TI99Dir and network shares

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Last year I posted a problem that I thought was caused by my Synology NAS. 

 

Using Win10 and TI99Dir, if a file (in the folder)  -starts- with a certain range of characters, inclusive of  "!#$%&()+-,", [visible ASCII characters in range >20 to >2F] Ti99Dir halts with "Can't read... access is denied" error.  (see below).  If I rename the offending file(s), I can access the folder. This happens with both Win10 Pro and Win10 Home. 

 

• If I browse the same NAS folders and files using Win7 and Ti99Dir, no problem
• If I move the folders and files locally to a Win7 or Win10 machine, TI99Dir does not produce the error and operates as expected.

 

Fast forward to today... I extracted a disk image to the TIPI share.  One of the files is named "!Readme".  When I tried to read the folder in Ti99Dir, I got the same error.  I browsed from both my Win10 Pro and Win10 home machines,  same results with both NAS and TIPI folders/files.   My Win7 machine and an old WinXP machine with the same version of Ti99Dir exhibit no problems on NAS and TIPI.

 

Could one or two of you folks with TIPI and a Win10 machine try the same operations?  

 

     

 

I reported this experience to Fred @F.G. Kaal last year but at the time, I/we thought the NAS was the culprit.  Now it seems the problem may be Win10 or TI99Dir.   Much appreciated.

[RXB]

Yea one anoying thing about TIDIR for me is when you copy a file like say LRXB6 from TI Files directory

on Classic99 to desktop PC DOS file it changes the name from LRXB6 to lrxb6 and of course TI99/4A can not use it.

 

Got to ask why is it changing the case?????

[+InsaneMultitasker]

On 5/17/2020 at 2:18 AM, RXB said:

Yea one anoying thing about TIDIR for me is when you copy a file like say LRXB6 from TI Files directory

on Classic99 to desktop PC DOS file it changes the name from LRXB6 to lrxb6 and of course TI99/4A can not use it.

 

Got to ask why is it changing the case?????

Not sure I've seen that before.  the TI should be able to use lower case files just fine, though, just disable the alpha lock

 

I am hoping someone can test the above scenarios at some point in time.

 

[RXB]

1 hour ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

Not sure I've seen that before.  the TI should be able to use lower case files just fine, though, just disable the alpha lock

 

I am hoping someone can test the above scenarios at some point in time.

 

From TI DIR TI DSK to PC DESKTOP it is changing the CASE for some unknown reason. 

Look if the file is LRXB6 and after changed to lrxb6 on desktop that is not a copy of the same name, I asked WHY IS IT CHANGING CASE OF NAME?

 

What does the Alpha lock have to this transfer?

 

[+InsaneMultitasker]

2 minutes ago, RXB said:

From TI DIR TI DSK to PC DESKTOP it is changing the CASE for some unknown reason. 

Look if the file is LRXB6 and after changed to lrxb6 on desktop that is not a copy of the same name, I asked WHY IS IT CHANGING CASE OF NAME?

 

What does the Alpha lock have to this transfer?

 

As I said, I haven't seen that before.  My alpha lock comment (or caps lock in emulation?) was in response to your first message (emphasis mine): 

 

On 5/17/2020 at 2:18 AM, RXB said:

 changes the name from LRXB6 to lrxb6 and of course TI99/4A can not use it.

 

The TI can indeed "use" lower case files.  

 

 

 

[RXB]

7 hours ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

Not sure I've seen that before.  the TI should be able to use lower case files just fine, though, just disable the alpha lock

 

I am hoping someone can test the above scenarios at some point in time.

 

The question you did not answer was why is it changing UPPER CASE to lower case?

Edited May 25, 2020 by RXB
comment added

[+InsaneMultitasker]

5 minutes ago, RXB said:

The question you did not answer was why is it changing UPPER CASE to lower case?

I do not know. That's a question for Fred.  I've never experienced that problem. My upper case files are never shifted to lower case by TI99Dir. 

[RXB]

10 hours ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

I do not know. That's a question for Fred.  I've never experienced that problem. My upper case files are never shifted to lower case by TI99Dir. 

Very strange?

 

[+9640News]

On 5/16/2020 at 8:27 PM, InsaneMultitasker said:

Last year I posted a problem that I thought was caused by my Synology NAS. 

 

Using Win10 and TI99Dir, if a file (in the folder)  -starts- with a certain range of characters, inclusive of  "!#$%&()+-,", [visible ASCII characters in range >20 to >2F] Ti99Dir halts with "Can't read... access is denied" error.  (see below).  If I rename the offending file(s), I can access the folder. This happens with both Win10 Pro and Win10 Home. 

 

• If I browse the same NAS folders and files using Win7 and Ti99Dir, no problem
• If I move the folders and files locally to a Win7 or Win10 machine, TI99Dir does not produce the error and operates as expected.

 

Fast forward to today... I extracted a disk image to the TIPI share.  One of the files is named "!Readme".  When I tried to read the folder in Ti99Dir, I got the same error.  I browsed from both my Win10 Pro and Win10 home machines,  same results with both NAS and TIPI folders/files.   My Win7 machine and an old WinXP machine with the same version of Ti99Dir exhibit no problems on NAS and TIPI.

