Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!watcgl!electro!ignac
From: ignac@electro.UUCP (Ignac Kolenko)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Pexec question
Keywords: GEMDOS, Pexec, developer docs
Message-ID: <477@electro.UUCP>
Date: 22 Apr 89 17:47:56 GMT
References: <1927@hall.cray.com>
Reply-To: ignac@electro.UUCP (Ignac Kolenko)
Organization: Electrohome Ltd., Kitchener, ON
Lines: 45

In article <1927@hall.cray.com> rosenkra@hall.UUCP (Bill Rosenkranz) writes:
>---
>allen pratt (or anyone that might know...) -
>
>i have a question on Pexec, specifically on load/nogo then go more than once.
>here is a short example which does not work, probably because the child is
>gone after the first Pexec (4,...).
>
>what i want to know is just how to do this. actually, i want to have a GEM
>program (uses AES) Malloc screen buffer, load in some special code(s) which
>will be executed any number of times (may be several programs acting like
>special drivers),then Malloc more memory. the children will never Malloc/malloc
>any memory but must be able to read/write to memory loc passed to it by parent:
>

hmm, interesting. this is pretty well the exact same problem that i've come
across in the GEMDOS pexec: namely, you cannot tell GEMDOS to load in a program
at a specific address. this makes overlays a real bugger, since i can't 
allocate, say 32K of memory as an overlay buffer, and tell gemdos to load a
program into this buffer for execution. the ability to do this would allow
people to write really HUGE accessories, but instead of eating up 200K for 
the huge accessory all at once, the modules it need to run can be pexeced
when needed into an internal buffer. no muss, no fuss.

but, i have a feeling this would interfere with any attempts by atari to make
TOS multitask/swap processes/etc. or is that being too optomistic??	:-)


>all these types of questions SHOULD have been answered in the Pexec Cookbook
>or else you should just release the src to developers so we don't have to
>bug you. i really need an answer before the weekend so i can get this
>stuff working. i am on a tight schedule for my customer.
>

again, interesting. if simple questions like this aren't answered in the "all
powerful atari developer documentation", then what is covered??? hearing
of problems like this from developers (i assume from bill's posting that he
is indeed a developer) makes me VERY hesitant on spending $100+ on 
documentationthat is no better than the abacus books.

-- 
Ignac A. Kolenko (The Ig)          watmath!watcgl!electro!ignac      

"Catholic or Protestant, you got not choice. I tried to scream, but I lost
my voice!" from 'Irish Eyes Don't Smile Tonight' by SUBURBAN DISTORTION