EDU!c162-br
From: c162-br@zooey.Berkeley.EDU (Warner Young)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: underscore crash bug (was: Another question on TEDINFO info)
Message-ID: <2332@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>
Date: 12 Apr 88 20:44:11 GMT
References: <8804072002.AA09315@grumpy.tis.com> <2220@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> <1510@water.waterloo.edu>
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu
Reply-To: c162-br@zooey.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Warner Young)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 38
Keywords: underscore crash bug dialog TEDINFO
Summary: when and how it happens
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!zooey.Berkeley.EDU!c162-br
From: c162-br@zooey.Berkeley.EDU (Warner Young)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: underscore crash bug (was: Another question on TEDINFO info)
Message-ID: <2332@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>
Date: 12 Apr 88 20:44:11 GMT
References: <8804072002.AA09315@grumpy.tis.com> <2220@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> <1510@water.waterloo.edu>
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu
Reply-To: c162-br@zooey.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Warner Young)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 38
Keywords: underscore crash bug dialog TEDINFO

In article <1510@water.waterloo.edu> ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu writes:
>In article <2220@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> c162-br@zooey.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP writes:
>>
>>                             ...                 In fact, this is
>>a template that should also avoid the underscore crash bug.
>
>I think this has been mentioned before, but what exactly is the
>	"underscore crash bug" ?
>-- 
> L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo.
>	ljdickey@waterloo.edu
>	ljdickey@WATDCS.UWaterloo.ca	ljdickey@water.BITNET
>	ljdickey@water.UUCP	or	...!uunet!water!ljdickey

	Okay.  I hope this will answer any questions about the underscore
bug (and that umpteenth other netters don't post the same info).

	The underscore bug is a bug in the "middle" version of TOS.  That is,
it exists in the TOS ROMs of the old machines, not in the Mega's.  What happens
is that, in a dialog box, you type the underscore character '_', and the
machine will crash, typically with ten bombs.  This will happen only from
typing the character, not from displaying it.  And it only occurs on certain
dialog lines, such as the ones with a template of X or P or 9.  It will not
crash on a filename type, F.  Also, in the old, RAM TOS, and the Mega TOS,
typing the underscore merely causes an erase-to-end-of-line (the reverse
of ESC, I guess.)  Incidentally, anyone know why this happens?  (The _, not
the ESC).

	Well, I hope that does it.  But while we're at it, does anyone have
an answer to my original question?  Using a template of FFFFFFFFFFF doesn't
work correctly.  Typing an illegal character causes the line to be filled
with spaces.  Thanks.

\        /arner	- Writer of the dreaded Safety Seal Reviews
 \  /   /	- Owner of the vaporware group Safety Seal Software
  \/ \_/oung
       |	- Disclaimer:  I'm not associated. 
     \_|