 

Could one or two of you folks with TIPI and a Win10 machine try the same operations?  

 

     

 

I reported this experience to Fred @F.G. Kaal last year but at the time, I/we thought the NAS was the culprit.  Now it seems the problem may be Win10 or TI99Dir.   Much appreciated.

Tim reported this issue back some time ago, and I just ran into this very same issue myself.  In my case, I was copying files from a MFM drive over to a TIPI folder.  There were files named !DOIT, !MAKEFILE, and $MAKE.  When I tried to use TI99DIR to open the folder with these filenames, the directory reported the same error Tim previously reported.  Renaming the files to remove the ! and $ and I could now read the directory.

 

With Windows 10 looking at the folder, no problems.

 

Beery

 

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Hi Fred,  @F.G. Kaal, might you also take a look at this weird problem if you are reviewing TI99Dir enhancements?  See post #1 for some explanation.  When running TI99Dir on Windows10 to access a RPI share (configured for TIPI and TI), a NAS share, and maybe other Linux based devices over the network there is a problem if the filename starts with "!#$%&()+-,", [visible ASCII characters in range >20 to >2F].  (I do not recall finding any other characters that cause this problem).  

 

Windows7 running TI99Dir to the same network devices works just fine for these characters (in the first position). 

 

@9640News has the same problem.  I was hoping other TIPI users would have confirmed the problem.  

 

(I was reminded of this by the upper/lower case problem which I have not had trouble with, as noted in this topic)  

 

Edit: correction, based on post #1.

 

[+Lee Stewart]

1 hour ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

... a problem if the filename starts with a character in range >20->2F. 

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it should not be possible to start a filename with >20 (space).

 

...lee

[+InsaneMultitasker]

8 minutes ago, Lee Stewart said:

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it should not be possible to start a filename with >20 (space).

 

...lee

I suppose I could have/should have copied & pasted from post #1 where I noted the offending characters "!#$%&()+-,", [visible ASCII characters in range >20 to >2F].  

[+OLD CS1]

52 minutes ago, Lee Stewart said:

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it should not be possible to start a filename with >20 (space).

Should not be, but absolutely is in Unix, Linux, and Windows.  Is it not permitted in the TI filesystem?

[F.G. Kaal]

18 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

Should not be, but absolutely is in Unix, Linux, and Windows.  Is it not permitted in the TI filesystem?

No it isn't.

A file name on the TI file system has a maximum of 10 characters and does not contain a space or a '.' character.

A file name shorter then 10 characters is padded with spaces.

 

A '.' character is the devicename.directoryname.filename separator

A space character marks the end of a directory and/or file name if these are shorter then 10 characters.

 

[F.G. Kaal]

19 hours ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

I suppose I could have/should have copied & pasted from post #1 where I noted the offending characters "!#$%&()+-,", [visible ASCII characters in range >20 to >2F].  

Sorry ... to late, allready released a new version ?

 

I have looked into this problem last year (this sounds like a long time ago)  but I don't have a NAS. But I have just read here that I can use my TIPI as a substitute.

 

Last time I used another laptop as network share (both W10) but I did not see any problems with that setup. I also was not aware that time of the "!#$%&()+-,", [visible ASCII characters in range >20 to >2F] problem. I try this again later.

 

Fred

 

[+InsaneMultitasker]

19 minutes ago, F.G. Kaal said:

Sorry ... to late, allready released a new version ?

 

I have looked into this problem last year (this sounds like a long time ago)  but I don't have a NAS. But I have just read here that I can use my TIPI as a substitute.

 

Last time I used another laptop as network share (both W10) but I did not see any problems with that setup. I also was not aware that time of the "!#$%&()+-,", [visible ASCII characters in range >20 to >2F] problem. I try this again later.

 

Fred

 

Thank you, Fred.  If I can provide any further clarification or information when you try this later, I am happy to do so. Neither Beery nor I can browse the TIPI folders (on the RPi) with TI99Dir Win10 if any files in the folder start with the above characters. 

[F.G. Kaal]

21 hours ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

Thank you, Fred.  If I can provide any further clarification or information when you try this later, I am happy to do so. Neither Beery nor I can browse the TIPI folders (on the RPi) with TI99Dir Win10 if any files in the folder start with the above characters. 

How do I assign a drive letter to \\tipi ?

[+9640News]

33 minutes ago, F.G. Kaal said:

How do I assign a drive letter to \\tipi ?

I do a right click to "Map Network Drive" and pick a drive letter.  I believe once you have given your login credentials and signed into \\tipi (or whatever name you are calling your TIPI/PI setup), it shows up under File Explorer. Highlight, and then right click for Map Network Drive I think is all that is required.

 

Beery

[F.G. Kaal]

53 minutes ago, 9640News said:

I do a right click to "Map Network Drive" and pick a drive letter.  I believe once you have given your login credentials and signed into \\tipi (or whatever name you are calling your TIPI/PI setup), it shows up under File Explorer. Highlight, and then right click for Map Network Drive I think is all that is required.

