Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!apple!bionet!agate!ucbvax!UBVMSC.CC.BUFFALO.EDU!V112PDL5
From: V112PDL5@UBVMSC.CC.BUFFALO.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: RE: GS/OS Questions
Message-ID: <8810011919.aa01976@SMOKE.BRL.MIL>
Date: 23 Sep 88 01:17:00 GMT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 61

>As for Mac disk support, it doesn't currently transparently read Mac disks, but
>the potential is certainly there. GS/OS performs ALL device reads through
>FSTs (File System Translators) and RAM based device drivers. A 3.5" drive
>device driver is already included with GS/OS, but there is no HFS FST. The
>FSTs currently supplied are ProDOS, High Sierra, and Console - an FST for
>character I/O to the screen and from the keyboard.

  What operations require the 3.5" driver or drivers in general.
Just operations other than with the ProDOS file system?
Will hard disks require new drivers? How are drivers made?

  The words "3.5" device driver" coming from Apple makes me nervous
as an owner of a non-Apple hard drive. Remember Apple's  printer driver for
the Mac was so complex that (at first) one printer manufacturer switched to
selling Imagewriter compatibles to avoid the trouble of writing their own 
drivers.
  Look at these quotes from Volume 10, Issue 38 of InfoWorld about GS/OS:
"[GS/OS comes]...with an application model that increases its similarity to
the Mac." and "The new OS lets files have data and resource forks, the 
same structure used in Mac applications." At first this seemed that Apple
would phaze out ProDOS in favor of Mac HFS making massive changes to APW in
the process.

>Volumes of greater than 32Meg ARE supported by GS/OS, per se, but NOT by the
>ProDOS FST that most people will be using. This is due to limitations of the
>ProDOS system since it was created. However, the limit on file and volume
>sizes imposed by GS/OS is something like 4 GBytes!!! This means that you can
>also access filing systems like High Sierra and HFS that can create volumes and
>files of this size.

  Ah, I believe I understand. But is it possible for a person to format an
Apple SC HD 40 or 80 (or perchance a CMS 60 megabyte HD) as one single volume
under a "non-ProDOS 4 GB" FST. In effect are non-Apple HD owners on their own
waiting for the independent party to produce a driver for those formats?
Actually, I'm not as concerned for >32 mb volumes as I am about the future.
Will future versions of GS/OS require a Mac HFS format with "a Mac-like
programming model" and "data and resource forks" leaving non-Apple HD owners
out in the cold? Probably not, right Keith?

  How do these FSTs change filenames? Will they only support the least common
denominator?

  By the bye, our local (North East) Apple dealer trainer (whatever his real
title is) mentioned that initially Apple had developed software enabling GSs
to serve as File Servers over AppleShare. But it was dumped citing abysmal
performance. With the faster GS/OS may this decion be revised? Of course at
the same time he stated High Sierra was a "error-correcting protocol for CDs"
and steadfastly refused to believe me that the Apple IIgs operates at 2.5/2.8
Mhz rather than his stated "2.0". He trains dealers right?

  Has anyone been having any trouble running Appleworks from v3.2 or 4.0?

p.s. Excuse me for the errors in prior messages. I hade a
misunderstanding with my Dataterm 550.

>Keith Rollin                                               amdahl\
>Developer Technical Support                           pyramid!sun !apple!keith
>Apple Computer                                             decwrl/
>"You can do what you want to me, but leave my computer alone!"

                           - mark cromwell