[Oberon] Why is RSC string data word-aligned?

[Jörg]

The Mac emulator allows that, as Oberon files are Mac files.
Or I use TFTP to exchange files with Windows computers.

Jörg

> Am 31.01.2021 um 21:30 schrieb Skulski, Wojciech <skulski at pas.rochester.edu>:
> 
> Charles Perkins [chuck at kuracali.com] wrote:
> 
>> "If we were to adjust the .rsc file for word alignment of strings, making the on-disk layout of values no longer agnostic to in-memory layout of data, I would go much further. I would make the on-disk layout exactly the same as an in-memory layout, enable demand paging of disk blocks to memory locations, just page in executable code as necessary (don't need an mmu for that if you start out by filling all page cache locations with an instruction that jumps to the 'paged out' handler) etc, etc, etc. but that is a much more complex system unsuitable for illustrating the core concepts of a single-user interactive workstation."
> 
> From my user perspective the file system speed optimizations are not even secondary. I would rather want to see a convenient file exchange between the RISC5 Oberon and Windows workstations. I would like to plug the Oberon SD into an SD card reader and easily copy files under Windows, from the V4 directory to the SD and vice versa, using the usual Windows drag and drop. I would like to do the same between the Oberon SD and the emulator. 
> 
> I would like to use the entire SD card rather than a small portion of it. I do not mind "partitions", if partitions are visible and easily used under the emulator, the Windows host, and the Oberon workstation. I would like to add Linux and Mac to the list of hosts, though I am not using either.
> 
> Present PC link is fine for small files or for the SW development. But it is not great for massive file exchange between Oberon and hosts, or Oberon and emulators.
> 
> Is it unreasonable to expect easy and convenient file exchange with usual kind of Windows / Linux / Mac tools? Is it unreasonable to use the whole SD card? 
> 
> Concerning the speed under the Oberon, a boost would be provided with the QSPI interface rather than the present SPI interface. Arguing about the file reading speed without first replacing SPI with QSPI is funny. 
> 
> W.
> --
> Oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch mailing list for ETH Oberon and related systems
> https://lists.inf.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/oberon