Richard Zidlicky wrote:
>>there is no need to add the bloat of ISO9660 just to read a single
QXL.WIN
>>Putting the QXL.WIN image directly on the CD is much cleaner and files
>>inside are still trivially accessible using qxltool on any reasonable OS.
>>Time to set out own standards :)
And Roy Wood replied:
>This was not what I suggested. The ability to read PC format CDs from
>the Q 40 would open up a vast amount of Clip Art etc. to the QL user at
>a stroke. I know I can read QXL.WIN files with qxltool but the ability
>to access it as a straight directory would open it up to those who want
>to do just that without having to download extra tools and work their
>way through the usual freeware jungle of no front ends or user
>interfaces. Yes we could set our own standards and remain isolated or we
>could do what other commercial systems are not capable of and read as
>many formats as we can.
Well, I hate to be a party breaker, but guess what: all standard CD file
systems have a deeper directory structure and/or longer names than the QL
is capable of handling with it's 36 character path+name limit. As a result,
it is not possible to implement a directory device driver that would do
anything but direct sector access, or some sort of bodged file access. Then
a utility would go on top of that to read the files (and chop off the
longer names if such are found). There are ways around this, all of which
would be breaking new grounds, and as such would from the start have the
potential of incompatibility. I won't even go into ideas of having the CD
criver being modular, something that links to a regular 'ide' driver
through dorect sector access - cause QDOS has no real linking capability,
so it would have to be yet another bodge. I've been through all that
several times on this list and elsewhere - I won't repeat it again.
I truly respect the ideas and that someone is willing to implement them.
Just be sure old problems are not repeated once again, if it can be
avoided. Let's also remember that users that do not have a Q40/60 may also
want CD access. Not everyone has (or for that matter can have or wants)
Linux on their QL compatible hardware.
Nasta
