From: thefadden@gmail.com   
      
   The CP/M filesystem continues to delight and terrify me.   
      
   As I contemplate the CiderPress II implementation, two questions spring to   
   mind:   
      
   (1) Did the CP/M v3.1 filesystem format extensions make it to the Apple II?    
   Specifically, the "every 4th directory entry is actually a place to hold   
   dates".  I found "CPM3.1Z80_Softcard.zip" on asimov, but none of the disks   
   seem to use this feature.   
      
   (2) Would it make sense to treat user numbers as directories?  That seems like   
   a natural way to handle them, but it does mean the tools would be referring to   
   things as "0:FILE.TXT" instead of "FILE.TXT".  I don't know how other tools   
   handle this, absent    
   a "user" command to set the current state.  Each disk gets 16 (or is it 31?)   
   pre-defined directories that can hold files but can't be modified.   
      
   An alternative would be to make it an editable file attribute, and just let   
   people struggle when more than one file has the same name.  (Not an issue in   
   the GUI, problematic in the CLI.)   
      
   A better option would be to include it in the filename, but only when   
   nonzero.  So you have "FILE.TXT" and "1:FILE.TXT".  Or maybe "1,FILE.TXT" so   
   it doesn't get confused as a directory name.  Or "FILE.TXT,1".   
      
   This would be easier if I'd ever used CP/M, and had some idea about the   
   conventions. :-)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)