 

Beery

Thanks Beery,

 

Was also searching the internet, found something about sharing and samba.

Found that samba is allready running in the rpi and that there is allready a configuration and I just found out that a can do dir \\tipi\tipi and I got a file list. Now I can assign a drive letter to it.

 

 

PS: Also in Ti99Dir you can just do menu option  files / select another directory and just type in \\tipi\tipi

 

 

Fred

Edited February 8, 2022 by F.G. Kaal

[F.G. Kaal]

I created some files and directories with Ti99Dir on my tipi:

 

Double clicking !A shows:

 

ERROR5: Access denied.

A can enter the directories #A, %A and I can load the files !A! and (A) in the viewer.

 

Using putty to look into the same directory I see:

 

tipi@tipi:~/tipi_disk/TMP $ ls -all
total 28
drwxr-xr-x 2 tipi tipi 4096 Feb  8 19:01 '!A'
-rw-r--r-- 1 tipi tipi  384 Feb  8 19:05 '!A!'
drwxr-xr-x 2 tipi tipi 4096 Feb  8 19:00 '#A'
drwxr-xr-x 2 tipi tipi 4096 Feb  8 19:00  %A
-rw-r--r-- 1 tipi tipi  384 Feb  8 19:01 '(A)'
drwxr-xr-x 5 tipi tipi 4096 Feb  8 19:05  .
drwxr-xr-x 5 tipi tipi 4096 Feb  8 18:59  ..

 

observe the '' arround the directory names.

 

From the Ti99Dir's menu option I can enter the directorys \\tipi\tipi\TMP\%A and \\tipi\tipi\TMP\#A

But I can't  enter the directory \\tipi\tipi\TMP\!A and also not \\tipi\tipi\TMP\'!A'

On putty I can't do a cd !A (bash event not found) but I can do a cd '!A'

 

tipi@tipi:~/tipi_disk/TMP $ cd !A
-bash: !A: event not found
tipi@tipi:~/tipi_disk/TMP $ cd '!A'
tipi@tipi:~/tipi_disk/TMP/!A $ ls
'(A)'

 

Seems to me that a ! has a special meaning in Linux.

 

 

 

[+9640News]

Never tried that within Ti99Dir which by the way is probably my most favorite and used program on m Windows system for managing things for the TI/Geneve.

 

As Tim mentioned, those illegal characters create a problem with TI99DIR which I hope you can resolve.  I start my browsing on the PI with Ti99Dir at the root level of the filepath, and then go into the subdirectories from there.  When I hit the issue, I then have to go back and tell Ti99Dir to select another directory from the menu bar as there is no  ".." to recursively back up a directory to the root when that happens.

 

Not knowing how your code is managed, etc., I also notice that if you select a directory from the menu bar, you can not back up to the previous directory from the program listing as the ".." option is not available.  Not sure if that was intentional, or some program design or limitation.

 

Beery

 

[+9640News]

3 minutes ago, F.G. Kaal said:

Seems to me that a ! has a special meaning in Linux.

 

 

 

I never ran a test looking at all those special characters Tim mentioned, but I frequently come across the issue with the ! letter as the first character in the filename.  People frequently do that on projects/apps, so on a sorted list, the !README, or !MAKEFILE, etc. are at the top of the list and easily recognizable to get a users's attention.

 

Beery

[F.G. Kaal]

In Ti99Dir I can create a directory &A and to my surprise I can also enter that dirfectory. But using putty I can't do a cd &A

tipi@tipi:~/tipi_disk/TMP $ cd &A
[1] 1302
-bash: A: command not found
[1]+  Done                    cd
tipi@tipi:~/tipi_disk/TMP $ pwd
/home/tipi/tipi_disk/TMP

 

because in Unix/Linux the & means start the process in the background and A is not a process ?

 

and also the command type !A! says:

tipi@tipi:~/tipi_disk/TMP $ type !A!
-bash: !A!: event not found

 

Also here the OS says event not found and not file not found.

 

Ti99Dir just relies on the file system, there is no code in the program with if (linux) or if (NAS) it is all just fopen(path, ...) and findfirst(), findnext() and findclose() functions.

Edited February 8, 2022 by F.G. Kaal

[+mizapf]

You need to escape the special characters: \&

[F.G. Kaal]

9 minutes ago, mizapf said:

You need to escape the special characters: \&

Yes you're right ... the trick is to escape the special characters. In putty I can do cd '!A' but I have not found a way in Ti99Dir to enter the same directory. I can enter it as \\tipi\tipi\TMP\'!A' this does not give an error but I just en up in the directory \\tipi\tipi but you're actually dealing with samba here.

 

I was reading this:

https://www.tecmint.com/manage-linux-filenames-with-special-characters/

 

my conclusion for now is: "special characters in file and directory names on a Linux system" .... DONT DO IT !! Gives a lot of unexpected trouble.

 

I don't know a way how Ti99Dir can know with what file system it is connected.

 

Fred