Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bbn!usc!csun!csuna!abcscagz
From: abcscagz@csuna.csun.edu (Jeff Boeing)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: DOS 4.00 differences (Was Re: DOS 4.00 compatible DDIR)
Message-ID: <2016@csuna.csun.edu>
Date: 27 May 89 00:37:57 GMT
References: <2008@csuna.csun.edu> <755@tukki.jyu.fi>
Reply-To: abcscagz@csuna.csun.edu (Jeff Boeing)
Organization: CSU Northridge
Lines: 25

In article <755@tukki.jyu.fi> makela@tukki.jyu.fi (Otto J. Makela) writes:
>Even simple (?) directory listing programs have to be modified to run...

The reason DDIR doesn't work quite right under DOS 4.00 is that it relied
on the first character of a non-file line being a space.  Under DOS 4, a
directory listing prints the space as the LAST character of the PREVIOUS
line (or some dumb thing like that), so that it looks the same but doesn't
"capture" the same.  I had to patch it with a kludge that looked for lower-
case letters in the output generated by DIR, since filenames are always in
uppercase but the "Volume ..." and "Directory of ..." lines are not.

Another major enhancement (?) to DOS 4 is that they've reworked the File
Allocation Table scheme around enough so that early versions of the Norton
Utilities (or any utility that bypasses INT 21 for disk I/O) will choke on
it.  This is to accomodate hard disks larger than 32 Megabytes.
   Also, the BIOS, operating system, and command interpreter have grown, as
have all the standard utilities, so you'll have to rush right out and buy an
even BIGGER memory board and hard drive.  (Anyone remember when the MORE
filter was about 300 bytes long?)

-- 
Jeff Boeing:  ...!csun.edu!csuna!abcscagz    (formerly tracer@stb.UUCP)
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