IOF.XINF Trap#3 call

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Martin_Head
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IOF.XINF Trap#3 call

Post by Martin_Head »

Does anybody know exactly what this trap is supposed to return in it's 64 byte data block, at byte $30 (IOI_REMV).

The QDOS SMS Reference says it's "set if removable". However FLP and WIN drives return zero here.

Am I misunderstanding what is meant by removable, and it does not mean removable as in a floppy disk?


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tofro
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Re: IOF.XINF Trap#3 call

Post by tofro »

Martin,
that flag was introduced especially for the Atari Megafile 44 and the HW emulator on the Atari ST. The Megafile 44 used a Syquest hard drive with removable disk stacks and (hence the name) 44 MB of storage. This needed special OS handling to lock the eject lever while the disks were turning.

I don't really think anything else but the Atari emulator used this flag. And I also don't think there are still a lot of those around. I used to have one, but unfortunately sold the Mega ST 2 + Megafile 44 + QL emu in the late nineties. :(

Tobias


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Martin_Head
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Re: IOF.XINF Trap#3 call

Post by Martin_Head »

OK Thanks for that. So basically this flag will always be zero for normal devices such as mdv, flp, win, CDROMS? etc.

Martin


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tofro
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Re: IOF.XINF Trap#3 call

Post by tofro »

Martin_Head wrote:OK Thanks for that. So basically this flag will always be zero for normal devices such as mdv, flp, win, CDROMS? etc.
Martin
That wasn't exactly what I said ;)
On everything else but the Atari, yes. The Atari ACSI bus enables a device (CDROM, Harddisk, whatever) to actually tell the OS that a media is removable.
The Megafile 44 - being handled as a "win" in SMSQ/E (and maybe ACSI CDROM or other drives with removable media) would have told the Atari SMSQ/E driver that it should maintain the flag. To my knowledge, the Atari drivers are the only ones in SMSQ/E that actually maintain that flag - And a quick grep through the SMSQ/E sources seems to support that assumption. The term "removable" only shows up in drivers related to ACSI

So, on everything else but an Atari, I would guess this flag is 0. On an SMSQ/Eed Atari, however, it depends on what the device is saying, and it will only be set by devices on the ACSI bus (so, even the Atari will consider flp_ as non-removable.....)

Tobias


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Derek_Stewart
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Re: IOF.XINF Trap#3 call

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

I think will find the MDV & FLP are not classed as Removal Drives, maybe the best definition if Removal Hard Drives.

Maybe best to post this message in the QL-Users Mailing list, as Wolfgang Lenerz reads the mailing list and will beable comment on the problem.


Regards, Derek
Ralf R.

Re: IOF.XINF Trap#3 call

Post by Ralf R. »

Yes, TT made this Trap, when Jochen found the Megafile 44 so very handy but ran into problems with different "cartridges" as SMSQ wasn't able to detect a given condition (door open or closed, HD changed or not), as it does not recognized that. TOS (the Atari's native OS, or better "AHDI.PRG/SHDRIVER.SYS", the driver) does.

At least, a lot of implemented things in SMSQ belongs to Jochen's demand during his update path from the standard Atari ST emulator from Futura Datasenter/Norway up to the QVME card on the Atari TT.


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