Date   : Mon, 06 Mar 2006 01:15:06 +0000
From   : jgh@... (Jonathan Graham Harston)
Subject: Re: Terminal Emulator/Arcade Problems

Wookie <wooky@...> wrote:
> Any help/advice VERY gratefully recieved :-)
 
The ROM image I received was only 9K long. The terminal emulator
worked, but *LPDFS just hung. I assumed this was becasue there was
no server, but looking through the ROM the *LPDFS command jumps to
about &B180 - past the end of the image I have.
 
Has anybody uploaded LPDFS somewhere I can fetch it from?
 
>From looking through it so far I conclude that the author was a
really crap programmer who completely didn't known what he was
doing. The service routine tramples on the function key pointer in
zero page. The *Command routine checks for "*LPDFS" and
"*EMULATOR" - yes, with a '*' at the beginning. It doesn't check
(&F2),Y, it checks (&F2),0!!!!
 
Consequently, *only* the exact string "*LPDFS" will be matched.
Not "**LPDFS", OSCLI"LPDFS" or *anything* that is not the exact
string "*LPDFS", and similarly for "*EMULATOR".
 
The *Help service routine also checks (&F2),0 instead of (&F2),Y
and checks for "*HELP" and "*HELP EMULATOR", not "" or "EMULATOR"
as the *parameter* of the *Help command.
 
Consequently, OSCLI"HELP", **HELP, *help, *h., *he., etc. are all
ignored.
 
The author also doen't understand English.
 
LPDFS calls itself an "Emulator and File Server".
 
A /what/ emulator? A carpet emulator? A fridge emulator? A VAX
emulator?
 
And it's /not/ a file server, it's a fil(e|ing) /system/. The
machine at the *other end* is the file *server*.
 
"SET-UP" instead of "SET UP".
 
-- 
J.G.Harston - jgh@...                - mdfs.net/User/JGH
BBC BASIC for Windows and Internationalisation
  See http://mdfs.net/Software/BBCBasic/Windows/ProgTips