Have you ever been frustrated by the fact that your 1581 is limited to having just 144 files from within GEOS? This seems to be a holdover from the original 1541 drivers. The Desktop is limited in memory and can only contain 18 directory pages with 8 files on each page, hence the 144 file limit. Unfortunately, this limit was also programmed into every 1581-type device driver that exists to this date. This includes the 1581 ramdisks also.
geoSHELL is not limited in how many directory entries it can access, so wouldn't it be nice if our 1581s could utilize the extra directory size that the drive itself allows outside of GEOS. Now we can. This command will check each drive and ramdisk that is currently running on your system and patch any driver that is a 1581 type. Once this takes place, you will be able to create up to 296 directory entries on your 1581 devices.
This command does not require any parameters to use it, just enter the command 'max81' by itself. You can do this right from the command line or better yet, place the command in your boot startup file and it will be automatic each time you boot up.
Only the drivers that exist in memory are affected by this command. If you load CONFIGURE and switch in another 1581, you will have to use max81 again to patch the new drive. Any drive that has already been patched will be ignored when you run the command again.
If you have previously used the 'learn' command and install your 1581 drivers with that method, then you might want to use the learn command again so that the patch will be contained within the file itself. However, if you use CONFIGURE to install any other 1581 devices, then you will probably be using max81 anyway during your bootup. The patching takes place so quickly that you won't even notice the difference between patching one device or four.
Using max81 does not enhance the Desktop in any way, nor does it harm it. The Desktop will still only access 144 files when it is displaying a directory. However, some other functions may still work, such as being able to copy more than 144 files to the 1581.