Mounting ATRs with your SIO2USB
von Dietrich » Sa 19. Apr 2008, 23:45Currently I'm working a lot with SIO2USB and therefore I have some useful hints for this great device, which might be of interest for you all:
1) Directory structure
If you have a lot of ATR files, build up a directory structure and don't put the files in just one directory. The reason is, you can find your files better on the ATARI via S2USHELL or the device menu. I recommend to have around 10 files per directory. If you have more, simply split the directory in two new ones.
My directory structure for games is based on the first two letters of the file names. It looks like this:
In the main directory: A-F, G-O, P-Z
These are only 3 directories since I have some other dirs here also.
2nd level directories: A, B, C, D, E-F, G-H, I-J, K-L, M- N-O, P, Q-R, S, T-V, W-Z
3rd level directories: AB-AI, AJ-AR, AS-AX, BA, BC-BE, BI-BO, BR-BU
CA, CE-CH, CL-CU, DA-DE, DI-DO, DR-DY, E, FA-FI, FL, FO-FR
GA-GE, GH-GO, GR-GY, HA, HE-HY, I, JA-JE, JO-JU
KA-KE, KI-KU, LA, LE-LU, MA, ME, MI, MO, MR-MU, N, OB-OL, ON-OU
PA-PH, PI, PL-PO, PR-PU, Q, RA, RE, RI-RU, SA-SE, SH-SL, SN-SO, SP, ST, SU-SW
TA-TE, TH-TO, TR-TU, U-V, WA-WH, WI-WU, X-Y, Z
These are only 3-6 subdirs per dir, so you can split them without crossing the 10 entries per dir rule.
In every 3rd level dir I have 5-10 ATR files. This structure is sufficient for 500 ATRs.
If you have more files, split some directories again (or put more than 10 files in one dir).
If you want to mount an ATR simply go through the directory levels. You can do this even on the SIO2USB device menu without too much scrolling.
2) Filenames
SIO2USB uses for its file system FAT. This means that every long filename or name with special characters (even lower case letters) uses more than one directory entry. The S2USHELL directory listing is of course slower with long filenames. If you have only 10 files per directory this doesn't matter. But with more files you should consider using only 8.3 filenames like "LASTSTFI.ATR" without any special chars. This is especially true, if you want to use the device menu for mounting, which shows only short names.
As a compromise you can use 8.3 char filenames like "LastStFi.atr". These filenames can be identified more easily than standard uppercase names (LASTSTFI.ATR).
1) Directory structure
If you have a lot of ATR files, build up a directory structure and don't put the files in just one directory. The reason is, you can find your files better on the ATARI via S2USHELL or the device menu. I recommend to have around 10 files per directory. If you have more, simply split the directory in two new ones.
My directory structure for games is based on the first two letters of the file names. It looks like this:
In the main directory: A-F, G-O, P-Z
These are only 3 directories since I have some other dirs here also.
2nd level directories: A, B, C, D, E-F, G-H, I-J, K-L, M- N-O, P, Q-R, S, T-V, W-Z
3rd level directories: AB-AI, AJ-AR, AS-AX, BA, BC-BE, BI-BO, BR-BU
CA, CE-CH, CL-CU, DA-DE, DI-DO, DR-DY, E, FA-FI, FL, FO-FR
GA-GE, GH-GO, GR-GY, HA, HE-HY, I, JA-JE, JO-JU
KA-KE, KI-KU, LA, LE-LU, MA, ME, MI, MO, MR-MU, N, OB-OL, ON-OU
PA-PH, PI, PL-PO, PR-PU, Q, RA, RE, RI-RU, SA-SE, SH-SL, SN-SO, SP, ST, SU-SW
TA-TE, TH-TO, TR-TU, U-V, WA-WH, WI-WU, X-Y, Z
These are only 3-6 subdirs per dir, so you can split them without crossing the 10 entries per dir rule.
In every 3rd level dir I have 5-10 ATR files. This structure is sufficient for 500 ATRs.
If you have more files, split some directories again (or put more than 10 files in one dir).
If you want to mount an ATR simply go through the directory levels. You can do this even on the SIO2USB device menu without too much scrolling.
2) Filenames
SIO2USB uses for its file system FAT. This means that every long filename or name with special characters (even lower case letters) uses more than one directory entry. The S2USHELL directory listing is of course slower with long filenames. If you have only 10 files per directory this doesn't matter. But with more files you should consider using only 8.3 filenames like "LASTSTFI.ATR" without any special chars. This is especially true, if you want to use the device menu for mounting, which shows only short names.
As a compromise you can use 8.3 char filenames like "LastStFi.atr". These filenames can be identified more easily than standard uppercase names (LASTSTFI.ATR).
But how about the underscore/underline "_" character (or however it is called) like in "ACE80_A.ATR" - does it affect the S2USHELL in a negative way ?!? Well, MS-DOS, as well as MyDOS and Sparta allow this character...
